The aim in mind for my traitor guard is to build up a real horde of heretics; a swarm of thugs, chaos fanatics and other degenerate scum. In terms of the vibe I’m looking for think of the Skaven from Warhammer; massed ranks of shabby, poorly armed foot soldiers, accompanied by weird specialists and crazy warmachines.
Obviously the task of actually recruiting all those bodies represents a bit of a logistical headache – the very principle is that there needs to be a lot of them. In order to solve this I’ve had a root around on ebay and managed to pick up a load of Cadians and Catachans on the cheap. These models, unwanted in their previous incarnation, will now be converted into the next wave of the Chaos advance.
Philosophically I think this gives something to the spirit of the models themselves; the character of former Imperial soldiers who have turned to the worship of Chaos being represented by formerly Imperial models.
Anyway, here goes with traitor guard squad number two – Clan Maul. First up we have this chap with a flame-thrower, another survivor of the Special Weapons squad I planned long ago (back when I was basing the collection around the Imperial Guard codex rather than the Lost and the Damned list from Forgeworld).
And here’s the first of his new squadmates, another devilish looking traitor.
Hope you like them, there’s more to come soon and, as usual, if you have any feedback I’d be happy to hear from you in the comment’s box below.
As I’ve mentioned before I love the idea of massive swarms of these guys rushing ahead of their Chaos Marine masters – I just need to keep myself from getting distracted by other wacky ideas and get on with them.
I’m thinking he might represent some kind of preacher or faith-keeper, encouraging the fractious masses with litanies of hatred and despair. I intended the scrap of parchment in his hand to be a page torn from some unholy book but now I wonder if it might actually be crib-notes, written then cast aside by some arrogant Dark Apostle, then found and recycled by his lowly counterpart amongst the traitor guard. And if his words don’t sway the troops with the inevitability of the primordial truth then perhaps the sight of the severed head of the last fool to waste his time (perhaps by suggesting they retreat) should do the business?
Look at him; needs a rebreather just to survive the hellish death-worlds his masters enjoy, still doesn’t wear shoes. Hardcore!
The thing is though, it took me so long to get him painted up that Games Workshop went and released new plastic Ogrens in the meantime (something that in itself seems a long time ago now). I did wonder about packing it in with this model and relegating him to bitzbox purgatory, but a combination of fondness and stubbornness stayed my hand and I resolved to finish him.
He’s a little small compared to the new plastic Ogrens, and I’m already working on at least a couple of models based on that kit, so I worried that he would look a bit like the underfed brother next to the others. The best solution, I reckoned, would be to make another so they could be short together. Life’s always better with a friend, even if you’re a thuggish mutant enslaved by the ruinous powers!
And here’s the two of them together. I’m making a Bone ‘ead to keep an eye on them and make sure they keep going in roughly the right direction, but he’s not quite finished yet. Soon, I promise!
I started work on them long before Forge World released Imperial Armour 13 with its updated Renegades and Heretics army list so I was particularly interested to see how ogrens had been handled in the new book. Where previously we had a whole variety of units (Ogren Berserkers, Plague Ogrens, the Hounds of Xaphan) now we just have Ogren Brutes, which can then be upgraded by adding packmasters with chaos hounds (reckon I’ll do something with that soon) and/or dedicating the squad to one of the gods. This means that as well as ogrens dedicated to Khorne and Nurgle we can also see ogrens dedicated to Tzeentch or Slaanesh both of which strike me as interesting propositions from both a fiction and a modelling perspective. Khorne seems a natural choice for an ogren (Khorne approves of hitting things, ogrens like hitting things, it’s a match made in heaven really) and with their poor hygiene and resilience to disease they fit in nicely with the followers of Nurgle as well. Slaanesh is harder to conjure though – I’m struggling to imagine an ogren enjoying decadent feasts or the height of sexual perversity. Likewise an ogren that plans to master the power of the warp and become a master magi is setting himself up for a disappointment. However I reminded myself that ogrens tend to go where they’re led regardless of their affiliation and could easily find themselves bound to a Slaaneshi or Tzeentchian master (the latter enjoying the protection of some serious muscle whilst he channels the warp – the former… well, perhaps it’s best not to ask).