The Ruinous Powers – Synthesis

Here we are, with the last installment of “The Ruinous Powers” – or is it? Before we answer that question, though, let’s take a look back at our four champions of chaos. We’ve seen each of them in turn. Now let’s look at all of them together:

I like how each of them ended up with a very distinct silhouette and an equally individual palette of colours!

So what’s in store for our four warriors and – in turn – for us chaos players? I, for one, can hardly wait to dive headfirst into the new codex. I’ll be on vacation next week, so that leaves me some time to think about my next chaos-related projects. So you may imagine me sitting on the harsh but beautiful sea shore of northern Germany, gazing out to sea with burning worlds and the glory of the dark gods on my mind 😉

Before this gets too sinister, let me say that I am equally thrilled at the prospect of building my next chaos models and finally playing my first real game of the sixth edition, with an army built according to the brand new codex. And I simply cannot wait to see what all my fellow chaos worshippers will do to the old and new models in the coming weeks and months!

And as for our four brave champions above: Building and painting these guys was so much fun that I am actually tempted to expand this series: Why not build and paint one model for each of the traitor legions? That leaves me with five models to go: one Word Bearer, Night Lord, Iron Warrior, Black Legionnaire and Alpha Legionnaire. Heck, why not throw in a Red Corsair to round things out? I am already collecting bits. This should be fun…

The eye is open
The stars aligned
The dark gods stir
And their host marches forth
Death to the false Emperor!
Let the galaxy burn!

And with that, I wish you a great weekend! Let me know what you think in the comments section! And don’t fret: Regular service will resume here come Wednesday.

Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

The Ruinous Powers – Wrath

You have seen three champions of the ruinous powers so far, but there is one more. This time on “The Ruinous Powers”: Wrath

Wrath is very much Khorne’s domain, of course. And you would think that building a suitable model would be the easiest thing in the world, right? Me being a Khorne player and all…

Well, quite the opposite, actually: This champion was easily the most difficult of the four. Maybe it’s because I have already blown all of my good ideas building my own World Eaters, maybe it’s precisely because I didn’t want to repeat myself too much. But coming up with a gameplan for this guy took me quite a while.

Looking and suitable archetpyes, Khorne is fairly straightforward: It was very clear that Khorne’s champion would have to be a specialist at close quarters combat. A gladiator of sorts would have been a good idea, …only I’ve already done that.

So I tried to build a World Eater that would fit in with the other models of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt, but would also look suitably impressive to hold up to the other three guys. The funniest part is that this model uses very few actual Khorne themed parts…but let’s take a look at the WIP first:

I experimented with lots of different weapons (I even considered a spear at some point, just to try something different from the usual stereotypes), but in the end I realised that chainweapons were really madatory here. So I went the full mile and gave the champion both a chainaxe and sword. The Mk IV torso (originally from the Black Templars sprue) and Space Wolf legs were a nice combination, making the model look suitably massive and slightly feral. I also added a bare arm to represent the World Eaters’ gladiatorial heritage.

Maybe the most important decision was which head to use. I refrained from using a bare head (as I am usually wont to do) or a helmet sporting Khornate “Bunny Ears” but went for the head of a FW Renegade Militia Enforcer. The stylised skull helmet adds a very sinister quality to the model, in my opinion. I also added an ornate pauldron (from the WFB Chaos Knights) and dangling skulls to ride the skull motif for all it was worth.

As expected, the model looked rather horrible after I had painted on the base colours. Fortunately, this was easily remedied by my usual routine of washing and highlighting. I stuck to my tried and true World Eaters’ recipe very closely, only straying from the beaten path in one instance: I chose to paint the model’s eyes a light blue rather than the usual green, since it simply made for a more striking contrast. Here’s the finished model, take  a look:

I added some blood on the chainaxe’s teeth and on the base below.

As you can see, the light blue colour really adds some pop to the model’s eyes.

I normally really don’t like to use the older Chaos backpacks: Generally speaking, they can be a chore to paint due to the fact that some of the detail keeps disappearing once it hits one of the packs edges. However, I still had a dedicated Khorne Berzerker backpack courtesy of Doombreed. It featured much crisper detail than the later iterations of this design, and it even had  a little icon of Khorne — what’s not to like? It also helped in giving the model a pretty interesting silhouette.

