Lord of the XII Legion – the Killing Ground

So there I was, after last week’s post, with my aquila lander for Azazel’s terrain challenge all primed and ready to go — and then something just jumped the queue. It’s still a terrain project, however, after a fashion. And I am confident it’ll make another fitting entry for the community challenge. So what is this about?

A bit more than two years ago, I converted and painted a model that still stands as one of my proudest hobby achievements: My interpretation of Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters, in his ascended form as a Daemon-Primarch of Khorne:

I am still extremely proud of the model, which inspired several blog posts and was, itself, part of an even bigger project to build models to represent Angron at different moments in his violent life.

Anyway, you can find out more about the process of creating Daemon-Primarch Angron here. The truth of the matter, however, was that more than two years later, the model still wasn’t completely finished.

You see, back when I built the base for my Daemon-Primarch version of Angron, it was planned as a modular display base, based on the shattered Imperial aquila terrain piece from the Honoured Imperium kit.

The actual base for Angron himself was, carefully and painstakingly, sawn out of the original terrain piece:

At the same time, I added two more Ultramarines to the bigger part of the display, in order to create a small mini-diorama of the XII Legion Primarch slashing through the remains of an Ultramarines squad. Something like this:

Alas, that modular piece was never finished, as I kept telling myself I would just quickly paint it up at a later point — I should really have listened to my buddy Augustus b’Raass who told me that I should not put it off for too long, lest I end up taking years to finish it. Which is precisely what happened…

But when I took a look at the unpainted base last week, I felt the need to finally finish it and give Angron his proper display — if nothing else, I wanted to have the model completely finished before GW decides to release an official model for Angron in his 40k form…

With both the actual terrain and two Ultramarines models left to complete, this was actually a pretty substantial hobby endeavour, but I surprised myself by actually making fairly quick work of it.

First up were the actual aquila base and the kneeling Ultramarine who is lining up a last shot at the Primarch:

I went for the same scratched and scuffed armour look I had aready used on the unlucky bisected officer held in Angron’s right fist, to create the impression the scene was set during a grueling battle. Due to the slightly 30k-styled Armour of the Ultramarines, this could be set either in the 30k timeframe (at the very end of the Shadow Crusade, upon Angron’s “ascension”) or during any of the following millennia, up to “current-day” 40k.

The Ultramarine standard to the right of the Marine actually mirrors an identical piece appearing on the base of my Forgeworld Angron:

The most complicated part of the paintjob was, ironically enough, to match the colour of the right side of the aquila to that appearing on the smaller part of it that makes up Daemon-Angron’s base, something that would, of course, have been trivially easy, had I painted it all in one go…

As you can see, that left only the fallen Marine in the middle (actually one of the Marine’s from the stock base of Forgeworld’s Angron), and I quickly painted that last model over the weekend.

Of course I made sure to create a suitable bloodstain on the ground, before gluing down the model:

So without further ado, here’s the finished display base, showing a charging Lord of the XII Legion and the courageous, if ill-fated, last stand of an Ultramarines squad:

Here’s a view from the unlucky survivor’s perspective…

I really feel I am giving the Ultramarines a fair shake here, in spite of everything: That last guy looks dead set not to abandon his position and to fight to his last, which seems very much in character for the legion. I feel this also prevents the dead smurfs from just feeling like gratuitous splatter effects. And after all, it’s Angron we are talking about here — there was always going to be blood, right? 😉

And of course the whole ensemble is still modular, allowing me to use Angron on his own, smaller base:

Here are some additional detail shots showing off various parts of the finished piece:

It feels great to finally have finished the complete piece – and also the last part of my little collection, or “Massacre”, of Angrons! The modular display bases for Forgeworld’s Horus Heresy characters were an inspiration for this, and now it definitely seems like a FW base turned up to eleven.

