Cousin Andy’s grotesque models

I believe I did repeatedly mention my cousin Andy. You may remember that he was the one dragging me back into all of this in the first place with a seemingly innocent Christmas present. I also cited his Dark Eldar army as a constant wellspring of inspiration when I posted one of my own Dark Eldar Kabalite Warriors that I painted on a whim last Friday. So it seems only logical to allow you a glimpse of what my dear cousin is working on in his dark laboratory beneath Commorragh.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first, though: While the new Dark Eldar models are fantastic, I think that the one definite slipup in the line is the Grotesque (oh, and the Beastmaster. That sculpt is just lazy when you consider the pure epicness of the other models). While I cannot fault the concept of the model per se, the pose is …strange to say the least. And there is only one version. And it’s Finecast only. Need I say more?

In all fairness, it is clearly a testament to Jes Goodwin’s artistic vision that only one or two models across the whole line are a bit disappointing while the rest is uniformly excellent. But then, it’s also a bit of a shame that it had to be the Grotesques that got the short end of the stick. Oh well, you cannot win them all, I guess.

Anyway, it doesn’t really surprise me that people have begun converting their own Grotesques left and right. The most viable approach seems to be to base these conversions on either Ogres or the Blood Island Rat Ogres. While the former variant usually turns out a bit static, the latter option admittedly usually looks very nice. But nearly everybody is doing it now, so it was a no-go for my cousin who likes to make things a bit harder on himself. So he built this:

Totally going against the grain, he based his conversions on the much-maligned plastic Minotaurs for Warhammer Fantasy. These models have been slammed as horrible on multiple websites, mostly due to their overexaggerated musculature. Well, with Andy’s conversions, the steroid look really plays to the models’ advantage, seeing as how Grotesques are supposed to be these genetically engineered, spliced up abominations bulging with muscle and horrible surgical extensions. By adding leftover parts from the Talos/Cronos kit, Andy gave the models an unmistakeable Dark Eldar feel, tieing them in with all the other Coven models. It’s also fortunate that one Talos/Chronos kit will leave you with lots and lots of leftover bits – just what you need to stitch together your own horrible experiments!

Here’s one of the regular grunts — inasmuch as the word “regular” can be employed when dealing with a gigantic hulking nightmare from the depths of the Dark city:

As you can see, cousin Andy used the strange vertebrae bits as equally strange weapons, formed perhaps from the Grotesques own twisted bones. The cloven hooves of the Minotaur add to the unnatural look of the model in my opinion.

And below, once again, you can see my personal star of the show: The unit’s champion. A Talos tail and arm were used to make the model even more intimidating. The heads in his right fist were a small touch from my own bitzbox, a meagre recompensation for cousin Andy’s unending generousness in donating bits for my own projects. You really do not want to encounter this guy in close quarters combat! And who knows where that horrible syringe has been?

As you can see, there’s a reasonably simple kitbash at the heart of this project. But the choice of model to base the conversion on is sheer genius! I don’t think I have seen the Minotaur kit being used in this way before, so I guess Cousin Andy did it first 😉

When painting the models, Andy used the Bronze typical of his Kabal’s colour scheme to tie them together with the rest of his force. While personally I would have preferred a paler, sickly skin colour, I cannot argue with the effectiveness of the paintjob. On a related note, please excuse the fuzzy pictures! I am entirely to blame!

I also like how the right arm is much more muscular than the left one. Granted, this was more of a lucky coincidence, but it gives the model a somewhat lopsided, disturbing look.

So there you have it. It’s when I look at these models from my cousin’s army that I dream of my own, sinister force of Dark Eldar time and time again. And there’s much more cool stuff where this came from! Maybe we’ll have another look or two in the future.

I like to imagine that it was me who got cousin Andy infected with the conversion and kitbashing bug (in exchange for his getting me addicted to plastic crack once again). But it’s models like these that show me that he has truly come into his own as a converter. In fact, I am quite envious of these beautiful, horrible models. What do you think?

But enough with the Xenos scum already! Come next Wednesday, this blog will once again return to dealing with the glorious legion of the World Eaters. Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!