Bloodmaster of Khorne

The Bloodmaster (Game’s Workshop’s fancy new name for the – admittedly rather dull sounding – Herald of Khorne on foot) is one of my favourite models from the Khorne range. To use a phrase that will be very familiar to all my regular readers by now it’s one that (say it with me) I’ve been meaning to get around to for ages, so the other night I cleared my schedule and my desk and cracked on with it.

Not much more to be said really – he’s a very angry daemon and he’s ready to carve up all of the Blood God’s enemies which, at the last count, was everybody.

War Eternal – Part 7

When I first planned out my little Khornate warband I planned to include a pair of flesh hounds. At the time they’d not long been released and a new models outdid their predecessors with ease. As I was planning to paint up a pack anyway what better opportunity to get started on them than this? However because I’ve been concentrating on other aspects of the warband it’s taken a while to actually get started on the hounds but at last the first one is ready to hunt.

Readers with a head or maths will have noticed that despite my references to flesh hounds (plural) I’ve only actually painted one. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly I used this model to test out some adjustments to my standard daemonic paint scheme. Although I’m very pleased with the results I wasn’t really feeling the urge to replicate it straight away. Secondly I’ve discovered a small group of bloodreavers which I’d assembled, undercoated and then forgot about. Rather than allow them to slip back into the unpainted pile this seems like a fine opportunity to get them wrapped up too so I think I’ll take it easy when it comes to painting daemonic dogs and take a crack at these barbarians next instead.

Weapon of Vanity

Cast your collective minds back to November and you may recall that hobbyist extraordinaire and soon-to-be bits producer HeresyOfUs was kind enough to send me some of his prototype Daemonic Femmes for me to turn my converting obsession upon. The first model to emerge from the seething pit of my imagination was this Slaaneshi gladiator and part time Daemonic Herald.

Fast forward a month or so to today and here she is, fully painted and ready to show Khornate berserkers and Dark Eldar alike who really rules the arenas!

Huge thanks to HeresyOfUs once again – expect to see more twisted creations based on his Femmes coming soon…

In The Service Of The Gods – Part 3

I’m a big fan of this painting by Adrian Smith. To me it does an excellent job of capturing the sort of thuggish mutants that would be drawn to the banner of chaos. No wonder the Imperium purges them. I don’t fancy that poor Guardsman’s chances much in the next few minutes, and going by his rather hang-dog expression neither does he. Well that’s what he deserves for failing in his duty to the Emperor. Obviously, as a treacherous heretic myself, I’m rather fond of all of them, but on this occasion the one I’m particularly interested in is this good looking chap.I’ve been wanting to improve my greenstuff skills recently and spotting his ugly mug in the rear ranks of this image gave me just the inspiration I needed to add another chaos marine to the new squad.

Possibly not the kind of chap you’d invite round to meet your mum but I’m rather pleased with how he’s turned out. As ever your thoughts are welcome.

One With The Flies – Part 2

Did I not promise you more Nurglings? Did you truly doubt my beneficence? Then doubt no more!

I’m really getting into painting these little guys. As you’ll probably have noticed if you’re familiar with the kit I’ve not used both ‘stacks’ of Nurglings something which – although it makes each individual model smaller, makes for a larger and more impressive squad overall. It also lets you see all the individual Nurglings, revealing that each one is very much a character with a little bit of personality all of its own. The designers have clearly poured a lot of love into this element of the kit – yet its something that’s lost if assembled as intended.

At the moment there’s just one more on the painting desk but they’ve been such a fun little bit of post holiday entertainment I’m sure I’ll come back to them before long.

One With The Flies – Part 1

Happy New Year all! Let’s get 2016 rolling with some cheeky little Nurglings.

And of course – as is always the case with Nurglings – wherever you see one you know that there will be plenty more nearby…

Change In The House Of Flies

I was keen to show off some Work-In-Progress images of this guy as part of the ‘No Guts, No Glory’ series, particularly as those pieces have all been about finding out what I can do with the (amazing) Putrid Blightkings kit and this one has stretched my adventures with those particular models well beyond anything I’ve tried before. However in the end it wasn’t to be, beyond a quick snapshot here. However, unlike a lot of models where there’s a comprehensible – if only tacked together – shape fairly early on, this one stayed as a pile of disparate bits right up to the very end. It wasn’t until the last moment (and a few hair-raising eleventh-hour tweaks) that I got to see the finished piece myself and confirm that it was all actually going to work.