Now for that aquila lander… 😉

Anyway, that’s it for today. I would, of course, love to hear your thoughts about the finished piece, so please leave a comment! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

“And they shall know fear…”

Lord of the XII Legion – A Triptych, pt. 4

Another look at Angron this week, as we finally put the big red daemon-monster on its own base. Don’t worry, it won’t be nearly as boring as you might think 😉

“But wait! Wasn’t this supposed to be a triptych? Then why are we already on part four of this series?”, I hear you asking. Now I know how to count to three, of course — it’s just that the whole triptych idea refers to the three different forms of Angron I will be working on, while there can (and will) be many more posts than three. There, glad to have that out of the way 😉

So anyway, here’s where we left off last time:

So far, so good, but Angron needed a proper base, indeed. And this is where things got a bit out of hand. Allow me to explain:

Possibly the biggest challenge was that I had already basically given it my all with the base for my Bloodthirster model, pulling out all the stops and ending up with something pretty ostentatious:

At the same time, it was perfectly clear that I would need to come up with something even better for Angron, because…well, it’s ANGRON we are talking about here, right?

So I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and then it suddenly hit me: What if I were to base Angron on the big aquila terrain piece from the Honoured Imperium boxed set?

I bought the kit a while ago – mostly for the Space Marine statue – so I still had the aquila piece. I also really liked the allegoric nature of the idea: What better way to base a Daemon-Primarch than on the shattered remains of the Imperium’s most iconic symbol?

The problem was the size of the aquila, because it was considerably larger than the oval base that came with the Bloodthirster kit. This would make gaming a whole lot more complicated, but that wasn’t really that much of a concern to me, mostly because I don’t exactly consider my Daemon-Primarch conversion a playing piece. However, the whole ensemble ended up looking and feeling a bit too clunky, so I wasn’t perfectly happy yet.

When I posted my idea on The Bolter & Chainsword, people were quick to suggest a modular display base resembling the ensembles released as part of Forgeworld’s Horus Heresy Character Series, such as the display base showing the duel between Garviel Loken and First Captain Abaddon:

Having the bigger part of the aquila as an optional addition that the actual gaming base could be slotted into? That actually sounded absolutely awesome! However, after taking a closer look at the aquila piece and trying to decide where to possibly make the cuts, I was just about prepared to discount the idea as unfeasible…

…and then my buddy Biohazard posted a few ideas about how to make it work after all, and down the rabbit hole I went, eagerly sawing through the thick plastic with my cheap-o hobby knife from the DIY superstore — at the cost of several blisters on my right hand, I might add. But here’s what I ended up with:

That’s the complete aquila, and yet you can already make out the line where I cut a smaller part from the ensemble. Now let’s take the two apart:

And as you can see, the entire left wing and the left head make up a piece that fits fairly neatly onto the stock oval base. Which gave me this basic shape for Angron’s base:

Not bad, not bad at all! Especially since the part still clearly read as a symbol of the Imperium of Man, even though the biggest part of the aquila was actually missing. The part I had cut out also seemed to fit the base almost perfectly, right?

But let’s take a look at another perspective:

Here you can see the huge hole left underneath the (hollow) aquila piece that I needed to fill up with something — and whatever that something would be, it was clear that I would need to pay attention to make sure both parts of the aquila would still line up correctly afterwards.

Even so, I was still energised by this small success. I also made a quick and dirty Photoshop mockup to get an idea about how Angron would fit on the finished base:

The basic idea was to have him charging towards the centre of the aquila — and, by extension, whatever would be added to the other side of the base.

But first, I needed to fill in those huge holes! Thankfully, my good friend Annie provided me with some Milliput for the task, and so when we met for a little hobby session recently, she kept painting away at her crazy-awesome pirate-themed Blood Bowl team (to be featured here on the blog in a future post, scout’s honour!), while I plugged all the holes in the base using Milliput, and added some structure by pressing some cork into the putty after it had begun to dry, stamping a rocky texture onto the surface.

As you can see in the above pictures, some additional detail work also took place during this step. My usual mix of cork, slate and sand was added to the empty parts of the base and sealed with PVA glue and plastic glue. The effect was also used to blend the seams between the different areas and materials together. I also added some skulls to the front of the base, both to make the area look more interesting and also because, well, Khorne! (DUH!). Two spiky poles were used to add even more of a chaos feel to the base.