And, as usual, let’s finish our little tour with a detail shot of the base:

Well, if you expected a creative outburst here, I am sorry to disappoint you. But then, this guy is a World Eater, so it’s no wonder I would use a couple of skulls on his base… I rather like the skull on the right (a Dark Eldar trophy): It looks like it’s just about to be crushed by the World Eaters’ heavy boot.

And with that, the fourth of my dark champions was completed. All that remained were some words to go with the model:

Huntmaster Targon Kel, of the World Eaters Traitor Legion

While the battle lasts, that’s all there is.
That, and their lord’s unending thirst.
But off the battlefield, he thinks
Of them; The Carrion Emperor’s dogs
His soul’s ablaze with hatred then
He will not be a slave, a dog.
But a hunter of men
And a taker of skulls

Blood for the Blood God!
And skulls for his throne!

 

Four dark gods, four champions. We’ll wind up this series tomorrow, when we look at all of these sinister warriors together. Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

The Ruinous Powers – Hedonism

There I was, yesterday, pondering how I had never created a follower of Tzeentch in all my hobby life. And what do you know, today I realise I’ve never done a follower of Slaanesh either.

This particular blunder is quite a bit easier to explain however: First of all, Khorne abhors Slaanesh, so there’s the most basic explanation for you. But it’s also the fact that I could never seem to find an angle about the Slaanesh followers that interested me. All the sexual innuendo (severely pared back in the last decade or so, probably to make the hobby more family friendly) some hobbyists keep making such a fuss about seemed rather trite — but that’s just me: I like my wargaming served without any cheesecake, thank you very much 😉

I also wasn’t all that fond of the horribly loud and clashing pastel colours. But as the legion came to be more and more defined and their pursuit of perfection twisted into hedonism and relentless pursuit of new experiences, I started to get a handle on the Emperor’s Children.

It still took a long time until I finally built my first Slaaneshi model. When I planned the conversion, I once again started to reflect on the different archetypes that were available to me: The classic Noise Marine, fixated on visual and aural stimuli, wielding clunky sonic weaponry and armour painted in hues that will would make you bleed from your ears. The, well, Alien Sex Fiend of ambiguous gender, clad in studded leather and sporting either more or less breasts than would be anatomically sound. Those two concepts did not seem all that compelling to me.  I rather chose to explore the third possible avenue, namely the Emperor’s Childrens’ pursuit of perfection, the original vice that led to their fall. My idea was to build an accomplished warrior, elegant and refined, and so twisted as to appear almost daemonic.

Luckily, I still had a rather eclectic collection of leftover parts. So I got to work and ended up with this:

The model is mainly a combination of the leftover half of the WFB Sorcerer Lord I used to built the champion of Tzeentch, combined with a pair of backwards-jointed legs ending in hooves that came from the plastic Possessed kit.

I added an arm from the regular Chaos Space Marines and another from the WFB Chaos Marauders. I also used a wing from the Sanguinary Guard kit to represent a stylised version of the Emperor’s Children legion badge on the champion’s shoulder. And I thought that for an elegant and distinguished warrior such as this, a half cape across the shoulder was quite appropriate.

As for the weapons, I chose a Plasma pistol (if only because it gave me an excuse to add a small OSL effect) and a wickedly shaped sword (originally a Dark Eldar weapon). Using the WFB sorcerer’s horned heas as well as his torso was a bit of a spontaneous idea, but I think it works.

Even though the post-Heresy Emperors’ Children are usually portrayed wearing armour of pink and black (or, like I said, a combination of all kinds of eye-watering pastel hues, but let’s not go there…), I decided on a different colour scheme: Even though this guy was a twisted monster, I wanted to make him look almost regal, so I chose a deep, luxurious purple for his armour and added gold trim.