It’s with tremendous relief then that I get to see him finished (incarnated?). Obviously this could have been a trainwreck but I’m glad I persevered. Take a look:

 

He’s a fairly big lad, even leaving aside the fact that he’s in mid-air, which – in my opinion – is how a daemon prince should be (big not flying!). Here he is next to my Nurgly Dreadnaught Igorin Rotbringer.

 

And buzzing over the heads of the worshipful ranks of the Rotten Souls.

 

So what do you think? Is this another dread summoning for my daemonic legions or should I have left him to gestate in some toxic sump a little longer? Let me know in the box below.

Lord of the Woods

I love Chaos armies with a strong theme to them, built around a particular warband, legion or god. There’s just something amazing about someone picking out a detail of the 40k universe and pursuing it to such depth and with such dedication. That isn’t me though. I’ve got a butterfly mind, shackled to the attention span of a particularly lacklustre goldfish and a banker’s covetousness, rolled together to create a weird chimerical beast with brushes for hands and madness in its heart. Chaos Marines? Yes please! Daemons? Sure, why not! Daemon engines? Sign me up! Traitor guard? Sure thing (more on them soon)! Khorne? Nurgle? Tzeentch? Absolutely! Slaanesh? Why that’s what this post is about!
Thus, although I’ve got various Khornate and Nurgly projects to work on, here I am face to face with She-Who-Thirsts (but not working on my Noise Marines…). I’ve had this guy on my painting desk for a while now but he’s progressed really, really sloooowly. To make the model I had to start by decapitating a Beastmen Shaman, something that took a lot of willpower to go through with (picking up a nice new model you’ve just bought and hacking at it with a knife seems to be flirting with disaster in my book). Carving away the neck and the back of the skull from the new head wasn’t particularly pleasant either – it’s a nice component which I’d considered for various projects before settling on using it for Yegg-ha and I didn’t want to stall the project which I waited for a replacement. I’ll admit to being quite impatient – things like that have killed my enthusiasm for several projects in the past.I’ve had this guy on my painting desk for a while now but he’s progressed really, really sloooowly. To make the model I had to start by decapitating a Beastmen Shaman, something that took a lot of willpower to go through with (picking up a nice new model you’ve just bought and hacking at it with a knife seems to be flirting with disaster in my book). Carving away the neck and the back of the skull from the new head wasn’t particularly pleasant either – it’s a nice component which I’d considered for various projects before settling on using it for Yegg-ha and I didn’t want to stall the project which I waited for a replacement. I’ll admit to being quite impatient – things like that have killed my enthusiasm for several projects in the past.

I imagine a huge chamber at heart of Kell’s flagship, the Blood Eagle, a hanger cleared out and transformed into a warped garden. At its heart stands a cathedral to Chaos within which the Sorcerers and Dark Apostles of the Beasts of Ruin summon daemons. The garden itself is left tainted, the children of all four gods roosting amid the contorted architecture and fighting petty wars over this strange space, a microcosm of the Great Game. Currently command of the Dark Prince’s forces goes to Yegg-ha, Herald of Slaanesh and self declared Lord of the Woods.

What do you mean that’s not enough for you? You’re greedy you are, greedy! Luckily Slaanesh loves you for your avarice so here’s three of Yegg-ha’s ladies to join the party (don’t say I’m not good to you!)

And last of all a little group shot!
And there we have it. As you should know by now it’ll be something totally different next week!

