Our Rage Won’t Die – Part 4

The story of this model begins way back in the early days of my chaos collection, although the seeds of inspiration that led to his rebirth are rather more recent. Back in the early autumn I started working on a small group of Khorne Berserkers. I’m still pleased with them, and the feedback I’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive, so it’s time to keep the creative pot boiling by adding a leader to the squad. Here we have the Berserkers as they looked last time we saw them.

You’ll have to trust me when I say that the project hasn’t entirely died in the meantime, although primarily it has been resting, waiting for inspiration to strike and work to resume. That inspiration arrived in the form of fellow hobbyist Azazel, who’s been setting a series of monthly challenges, both for himself and his readers. This month the challenge was to build a model, something I don’t usually struggle with. However I’d been putting off actually doing the disassembling required to make this model, and may well have continued to do so indefinitely if I hadn’t seen Azazel’s challenge

Enter; this elderly model. I’m not entirely sure when I painted him, I’d estimate 2010 or 2011 at the latest, but whenever it was I was already old and experienced enough to know better. Take a good look at him because this is the last chance we’ll get.

Let’s be honest here, he hasn’t aged well. Even when I first built him he probably wasn’t nearly as good as I thought he was and time has not been kind. I like to think my painting skills have grown a long way over the years (although I’m still rather taken with that blood spatter – if I may say so myself – especially as it pre-dates the now ubiquitous Blood For The Blood God paint). On the whole though, he’s ugly and painfully short in comparison to the new generation of space marines. Over time he’s been shoved further and further back on the shelf. Some might even say I’m ashamed of him.

Despite these flaws I must confess I’m fond of him and that left me with a quandary. On the one hand he really has no place in the collection of models I’m aiming to create, on the other I’d be sad to see him bundled off into a box of old miniatures to gather dust. It would be an inglorious end for such proud old warrior and I for one am not ready to cast him aside just yet. He speaks to an era in my creative development when my ideas were far bigger than my talents and I was only just scratching the surface of what this hobby really offers. That said I’m not going to let nostalgia cloud my judgement. However no servant of the gods need retire when they could just as easily ascend! Not for him the bitter, lonely silence of the bitsbox, not when he can rise again as a warrior reborn, key components snipped away and reused to allow his resurrection. Time for the old brute to get a facelift.

Hopefully you’ll agree that he’s a bit more imposing now, whilst still maintaining the spirit of the original. Who knows, this may even inspire me to make some more berserkers. In the meantime, I await your feedback.

Our Rage Won’t Die – Part 3

Another Khorne berserker comes roaring out of the warp!

Last week I also showed you the squad’s standard bearer, and called for feedback and advice. The conclusion seemed to be a general cry of “Moah Skullz!” which given that this is a Khorne worshipper was probably to be expected. Specifically the backpack, and the back in general, were seen as being too clean, as though the warping influence of Chaos had concentrated on his front. Here’s the back of the model as it looked a week ago:

And here it is now. Hopefully you’ll feel, as I do, that this is an improvement, if not it’s never too late to explain to me the error of my ways.

Thomas of High Times on the Eastern Fringe also suggested that the space around the neck was too empty and flat and suggested some kind of collar. In the end I greenstuffed part of a chaos star erupting from inside his armour which hopefully does the business of breaking up the flat panel without overtaxing my sculpting skills.

I also added a World Eater’s sigil to his knee, which seemed like a good fit.

Here’s the squad so far ready to reap skulls and spread chaos. As ever if you have any feedback or advice you want to give you know what to do.

Our Rage Won’t Die – Part 2

Following on from making my first true-scale Khorne berserker I was itching to kitbash something else for the Blood God’s legions. Enter this angry man, rallying his squad mates and ready to dedicate some bloodshed to the Skull Throne’s glory.

I’m spite of my initial decision to make the armour more warped and “chaosy” than the first I think the more minimalist, plain amour works well here. As ever I’m open to suggestions though.

Our Rage Won’t Die – Part 1

Few kits currently available in the chaos range can conjure such disgust and disappointment from fans  as the Khorne Berserkers. First released over a century ago, the fact that the Berserkers remain on sale today makes a mockery of the company’s proud boast to make the finest toy soldiers in the world. Only the most perversely deranged of the pantheon’s followers find even the slightest glimmer of pleasure in these lumpen, ill-proportioned horrors, and even they wholeheartedly agree that even unconverted Blood Warriors from Age of Sigmar make infinitely superior Berserkers. Indeed some suspicious souls would go so far as to suggest that GW has held back on releasing new Berserkers in order to boost sales of the AoS range (do remember however that although a suspicious mind is a healthy mind to question the wisdom of They-Who-Art-In-Nottingham is to invite the scrutiny of the Inquisition…).

Now on a more sensible note it’s safe to say that, in the wake of the Thousand Sons and the Death Guard, a full release for the World Eaters is probably not too far away. A reasonable man would crack on with painting the dozen or so projects already demanding his attention and wait for Angron’s legion to get their moment in the sun. Patience however is anathema to the followers of Khorne who prefer to rush in (chainswords revving) where the (Emperor’s) angels fear to tread, and I’ll confess I’m no different. With modern space marines reaching the proportions they’ve always deserved I’m not about to let Khorne’s followers miss out for a second!

The Death Guard may have new models to enjoy but at least the warriors of Khorne can still look them in the eye!

Although my old berserker conversions are looking a little on the short side now…

As a first shot I’m pretty happy with this chap, although there are a few things I’d change next time round. For one thing the smooth, clean lines of the loyalist armour doesn’t exactly match up with the jagged styling’s of the Blood Warrior, although hopefully that will become less obvious after he’s painted. The model also has a sense of the weight concentrating in the upper part of the body so next time I might try using the slightly more heavily armoured legs from the Hellblasters rather than the slimmer Intercessors. I’m planning on making a few more soon though so any feedback at this stage is especially welcome.