Possibly the longest time was spent on the missing half of that poor Ultramarine officer clutched by Angron: I used a pair of plastic Mk IV legs and made quite a few tweaks to them to ensure that their position on the base seemed suitably natural and organic:

And with that, the basic setup of the base was more or less complete:

So all that was left before I could break out the paints was a final round of touchups and additional texture. Augustus b’Raass very helpfully suggested applying some Liquid GS to the stony parts of the aquila, in order to create a slightly more believably texture and make the whole thig look less like smooth plastic, so that’s what I did:

And I used some regular GS to tidy up all the rough parts of the Marine legs, filling gaps in the legs, adding flex fitting and a profile to the sole of the right foot and scultping all the gribbly bitz pouring out of the body…ewww!

And with those final details out of the way, Angron’s base was finally ready for painting!

So everything was covered with a nice and even Coat of Chaos Black spray,  which once again did wonders for pulling all of the different elements together:

Now at this point I spent a fair bit of time detailing the other, bigger side of the eventual display base, but I’ll be focusing on that part in a dedicated post. From a purely logical standpoint, it would surely have made much more sense to paint both parts of the base at the same time before adding Angron to the smaller part of the base, but seeing how this whole project had already expanded into something far more involved than I had usually planned, I knew I needed a milestone achievement somewhere in there and decided to focus on finishing Angron his “gaming base” first.

So for now, you’ll have to content yourselves with a teaser picture of the two parts of the aquila in all its basecoated glory:

I added a slightly more controlled spray of Army Painter Uniform Grey on top of the Chaos Black. Now at first glance it might seem as though we were back to square one (the unpainted plastic), but upon closer examination, the grey works really well with the Liquid GS-based texture to create a slightly sandy, stony look on the aquila parts. There’s also a slight shading effect on the areas that aren’t part of the shattered aquila, as a consequence of focusing the grey spray on the actual stone.

So from here on out, I basically used my usual recipe of painting the earth dark grey, then washing and drybrushing the entire thing to bring out lots of texture. I also painted the extra bits, such as the skulls, spiky poles and the legs of the fallen Ultramarine, of course. Here’s what it looked like after this step:

The legs also received some serious weathering to tie them together with the Astartes’ upper half: Charadon Granite was carefully sponged on with a bit of blister sponge, and metal scratches were created with a detail brush and some Leadbelcher. The best part about this kind of weathering is that you can keep repeating the various steps to achieve a more and more battered look, until you’re happy.

And then, finally, the blood came out 😉

I will say that I am probably really, really careful with adding blood effects, especially for a World Eaters player: There’s almost no other effect that is so easy to overdo and that can ruin a model so thoroughly: With too much blood, every model ends up looking cartoony and overly-edgy in a “bad 90s’ video game” kind of way. Only very few models warrant massive amounts of blood, so when in doubt, less is more.

With that in mind, I thought about where the blood on the base would probably come from (hint: the Ultramarine’s maimed remains) and how the blood would behave, given the slightly angled surface. I also remembered that, according to the lore, Astartes blood starts to clot super-fast, so that was yet another reason to go easy on the gore. Then again, there was no getting around the fact that the guy had been torn in half. So with all these factors in mind, here’s the solution that I came up with:

Ultimately, I tried to use as much blood as was necessary and as little as I could get away with. I also mixed a tiny drop of black into the Tamiya Clear Red to create the centre of the various pools of blood, than added pure Clear Red on top and around the darker areas in order to add some depth and tonal variety to the puddles.

One part where I tried to achieve a fairly realistic look was the blood running along the crevices in the stone, with the aquila statue’s features basically acting like small drain channels:

I also think I’ve done a fairly good job of blending in my Milliput additions with the rest of the base:

Granted, the finish could probably have been even smoother, but let’s not forget that it all needed to line up with the other half of the base!

And finally, Auggie’s suggestion about creating extra stone texture with a thin layer of Liquid GS turned out to be golden, as the aquila really looks like it’s made of stone, rather than plastic, now 😉

So all in all, I was really happy with the finished gaming base:

No more excuses, it was time for the Lord of the XII Legion to put his foot on the ground!