I went for very pale skin to contrast the armour and to give an almost marble-like quality to the champion’s flesh. As usual, the application of washes and accents nicely rounded out the paintjob. When it came to the point were I needed to decide what backpack to use, I surprised myself by going for yet another backpack from the Possessed kit, which you’ll see below, along with the finished model:

Regarding the base, I originally wanted to add something pointing to either a defeated servant of Khorne or a loyal Marine. But then I thought about who would have even more reason to hate and fear the Emperor’s Children, and the Dark Eldar came to mind: Surely, the Dark kin would be an object of contempt for the servants of Slaanesh, fearful hypocrites, who hadn’t dared to follow the path of hedonism to its logical conclusion. So I went for a defeated Kabalite warrior, trodden into the mud by the Chaos Marines’ hooves, and built what is maybe my favourite of all the bases I have done to date. Take a look:

I realise that I may have gone a bit overboard with this guy, but after the initial complications in marrying all the seemingly disparate parts, he was just so much fun to build and paint. And should I ever decide to build an Emperor’s Children force (unlikely as that may be), he can definitely serve as their leader: He looks the part!

Captain Gades Elphenor, of the Emperor’s Children Traitor Legion

A dance of death
A line of crimson
The sweet caress of pain
What does it matter
Who lives, who dies?
When all is rapture
And pleasure alike
Show me more!

 

Three down, one to go. You know what’s next…

The Ruinous Powers – Duplicity

I’ve been building and painting Chaos models for close to two decades now, and as far as I remember, I have never ever done a Tzeentch model. Is it because, as an ardent follower of Khorne, I despise the duplicitious and craven servants of the Lord of Change? Or is it the fact that the sheer amount of mutation and physical corruption among Tzeentch’s servants is putting me off? Or maybe I am just to dense for the intricacies of great Tzeentch’s schemes? Whatever may be the reason that I have never worked on a servant of Tzeentch, it is an oversight I intend to rectify. This time on “The Ruinous Powers”: Duplicity.

Thinking about what model I wanted to build to represent a champion of Tzeentch, I came across three possible archetypes: The soulless automata of the Rubric Marines, the favoured champion, twisted and mutated beyond measure and the mysterious and sinister sorcerer, embittered veteran of the fall of Prospero, unknowable in his designs and schemes, just as his lord. It is rather hard to imbue a Rubric Marine with any sense of character, and I dislike over-the-top mutations, so the choice really was a no brainer for me.

I wanted to build a model that clearly was a Chaos Space Marine, but still had a very distinct silhouette. And I also wanted to add all kinds of visual cues to the mystic exploits of the champion, symbolising his eternal pursuit of knowledge and magickal prowess. With those main considerations in mind, I built the model. Here it is:

I used the lower half and forearms of a WFB Sorcerer Lord to give the model a silhouette distinctly different from a regular Marine, while the torso and upper arms are regular (Chaos) Space Marine parts. The sorcerer’s left arm provided me with a great looking staff, while the right hand looked like the model was bout to cast its vile magicks. The WFB parts also made the model significantly taller and leaner, enforcing the look of a character whose mental faculties are far more important than his physical prowess.

To clearly show the champion’s affiliation, I used the “Tzeentchian” head and shoulder pad from the regular CSM kit as well as a pretty old metal shoulder pad bearing the Thousand Son’s legion badge that had mysteriously survived in the depths of my bitzbox.

And finally, I added all kinds of trinkets and artifacts to the model: Pouches, books and other doodads, indispensable in its arcane rituals, and a holstered pistol, as the most basic concession to physical warfare.

For the model’s paintjob, I wanted to deviate from my usual routine (rather dark and gritty) and use slightly more luxurious and vibrant tones. I went for the Thousand Son’s typical colours of blue and gold, with dark red chosen as a contrast colour. Here’s the model after I laid down the base colours and liberally washed pretty much everything with GW Devlan Mud to tie the different colours together:

After that, it was really just a question of careful highlighting. I wanted to make it look like the sorcerer was just about to unleash his powers, so I tried to paint a glowing effect on his “third eye”, the eyes of his staff, the runes in the spellbook and the Tzeentch symbol on his shoulder pad. Check it out:

Here’s a detail shot of the shoulder pad, so you can see the lighting effect (and the reeeally oldskool Thousand Sons legion badge on his right shoulder):

1993 in the house, yo! 😉

Anyway, the glowing parts really bring the model to life in my opinion. I decided to replicate the glowing effect on the base as well. Here’s the completed base:

I added a magic rock and a couple of cut-up Wood Elf Dryad twigs to the base to show some strange roots. It looks pretty ambiguous and is quite a nice fit for the mysterious nature of the model. Like I said, a glowing effect was added to the spirals carved into the stone.

