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By the end of last year I decided to take a break from the Nurgle CSM stuff. I came up with an idea of an "army" with a very small number of (big) models. The fluff for Overlords of Barbarus with their Golem slaves were definitely an influence, but I'm in no way strictly trying to make just them. Been thinking hard if I could use some Xenos or even Imperial rules/codices for them, but it just feels like the CSM list is very well suited for all the types of models I have in mind. Everything will be scratch built / sculpted or very heavily converted. Demon Princes, Helbrutes, Demon Engines, Centaur shaped monstrosities for Bikers, and maybe even some titanic sized thing such as Khorne Lord of Skulls or a Traitor Knight. We'll see about that...

Anyway, this is what I've come up with so far. Two DP's & Helbrutes, and the duo of horse-headed (possessed soldiers from the Doom board game) will likely be used as troops such as regular CSM's. This is fun!

It feels like this project is progressing super slowly. But I have to remind myself it's only an odd two hours work a day, and not even every day. Sometimes a bit more for sure. Usually I'll just be gluing a few more tiny bits (such as skulls, crab claws and whatnot) here and there. Then sculpt in some shoulder pads, nostrils and spikes, before leaving to dry overnight. Surely there are many positive sides in this kind of layer-by-layer method of working. The process is fun and intuitive, and I'm not completely sure how the end results will look like even though I have some vague ideas and feel where I'm constantly aiming at. Certain things are also very easy to sculpt one piece or an area at a time. It requires lots of waiting however, and results are showing very slowly. But I'm getting there!

Very happy and exited with how the squad of 5 horse-headed troopers (maybe just regular Chaos Space Marines?) are turning out. I really like the vibe of many Imperial command squads (with all the medics, vox casters and leaders pointing fingers), and wanted to have something similar going on. Together with the Centaur "bikers" I'm planning this army is accumulating some obvious Beasts of Chaos vibes. Glad I got some old Beastmen miniatures hiding somewhere...

These guys are definitely strange and fun! The horse head troopers are excellent.

Thanks amazingturtles !

The core of this new "big guys" "army" of mine is now almost ready to to get some paint on. I'm currently just waiting for the clay on their bases and some Green Stuff details to dry. So might actually get painting this evening!

It has been a fun journey to come up with the final looks for these miniatures. The big guys (Demon Prince and Helbrute types) are quite close to the initial blurry picture I had in my head some time ago. One major element I like a lot are the curved lines that can be seen on many places (such as the boot tips, noses, claws etc.), that evolved very naturally from the myriad toy scorpion parts, armoured horse bits and horns.

Latest arrivals here are the trio of centauroids I plan to use as Chaos Bikers. I can see a futuristic Beasts of Chaos type of theme emerging here. Glad I've got dozens of old and new Beastmen miniatures, horses, boars, more toy scorpions and other animals waiting somewhere. Also started scratch building a trio of Obliterator types back at home (no pictures taken yet). They are bloated blobs of flesh and Lego guns wobbling on thin legs. Yet to add or sculpt big heads on them.

Plans for painting? I'll start with black basecoat, maybe spray some red droplets on from above. Unhealthy and pale flesh on the faces. Skulls, iron, gold, bronze and parchments as usual. Bright orangey red for demonic scorpion parts. Maybe bright cyan/blue for glow effects and eyes? Marbling red & black on the robes. And for the final touches as many black & white checker patterns, runes, sigils and symbols everywhere as I can comfortably fit.

Started painting the horse-headed troopers (also primed all the big guys & the centauroid bikers)!







Primed with cheap Matt Black spray, with Army Painters Pure Red droplets sprayed on from above. Then I did touch ups with Matt Black and very rough overbrush with Pure Red on a few important looking spots. Red Tone wash all over, with Evil Sunz Red dots and splashes while it was still wet, to create kind of a marbling effect in places. Need to practise this more.