Now actually gluing Angron to the base was actually an exercise in frustration, seeing how the point of attachment between the model and its base was so small. And it definitely took a lot of super glue and swearing. But I persevered. And I triumphed. And thus I give you…

 

Angron, The Red Angel, Daemon-Primarch of the World Eaters and the Blod God’s Favoured Son

Now here’s a closer look at the base:

As you can see, I have added two more “special effects”: One is an additional spot of blood directly below the Ultramarine’s torso (for obvious reasons). The other effect is something I had never tried before, and I am rather happy with the outcome: I wanted the stone in the direct vincinity of Angron’s right foot (and the flames below it) to look as though it were heating up due to the Primarch’s daemonic presence. The effect was achieved by carefully building up several layers of Bloodletter glaze:

And with the model and base now combined, our brave little smurf finally gets reunited with his lower half. Well, after a fashion, at least…

I know I am probably boring you to tears by saying this, but I am still so incredibly happy with Angron’s head and face…

Here’s a comparison shot showing Angron next to my “regular” Bloodthirster model:

Both models’ skin tones actually differ far more in real life than is obvious from looking at the picture. However, I do think I’ve done a pretty good job of surpassing the base on the Bloodthirster and of making both models look pretty different, in spite of being built from the same stock model.

And here’s a hint of things to come…

For now, this has been an incredible ride! I think Angron is easily one of my best models – if not the best model – so far, and while this has project has certainly veered outside of my comfort zone more than once, it has been a blast! Thank you so much to everyone who provided ideas, suggestions and critical feedback! Thanks to those who provided bitz and materials for this project! And thanks to thosw responsible for my main inspirations, Reg’s fabulous, Bloodthirster-based Angron conversion, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s hugely evocative descriptions of Daemon-Primarch Angron — and, of course, Alex Boyd’s illustration that probably served as the most important reference piece!

Speaking of which, here’s a little something that I made using Photoshop and Pixlr, to celebrate the occasion:

“It turned its eyes to us. The skeletal landscape of its face turned with a slowness I could only describe as bestial, but it most definitely saw us. The coal pits of its eyes steamed as blood bubbled and boiled in the thing’s swollen tear ducts. Slowly – still so very slowly – its jaws opened to reveal a quivering tongue the colour of spoiled meat, with pinkish saliva roping and stretching between rows of sharkish teeth.“

 

Aaron Dembski-Bowden, The Emperor’s Gift

 

And here’s Alex Boyd’s illustration again:

illustration by Alex Boyd

While my Angron is far from a perfect match (Reg and Rumplemaster score far higher marks on that account!), I do believe he looks like a plausible interpretation of the same character, wouldn’t you agree?

Anyway, I am super-proud of this guy! One down, two versions to go 😉 Until then, however, I would love to hear any feedback you might have! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Feet on the ground! Painting my Chaos Knight, pt. 4

So, what about that Chaos Knight I’ve been working on for quite a while now? While recent events have slowed down work on the model a bit, I do have a fresh update for you that should give you a pretty good idea as to what the finished model is going to look like, so strap yourselves in!

When we last encountered the Knight, the entire top carapace was still only undercoated black, so this was the next area I needed to tackle. Thankfully, I had purchased a Citadel L Base Brush from my FLGS, which made it far easier to produce an even coat of red on this huge area. Here’s what the Knight looked like with the carapace painted red and the first details picked out:

While I realise that not everyone will like the armour plates painted entirely in red, this was very much my plan from the beginning — and, like I said, if it had been my call, the fabled “Red Period” at GW would never have ended 😉

I’ll still need to add some further detail work, but I’ve already finished the top hatch. Here’s a closer look:

And while I was at it, I also had some fun with the interior:

Hey there, Baron Harrowthorne! 😉

Speaking of which, seeing FW’s recently released Knight Scion has made me pretty happy, seeing how I seem to have come pretty close to the “official” version of a Knight pilot with my own, kitbashed version — at least when it comes to the position and the controls for the Knight:

Oh, and another detail: Those of you paying close attention may have spotted a suspicious model in that picture of the Knight above. This little guy here:

This is a small “Gaiden Project” dubbed the “Chibi-Knight” — a roughly Epic-scaled version of my Chaos Knight, inspired by fellow German hobbyist Paule’s excellent thread about kitbashing Epic Titans. Coming up with a model to match the bigger version fairly closely has been a lot of fun, and I think I’ve done a reasonably good job of it, wouldn’t you agree? Anyway, expect to see more of this little guy at some point 😉

And that’s where I stopped working on the Knight for a while when, well…real life happened. But this past week, I’ve felt the need to do something creative and fun, so I’ve come up with this:

As you will probably have guessed, this will be the base for my Chaos Knight. As it happens, I’ve been going back and forth regarding what to put on the base: On the one hand, it’s really easy to make bases of this size look tacky by overcluttering them. But the Knight deserved a suitable base. And yet. And still…

In the end, I realised that there are few things more emblematic of the crumbling Imperium of Man than a toppled and destroyed Astartes statue — plus the piece from the Honoured Imperium kit was a pretty nice fit scale-wise! So I went with that, and I am pretty pleased with the general direction, if I do say so myself.