All That’s Left Is Blood – Part 11

Millennia ago the warriors of Squad Kadrax followed the Lord of Claws out of the ashes of Skalathrax and away from the ruins of the World Eaters legion. Down the long centuries since they have sought for nothing but to heap skulls at Khorne’s throne. The first Lord of Claws has long since wasted into spawndom, blubber-mad and mewling its blind spite, and the man who claimed his throne is a more subtle master – though no less savage for all that. The Kadraxi care not; like their bloody god they seek only battle.

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This will be the last Khorne update for a little while. Word on the street is a Black Crusade is coming, and when it arrives I want to be ready for it. Before I am however I want to clear a few other projects from my painting desk, most importantly the unruly mob of Orks who’ve been waiting in the corner for quite some time. Before it’s their turn though there’s still on more addition required to join my berserkers – a champion to lead the third squad.

Of course that mace is much too big to wield one handed and just waving it around like a maniac will only end up with him injuring himself – probably before he gets the chance to harm his comrades and certainly before he gets anywhere near the enemy. This time however the rule of cool wins out!

Here’s a group shot of Squad Kadrax so far (click it to see a bigger image). In time I’ll be adding three more members to get the numbers up to eight but for now the squad is complete.  And here’s the three champions of my berserker squads together. Standing next to his brothers the new boy  looks like a right short-arse – mostly because I didn’t want to give him any horns or trophy banners that would stick up and foul that flailing chain.And, because I forgot to do this in the last post, here’s the three icon bearers enjoying their own little group shot.But wait – there’s more. I may be planning to tackle some different projects for now but that doesn’t mean I’m abandoning the Blood God long term. As soon as I saw the huge Khornate sigil carried by the Bloodsecrator in the Age of Sigmar starter set I knew I wanted to use it somewhere in my collection. Trouble is it’s just too big for any normal warrior, even a space marine, to carry. Time to call in an abhuman and build myself a second Ogren berserker.As I’m sure you know by now, comments and feedback are extremely welcome so if you have an opinion you’re burning to share get it in the comment’s box. Until then – Blood for the Blood God and all that!

All That’s Left Is Blood – Part 10

So whilst my ears have been filled with the braying of sonic weaponry over the past month the roaring of chain-axes has never been far from my thoughts. Now it’s time to add a couple more battle brothers to my latest squad of Khorne berserkers. And whilst the rest of the warband spill blood for the Skull Throne someone still has to carry the banner…

Hate Eternal

“I was the first to stand upon the walls of the Imperial Palace. I was the last to be borne away from Terra, my body broken by the slaying of one million of the Emperor’s lackeys through the breach at Lions Gate. None shall ever surpass my count”

Kharn the Betrayer in Laurie Goulding’s The Weakness of Others.

Of all the old character models for the champions of chaos, Kharn is probably the one which still holds up best to a modern observer. Whilst some of his colleagues have started to show their age Kharn remains an undisputed classic, still as awesome today as he was when he was first released 10,000 years ago. It’s one of those models I’ve always wanted to paint but never got around to so when I spotted one going for a song on ebay I knew the time had come.

Obviously he’d been through a bit of a battering; his head and backpack had both broken off, one arm was missing and his daft-looking tassels have been removed (seriously why does he appear to have bunches? Who thought the Khornate-cheerleader look was a good idea?). Anyone who knows the background of the character however knows that Kharn has been close to death before, and come back from it stronger and angrier than ever before.

Apart from simply rebuilding and rebasing him the main thing he needed was a new arm and a plasma pistol. I chose to avoid anything too chaotic and mutated as this has never been Kharn’s aesthetic, sticking instead to blunt simplicity. Here he is reassembled and ready for undercoating.

When it came to painting him I had no choice but to use the red and brass colours of the post-heresy World Eaters. Indeed, much though I love my usual dirty white scheme it was a refreshing change to tackle something a bit more vibrant. I also couldn’t resist adding a blood-splattered helm to the base painted in the colours of the loyalist World Eaters. Of course it makes no narrative sense at all – a 41st Millennium Kharn stepping over the head of a brother he killed ten thousand years ago, but who cares – it looks cool, it adds to his story, and his tragedy, and anything can be explained in the Warp! Perhaps this model captures something of Kharn’s troubled sleep, for surely when the Nails’ do not bite deep he still dreams of Isstvan.

When I started this project (and I’ll admit it’s progressed at a particularly glacial rate) I never imagined that I’d be finishing it mere days after GW previewed a new version of the character – this time based on the pose of Forge World’s Heresy-era Kharn. As it stands I’m slightly uncertain of my feelings about the new model but that may be simply because I’m such a fan of its predecessor. With luck though this is just the first in a reimagining of the Chaos space marine characters, many of which are in serious need of a reworking (Abaddon, mate, what happened to you? Surely the company which can give us two librarians in terminator armour in the space of a few months could spring to a resculpt of its most fearsome villain?).

At the moment the internet is rife with rumours of war, much of it suggesting that Games Workshop plans to advance the 40k timeline towards the inevitable doom of man. Personally I dread such a suggestion but I cling to the hope that such an ‘End Times’ style event would sweep away much of the character of 40k (not to mention to iconic Space Marines) and GW seem to be shaking off the era of pigheadedness that might have seen them slaughter the golden goose. However even if all this apocalyptic doom-mongering proves true and I soon find myself turning into an old crusty ranting about the good old days before the Space Wolves became fleet-based renegades and Cadia was still a place, at least we might get some new Chaos models out of it, and that should be enough to keep me happy. In the meantime I’m not done spilling blood in Khorne’s name – not even close in fact…