And with that, the servant of Tzeentch was complete. Take a look at the finished model:

And another detail shot of the base:

I think the finished model really looks the part. And you really wonder what’s behind the helmet, don’t you? Maybe it’s best not to find out…

Anyway, with the modelling and painting out of the way, all that was left was to write a few lines of text. And with that, the champion of Tzeentch was brought to life:

Magister Suresh Asp, of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion

On and on they come, the fools.
According to their leaders’ plans.
Oblivious to the hidden patterns:
Schemes within schemes, great Tzeentch’s design,
In which they all are naught but pawns

He laughs, except for when he wakes
From dreams of falling silver spires,
The taste of ashes in his mouth.
(No man can know their master’s plan)

And all is dust

That’s 50% done 😉 Tomorrow, you’ll see where the other half of that Sorcerer Lord went…

Until then, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

The Ruinous Powers: Decay

Let us start our exploration of the Ruinous Powers by that force so common to all worlds and universes: Decay.

I know of very few chaos players who have not, at some point, flirted with the idea of converting a model or two pledged to Nurgle. And rightly so: Many chaos players are avid converters, and Nurgle is perhaps the most evocative god when it comes to creating truly unique, disturbing models (if you don’t agree with that assessment, may I kindly ask you to head over to Dakka and check out GuitaRasmus’s thread. On second thought, you should probably do that in any case).

Right, where were we? Oh yes, Nurgle. When I think of Nurgle in 40k, I think of the Death Guard: Disease-ridden monsters in rusty, dilapidated plate, bursting with poison and corruption and eternally spreading their taint across the galaxy. So with that in mind, I dove headfirst into my bitzbox in order to create a champion worthy of great Nurgle. Here’s the result:

As you can see, the model eschews the classic “bloated” Nurgle look for something more skeletal and emaciated. That’s because I had recently converted two WFB Nurgle Lords (you can see one of them here) and I now wanted to focus on a slightly different aspect of sickness: I wanted my champion to look wizened and spent. I also couldn’t resist using a bare head to further show the model’s own decay. A WFB Zombie head, combined with a rebreather from the Cadian Command squad, perfectly fit the bill.

Oh, and I gave the model a nasty looking axe, spliced together from the leftover axe blade of the aforementioned WFB Nurgle Lord and half of the the shaft of a Chaos Knight’s lance. I also added some additional bitz and bobs for decoration.

When painting the model, I went for the classic, muddy green servants of Nurgle are so often seen wearing. I also wanted to contrast it with rusted and corroded metal trim and all kinds of verdigris. But that came later. Here’s the model with just the base colours:

For some reason, I decided to paint the champion’s left shoulder pad in a vile yellow. Perhaps to make it even more disgusting?

Anyway, the true fun started once the washes had dried. I spent quite some time on the weathering, adding rust and verdigris.
And then I was done. Take a look:

As you can see, I also added an incense burner to the model’s hip. In my imagination, the thing is emitting a horrible miasma, corrupting the very air around the Marine. Oh, and I used a little Tamiya Clear Red on the strange spine breaking through the backpack I took from the Possessed kit for that little bit of extra repulsiveness.

In addition to the models themselves, I also wanted to include a little visual flourish on each of these guys’ respective base. While the overall basing scheme would be the same as the one I use for my World Eaters, each base would get a little “special effect” that would further tie it together with the respective dark god.

In this case, the champion I standing across a rivulet of vile ichor, in wich a skull is resting, half submerged. I created the fluid with wood glue, painted it in a nasty yellow-green, washed it with Agrax Earthshade and added closs varnish on top. Eww…

And with that, the model was complete. All that remained was to create a few lines that would supply a background vignette for the Marine. So let me present the champion of Nurgle, servant of decay:

Brother Malchius Blight, of the Death Guard Traitor Legion

He chuckles at the pinpricks of their fire
Like gnats, for all the harm they do
He cuts them open then, his axe
Pitted and scarred, but oh so sharp.
Their death is quick and merciful.
Unlike his own, millennia in the making.

Oh, how he envies them.

As usual, thanks for looking and tay tuned for more!