So here’s the – still unfinished (!) – Knight, provisionally placed on top of it:

And a closer look at the way the model and base interact:

While the base is suitably impressive for a model of this size, I think it does a pretty good job of not drawing a way too much attention from the true star of the show. If anything, it may actually be a tad too monochromatic, as pointed out by my buddy Biohazard. Yet I don’t want to screw up both the painting I have so far and the fact that it matches the bases of my World Eaters — any ideas?

Oh, and there’s one last thing I did: I finished the banner dangling between the Knight’s legs, using some decals to create a suitable design. The front received a World Eaters legion badge in red:

As simple as this design looks, it was a veritable nightmare to get right! I started with a decal from the FW World Eaters decal sheet, but it needed lots of decal softener and several coats of varnish to finally conform to the banner’s surface. And even then, what had been a rich, ox-blood red on the decal sheet turned into a prety off-putting shade of pink against the dark background, so I ended up painting over the decal several times, coloring in the legion badge, so to speak, with my brush.

Fortunately enough, the rear was far less of a hassle — in fact, designing some of the battle honours won by the Knight during its long years of service was actually quite a bit of fun! Take a look:

So, here’s the Knight as it stands right now:

When all is said and done, I am very happy with the way this guy is turning out, even though there’s still quite a bit of detail work left to do. Roughly speaking, I’d place the entire model at about two thirds done right now, although most of the stuff left to do is fairly minor detail work. But the Knight is shaping up to be quite the centre piece, wouldn’t you agree?

As always, let me know what you think! And, of course, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

 

Engine of destruction, pt. 3

One more look at the Wargrinder, like I promised. I hope I’m not boring you yet! That said, it is a fairly involved project that I am also rather proud of, so I hope you’ll forgive me for featuring it prominently whenever I can…

Anyway, the last thing needed to complete the model was a suitable base. And the fact that the standard Dreadknight base is rather large also meant that I couldn’t exactly phone it in . So I sat down and thought about what I actually wanted the base to accomplish from a visual perspective:

• I wanted the base to fit the look of my army’s overall basing scheme, obviously. So it was clear that I would use the same rock/rubble look.
• I wanted the base to look interesting enough to do the model justice, but not so impressive as to draw away attention from it.
• it would be really cool if the base could feature a fallen enemy of the Wargrinder.

So with these ideas in mind, I started to mess around with a couple of ideas. I obviously used the usual recipe of big and small pieces of cork plus some modelling sand and slate to represent the rocky ground and debris. Yet what about the fallen enemy? Covering the base in skulls would certainly have seemed slightly goofy, since the Wargrinder doesn’t have any obvious way of harvesting skulls in the traditional sense, due to its enormous size. So it had to be a bigger enemy, preferredly one with a certain reputation when it came to ferocity in combat.

Fortunately enough, I still had the torso front of a Death Company Dreadnought lying around from way back when I converted my first Chaos Dreadnought from a Furioso kit. I had always wanted to use that nicely detailed piece, and now was the time! So I added the remains of a defeated Blood Angels Dread to the base:

I didn’t have a whole Dreadnought to spare, of course, so I wanpushed into the earth under theted its remains to look half buried, probably flattened and  trampled underfoot. In order to achieve this effect, I covered the middle of the base in a mix of wood glue, modelling sand and cork chaff. After the material had been evenly distributed, I added the torso front on top. I also built the remains of a torn off arm from a Dreadnought fist and a hydraulic strut from the Dreadknight. Then I added more sand and cork on top to blend everything together. And if you take a closer look, you can see some actual cables, representing the torn cabling emerging from the Dreadnought’s destroyed torso. And you may even spot the areas where I used a pen to sketch the outlines of the Wargrinder’s feet in order to make sure everything would fit together in the end.