Basecoat skulls, scrolls and such with Khaki. Greedy Gold & Oily Steel on metals, followed with Dark Tone, Skeleton Horde, Shining Silver and Bright Gold. Then Bone White & Off White highlights on skulls & scrolls. Off White also for base coating plasma coils, eyes and certain areas of armor that will get checker patterns painted on later. Aethermatic Blue on the plasma coils. Careful Fire Dragon Crimson drybrushes on the red areas. Should have done this stage a lot earlier and not have to bother messing up other areas. I think that's all I've done at this point.

Still to do:
Sharp yellow highlights on a few choice red areas. Satin or Gloss varnish sprayed allover. Blood for the Blood God or Red Tone wash on red parts. Decals. Checker patterns (black sharpie marker with brush, then retouch with Off White). Simple freehand sigils and runes, if I can fit such things anywhere? Touch-ups and picking out details, such as rivets. Maybe Wyldwood all the horse skin areas to make them just plain dark? Or try some unhealthy and pale skin tone? Paint the bases brow, then glue on sand, flock, soil, static grass, tufts, lichen, dirt, rocks and whatnot. Maybe tie those togehter with subtle washes and drybrushed highlights? Try weathering the bases and lower parts of the models with pigment powders. Finally more varnish(es). That's the rough plan!

ok this, this is bloody amazing.

Really nice greenstuff work on the centaurs, and the horse troops look unsettling as can be! Which is a very good thing.

Thanks!

Finished the horse heads today. Here's a pic, with more on another Dakka thread and/or my blog along with some babbling.






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After trying the color scheme on a squad of Horse Heads, I felt confident to paint up one of the bigger models. I have a soft spot for this sad looking fellow, so started with him. Tried to simplify things even more, and paint certain layers in more reasonable order than I did earlier with the Horsies. Also tried to do pale / necrotic skin with thin layers of Khaki, Pale Grey Blue, Aethermatic Blue & Bone White. It's working out great so far! Didn't feel like taking notes, so just went for the good old "include the paint pots being used" in the pictures to save time and effort. I'll take a break to let the sharpie & brush markers dry for a while before continuing later this evening.

Earlier progress on the big dudes. Finished Helbrute & his horse headed pals at the showcase thread.

CRAB PEOPLE...

Glorious , simply glorious

Yeah! These are wonderfully weird.

Thanks for the comments Not Online!!! & MobileSuitRandom!

Looking forward to finishing this winged dude tomorrow. Then maybe start scratch building a Defiler, Heldrake or Khorne Lord of Skulls. Already got ideas for the D & H, but how to even begin with the L o'Skulls is a complete mystery to me. Tips and suggestions are very welcome!

Been enjoying this evening of painting. Two of the big guys are getting solid coats of paint on them. Very much the same routine as with the earlier friends of theirs. The huge faces are really nice to paint and practice some rather weird skin tones. I start with Khaki and mix some Pale Grey Blue or Poisonous Cloud in with lots of water. Add in some bone or off white tones, shade with dirty greens, yellows and Aethermatic Blue. Lots of thin layers of everything, going back and forth. Also tried splattering in different diluted brown washes, contrast paints and Dark Tone. Gonna be awesome.

Great project. I adore the big head guys - whimsical and unsettling in equal measure. Freehand and little symbols everywhere are great too, reminds me of old school Blanche conversions.

Keep it up!

Aye, also nice Beastman banner for the belt

Thanks for the support!

Now I'm planning on building even bigger things for this "army"! These ill fortuned toys will be transformed into a Defiler (head from Christmas elf + demonic crab legs), a Khorne Lord of Skulls (Dublo car + skull) & two Heldrakes (those weird little spacecrafts). Just add in dozens of armour panels, decorations, skulls, spikes, weapons and mutated demonic goodness sculpted from modelling putty...

I am both intrigued and terrified by the prospect of the elf-iler. Good luck!

Now this is Chaos!