No Guts, No Glory – Part 4

So, here goes with another batch of Nurgle conversions joining the fetid ranks. First of all I’ve finally got around to making a second Chosen. In many ways this guy is built exactly as the designers intended, with only a few tweaks to move him from the world of Warhammer to 40k. Take a look: The biggest change is on his back where he has a convenient strap to hang a holstered bolter on. I know I’ve not really pushed the boat out here in terms of conversion work but then again ‘if it ain’t broke’ and all that. I always really liked this configuration of the Blightkings – to me it’s the pure, unalloyed essence of Nurgle. You can almost imagine the buzzing of the flies that surround him and the dolorous tolling of his bells. Plus that executioner’s axe just nails it in my opinion. As a result I really didn’t want to change much about him, just lift him from a fantasy setting and transfer him to the far-future as subtly as possible. Hopefully you’ll agree that’s what I’ve done. I did toy with the possibility of giving him some kind of Space Marine type backpack but dropped the idea. Pulling it off without fouling the axe looked like a real hassle and it’s not like he really needs it – if he can survive without most of his internal organs then he can do without whatever it is that Space Marine’s keep in their backpacks. Anyway, that’s not everything I’ve been working on. Here’s two more Plaguebearers to join the Rotten Souls. I’ll probably make a couple more to use up the extra Plaguebearer parts I’ve acquired (more on that below). Do you ever feel like you just can’t surround yourself with enough Plaguebearers? Must just be me then… Look at his happy face! And then we have this monster. He’s still at a fairly early stage yet but I’m really enthusiastic about him so expect to see more of him shortly. I’ll talk about him more in a future blog but I was so eager to show him off to you all I snapped a quick shot and added him to the end of this post. Once he’s finished he’ll be a Daemon Prince of Nurgle. He’s also partly the reason for my making more Plaguebearers, as I managed to pick up several of the riders alongside the Rot Fly body. Eagle-eyed readers might notice that his left arm is the one that used to belong to this Chaos Terminator. On the terminator it was proving to be just a bit big and heavy looking so I swapped it out and put it to use here instead. Of course that also means I’ll have to find a new arm for the Terminator now (‘armless joke anyone? Armed and dangerous? I’ll get my coat…)

This Horrifying Force

Well here we go at last! The truly terrible bloodthirster model that has blighted our lives for so many years has finally been shown the door and replaced with a far more magnificent version (see my thoughts below). Driven forwards by the rage of the Blood God (or possibly just old fashioned excitement about all things Khorne) I managed to get this model finished, the first of the Red Wolf’s squad.

A little ‘group shot’ of him next to the Redwolf shows just how big the latter actually is. The new addition is by no means small for a Terminator, his size accentuated by his wide pose and bulky shoulderpads, but the Redwolf still towers over him. Already I’m feeling that my decision to promote him to command of his own squad was justified – this guy is nobody’s second!I’ve also been working on this Dark Apostle of Khorne (I know, I’ve not posted pictures of the Nurgle one finished yet – you don’t half nag you know!). Long term I’ve got a plan to make a Dark Apostle for each of the gods, plus the official finecast model (assembled and based coated baby!).
For the Khorne Apostle I wanted something reminiscent of a loyalist chaplain with a chaotic twist – capturing what I see as their similar roles and philosophies. Both would spent much of their time in the thick of battle, bellowing devotion to the Emperor or the Blood God respectively, dedicating each kill in their name and spurring on their battle brothers. The Apostles of the other gods, I imagine, spend more time preaching to dissatisfied hive workers, dissidents and the savage tribes of feral worlds – those of Khorne just want to get stuck in. In spite of this I wanted a slightly more restrained pose, capturing him in a moment of contemplation – perhaps preaching to his brothers about the value of weapons or dedicating his flail ahead of combat.

I’m thinking of adding some kind of tabard to cover up his rather waspish waist. I’m playing with a couple of options at the moment; a wolf’s pelt (suitable savage and tribal) or chains (harder to pull off and possibly naff looking, but undeniably badass if it comes together). Anyone got any thoughts?

Anyway, as I mentioned all this Khorne enthusiasm has come about as a result of seeing the new Bloodthirster model that went up for pre-order this weekend. And what a model it is. Admittedly a big part of my enthusiasm for it comes from the fact that it is a massive improvement on its predecessor. Given the choice I would have liked to have seen something slightly less dynamic. To my eye a hunched, aggressive pose, charging head-down into battle, would have served better here than leaping into flight, whip curling overhead. Leave the dancing to Slaanesh and the flying to Tzeentch (and of course let Nurgle lumber along at the rear!). Nonetheless these are fairly minor complaints given that a) the Bloodthirster can finally be represented on the tabletop by an official model worthy of the concept and b) other greater daemons might really be around the corner.