When everything was nice and dry, the base was spraypainted with Chaos Black. As per my usual routine, the next step was to block in the base colours. Then everything was washed with brown wash. Then I went back in to do the accents and detail work. I tried to replicate the “official” Death Company paint scheme fairly closely (finding out once again the loyal Marines really aren’t for me when it comes to painting). Afterwards, I used a mix of washes, drybrushing and weathering effects to create scratches, chipped paint and battle damage on the fallen Dread. Here’s the finished base:

I am reasonably pleased with the result: The fallen machine clearly reads as a Death Company Dread, and it adds a nice visual flourish to the base without the thread of overpowering the actual model. So the last step was to actually glue the Wargrinder to the base, and it was with slightly shaky hands that I completed this last task.

After enough drying time has elapsed, let’s take a look at the completely finished model. I give you the Wargrinder on its new base:

Granted, it’s just a relatively small detail when compared to the rest of the model, but it does really make the Wargrinder look complete. I also think it’s a nice bit of irony that a Death Company Dreadnought, itself well known for its ferocity in combat, has been reduced to a mere base decoration here 😉

Here are some additional detail shots:

The Wargrinder towering over its fallen foe.

By the way, PDH found the perfect excuse for the icon of Khorne on the model’s back being the wrong way around: “It’s for when Khorne’s looking down on him.” — yes, that’s a brilliant explanation, and much better than admitting that I didn’t pay enough attention, so let’s just go with that!

All in all, I am really happy to have completed this model! It’s been some work alright, although I feel the result is well worth it:

Incidentally, after posting the model, it turned out that the choice of head remains a point of critcism for some. Now I do of course realise that it’s a fairly eclectic choice, and it will never please everybody. That said, at least there was some method to my madness. Fellow hobbyist TJWyrm over on B&C really put it more succinctly in his comment than I ever could have:

For me, the head really helps trace a lineage back to the Legion Maniple robots, one that was dragged with your guys into the warp, and is still serving millenia later.

While I didn’t have it all worked out like that from the start, my plan for the model was that the Wargrinder is neither a dreadnought-like sarcophagus for the remains of an Astartes, nor a daemon’s spirit given metallic form. Rather, it is actually supposed to be an enhanced and somewhat redesigned Legio Cybernetica robot (as a matter of fact, even though I only disvovered this after the fact, it does bear some structural similarities to the Lambda Zeta-01 Combat Class Robot): Maybe it has been serving the 4th assault company ever since the Heresy, and Warpsmith Deracin just made some additions and alterations to the machine. Maybe it has been constructed by Deracin himself, using the remains of Mechanicus warmachines and the dark secrets of his craft. In any case, the machine isn’t a frenzied daemon, but rather an emotionless, uncaring killing machine. And I think the head I chose is a better representation of that than any frenzied daemon face. That said, it’s certainly purely a matter of taste, and I acknowledge that not everyone will like my choice. I am certainly not making excuses, just trying to explain my reasoning on this. For those who really cannot stomach the head, I’ll happily point you towards Chris’ Dreadknight conversion once again. It uses a Necrosphinx head and looks awesome!

So yeah, that’s the finished model in all its glory. But what will I ever use it for?
To be perfectly honest, I mainly started this project due to the prospect of being able to convert and paint an awesome model. Still, there are a number of possible in-game uses for the Wargrinder, of course: The most obvious choice would be to use it as a Decimator. The size of the model is similar, and using it in that capacity would be a great way of having access to a Decimator without having to get the “official” model, The small problem here is the WYSIWYG rule: The base is quite a bit bigger than the Decimator’s standard base — and I simply refused to glue the Wargrinder to a smaller base, because that could have looked rather ridiculous. Still, while I didn’t try to model for advantage, the fact remains that the bigger base may make things ever so slightly easier for me 😉 The other problem is the model’s weapon: I just used the leftover Forgefiend weapon because I liked the look of it, but it doesn’t really represent either equipment choice available to a Decimator all that well. Still, with a little goodwill on my opponent’s part, the Wargrinder would certainly make for a pretty cool counts as Decimator.