Loving the horseheaded dudes, and the big guys are really pulling together with that quality paint Awesomely weird stuff!

Are , the elf will be awesome probably .

Thanks everyone!

Progress with another Helbrute. Will be finished very soon.













I also bashed up a trio of Obliterators at home. Didn't have all the nicest sculpting tools or bitz boxes available, so did rough basic work with all the putties, Legos and a few chosen miniature parts smuggled in from the vast chambers of my Hobby Castle. Major elements are the old school Pink Horror heads I hastily tried to replicate with Blue Stuff (among some other more technical looking more detailed parts). The detail is mostly not that crisp, but it's okay since I'll be sculpting in some touch ups with Green Stuff anyways.

Basic painting routines on the Centauroid Bikers. I'll try to get some sharpie marker work done on them today, so the inks can dry overnight and I can finish painting them tomorrow without too much worry on smudging the inks. Not sure if I should try to incorporate some turquoise tones (with Aethermatic Blue) into them, like with the rest of the big dudes? Maybe do some details on the meltaguns with that?












ALSO: Bashing up some general shapes on the soon-to-be Khorne Lord of Skulls. The little green tractor fitted in perfectly on that yellow Dublo car. After a tiniest bit of cutting an overhang from the car clicked right in through the rear window of the tractor. Perfect size and everything. A match made in heaven warp.

The front end will become a huge mouth with a cannon in the middle. Haven't still figured out how to do the fenders though. Just tiny ones (1cm wide or so) made from card, glued on top of those existing ones? Or much bigger, spiked and crooked ones that continue and wave through the entire sides of the thing? I just wish I got the muscular arms of some He-Man toy to glue into this monstrosity. Not interested in spending much time nor money to get any, so might have to get sculpting. Gonna be great anyways!

Today I've been working on the Centauroid Bikers, another Demon Prince type character, a trio of Helbrutes and the Khorne Lord of Skulls. Much more babbling and some pics at my blog.

Just a bit of progress on the Khorne Lord of Skulls, Demon Prince warlord dooder and the trio of Obliterators. More WIP pics and babble at my blog.

Been a while since the last post, but I've been continuing the work on these champs every now and then. The Demon Prince character is pretty much done now. I'll take some pics soon when the final varnishes are dry. Still not completely sure if black is the right color(less) choice for the claws on the wings. But it looks quite ominous and evil, so why not leave them like that. Then there are the trio of Obliterators with nothing unusual going on at this point.



Little by little the Khorne Lord of Skulls is also shaping up. Been sculpting more layers on the huge face, fenders and the hand holding the Great Cleaver. Also finally glued in the scorpion tail and started sculpting its surroundings. I'm thinking about adding some spaghetti-like brain matter dangling on the little shelve behind the eyes. The Lord could also use more of those curved beak like spikes all around it, to really tie the whole thing together and match the noses, claws and curved boots on all the other big guys.

This wierd and awesome .

Yea dude, weird and wonderful through and through. Look forward to a scale shot of the KLOS at some point, pretty sure it's quite a bit larger than I expect (I can only extrapolate so well off the ancient searchlights and hatch bits)

Thanks for the very nice comments!

The Khorne Lord of Skulls has got more rivets, curvy spikes and facial features added. Worked on the weapon arms as well. Not sure how to position them though. But they are still unattached, and easy to move around (and take off) with their ball joints. The size of this thing is pretty darn close to the actual Land Raider tanks, only twice in height. Now I know the Khorne Lord of Skulls should be much bigger but hey. It's still big.








And hey, there's a recently finished Demon Prince character at another Dakka thread.

I find it both impressive and bizarre how drastic a change your painting has on the feel of these models. The sculpts feel almost childish with their cartoonish proportions. But once you have painted them, they come out much more creepy and grotesque. Great stuff.

Yea I had the same thought! They looked goofy as sculpts, but when the paint is on the look great and really freaky.

This is awesome, again, Like that whole project