For Warhammer the original Bloodthirster has now been transformed into three different units. A quick glance through the fiction shows them all to be pretty angry guys which does make me feel a little sorry for the poor soul who was given the thankless task of producing background for them. Coming up with different models, weapon options and rules must have been a doddle compared to coming up with original ideas expanding on the difference between daemons who get angry about slightly different things.

Whilst we’re talking about the fiction, who the hell came up with these names? The Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury? The Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage? Really? What happened to all the old Khornate names that were made up of nothing but ‘z’s and ‘k’s? Admittedly trying to say them aloud made you sound like a wasp struggling with a Welsh place name but surely that’s better than telling your opponent “This is the Bloodthirster of Slightly Cheesed Off”

It also appears that Khorne now has a sliding scale of anger he applies to his Bloodthirsters. (This may not be new-news but it’s certainly new to me). Apparently there are eight legions of Bloodthirsters, eight being the sacred number of Khorne, and each is angrier than the last. By my understanding they ascend through Miffed to Mildly Aggrieved, Peeved To Say The Least, Well Pissed Off, Proper Nark On, Kicking Off Big Time and finally Writing to the Editor.

As for the model itself I’ll throw in my lot with the majority who’re slavering over it, although – as mentioned above – there are a few things that bother me.

For one thing I hate flames on miniatures so they’d have to go for starters – maybe replacing them with some rubble or a big old pile of skulls. I also find the symbols on the wings to be rather busy, we know he’s a daemon of Khorne, there’s no need to beat us around the head with it. No-one is going to think ‘Is this guy Eldar? Check his wings and find out. Oh no, he’s with Khorne’. Perhaps a more subtle paint scheme might make them more acceptable – in face a close look at the Unfettered Fury Bloodthirster in this week’s White Dwarf shows just that. Otherwise I’ll have to see how long it takes with the sandpaper (heart in my mouth all the way in case I knacker the wings).

Having said that, somewhat hypocritically, I think the sigils on the underside of the hooves are a cracking touch and the idea of them stamping the mark of Khorne wherever they go is just wonderfully cocky and aggressive. When basing the model I’d like to try stamping out some casts of his foot prints in greenstuff and leaving them in a trail behind him.

I’ll be curious to see how poseable the model is, the combination of axe and whip raised high being slightly over-the-top and reminiscent of a caricature anime villain for my taste. Truthfully I prefer the double-handed great axe – it may not be the traditional weapon combination of the Bloodthirsters but it calls for a lot less skill and precision to use. Let the followers of Slaanesh mess around developing the skill to use a weapon in each hand, if Khorne’s warriors can be hitting someone with an axe as big as a tank that should be more than enough to do the job. Plus, as well as being utterly practical and unsubtle, it also looks the business. The question of whether Games Workshop will be bringing rules for this weapon to 40k is still a matter of some conjecture – although frankly it makes good business sense to do so, variety being the spice of life and all that.

In terms of conversion potential this model does offer a few other opportunities for the followers of the Blood God. For one thing there’s always Skarbrand – suitable trashing of the wings or replacing them with the tattered wings from a zombie dragon should do the business. Adding the second axe might be a little harder but at least he has two axe heads to begin with so some of the leg work is done for you.

The spare weapons and armour plates should be about the right size for Khornate Knight Titans or Soul Grinders and the model also comes with a number of large skulls (funny that) – worth watching out for if you’re planning a tainted chaplain dreadnaught for a Word Bearer’s force.

Speaking of the Word Bearers this weekend’s other big release is Forge World’s Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought. Having been slightly disappointed by the Gal Vorbak I awaited the Mhara Gal with a degree of trepidation. On first impression though I like it. As a chaos walker it falls at the exact opposite end of the spectrum to the Decimator, the latter being fearsome and functional, the former a twisted amalgam of metal and meat, liberally scrawled with sigils. The official paint job does it no justice at all but all my concerns with the model evaporated when I got a look at the naked resin (those talons bursting through the shoulder pad to hold the book looked pretty rough at first glance but sans paint they’re a lot more impressive). Oh and the head, once I worked out what’s going on, is wonderfully ghastly. I may even buy one (although I’ve already promised myself a Decimator, Blood Slaughterer, Blight Drone and – some day when I’m rich – a Greater Brass Scorpion) so it won’t be for a while.

Anyway, with these two big models unleashed, it’s been a good weekend to worship the Ruinous Powers. Now back to work the lot of you!