It could also be used as a counts as Forgefiend, Maulerfiend or even Defiler, come to think of it. Sure, each of these options will once again require an understanding opponent, but the bottom line remains the same: Even though my main objective was to build and paint a badass-looking model, the Wargrinder could very well come in handy on the table as well!

So, before I wind up this post, it’s good tradition here on Eternal Hunt to present some fluff to go with the new model. So here’s all you need to know about the Wargrinder:

Wargrinder pattern Blood Knight

The warmachine designated Wargrinder by the legionaries of the 4th assault company is certainly a terrifying testament to Huntmaster Deracin’s dark genius. Bigger even than the fearsome Contemptor, the Wargrinder usually towers over the battlefield, a metallic embodiment of murderous intent.

Based on the ancient and hallowed warmachines of the Legio Cybernetica that fought alongside the XIIth Astartes Legion during the Great Crusade and subsequent Horus Heresy, the Wargrinder has evolved into something altogether different: While there are still enough hints as to its origin, the machine’s armoured bulk now resembles nothing so much as the form of a traitor Astartes, its baroque armour plating and daemonic weapons a clear indicator of its allegiance. and its fluid, almost organic, movements terrifying to behold.

While the Wargrinder is infused with the energies of the warp, it remains a machine: In eerie contrast to the frenzied and bloodthirsty traitor Astartes fighting alongside it,  the daemon engine’s relentless advance betrays the precision of an automaton: A Wargrinder never tires, never retreats, until its task is done. But where an organic follower of Khorne would leave himself be consumed by his instinct and his rage, it remains emotionless and calculating, its behavioral protocols ensuring its murderous efficiency.

In the armies of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt, Wargrinders fill a combat role similar to that of the accursed Decimator daemon engine. Equippable both for short and long range combat, a Wargrinder is a highly versatile warmachine. It is also a terror weapon, frightening to behold to those standing against the 4th. And a chilling reminder that even the most sophisticated machines ever devised by mankind may be turned against the servants of the false Emperor…

 

So there you have it: I hope this little series about building and painting the Wargrinder has been interesting to pursue! As always, feel free to let me know what you think in the comments! I’d love to hear from you!

And, of course, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Facing Demons, pt. 2: All your base…

One of the few hobby-related things I managed to do over the holidays was to get some more work done on my Lorimar model. In my last post about this guy, I already described the thoughts that went into building the model. Still, there were still some details to attend to:

The first of those was to build a base for the model. The base for Lorimar had to be rather tall and imposing — not only to show off the model, but for a rather simple reason, really: Lorimar’s flowing cape was pretty long, so I had to elevate him quite a bit in order to raise it clear of the ground. With this in mind, I got to work. Here’s what I came up with:

As you can see, the rock from the Chaos Lord kit was used as a centrepiece for the base. The model had been built with this particular rock in mind as well, so it made a lot of sense to use it. The bit was combined with quite a bit of cork in order to make it look a little less generic. I used a couple of skulls on stakes, but I didn’t go overboard with it: After all, the model has enough skulls as it is 😉
I also added a couple of spears, jutting out of the ground at different angles. Those came from the WFB Marauder Horsemen. I used the he same kind of spears when building my custom objective markers, leading to a nice bit of visual consistency across the army.

Although the base still needs some additional cork chaff and small pieces of slate to better blend in the plastic rock with the rest of the base and to add some texture, the overall build is complete.

I also did a last minute change to the model itself: Even though I rather liked the two-handed axe that I had converted for Lorimar, it was still the one part about the model that kept bothering me: It looked too heavy to be wielded in tandem with a sword, for one. And the silhouette of the weapon, extraordinary as it might have been, didn’t immediately read as an axe. So I exchanged it for a slightly less clunky model. Take a look:

The new axe head came from one of the Dark Vengeance Chosen. Even though it doesn’t look as unique as the original axe, I still think it strikes a far better balance: Lorimar looks like he could actually fight wielding both weapons at the same time, which had been the original plan for the model. The converted axe head went into the bitzbox for a future project, of course…

Some smaller additions to the base notwithstanding, this is basically the finished model ready for painting. So when you next hear about Lorimar, expect the model to have some paint on it 😉

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