The journey of a Champion of chaos is long and convoluted, and that pretty much describes the process I undertook in the creation of my Chaos Renegade and leader of his merry band of Khornate followers.
When I first rolled up the Renegade, his attributes included a bloodletter face and horns, along with a pretty underwhelming sword and bolt pistol combination. My immediate plan was to use on of the lovely Jes Goodwin champions:
But mid-way through the creation of the warband, this started to feel a little underwhelming. If I was going to create a Renegade from the 41st Millennium, then I really wanted him to be unique, imposing, and most importantly, not just an unmodified fantasy figure. So I started mocking up some potential conversions. For a long time, #3 was the front runner. I even got to the point where I was about to start chopping up some old figures.
I still wasn't convinced until I was looking in my boxes and rediscovered the 2001 Games Day figure - Kroot Shaper Angkhor Prok. I quickly mocked up a new concept (top left in the image above), and that was that decided!
The base figure has a really nice pose and presence. I could also magic away the two-thumbed hands and odd shaped feet as being part my renegade's transition to daemonhood.
I removed the head and left leg, along with the rifle (which was, I don't mind telling you, an absolute pig of a task). I then replaced the head with the head cut from my original intended Jes Goodwin champion.
The bionic leg comes from an old Rogue Trader Imperial Guard captain, although I had to lengthen it a bit. The massive over-sized glaive is a combination of a blade cut and shaped from plasticard with a 2nd edition Space Marine power axe handle.
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| The rune on the rear of the blade is a slightly adapted rune for "face of a bloodletter". |
Ctzezmu, Beloved of the Dog King, Keeper of the Blood Skull and wielder of the Morrow Glaive. He bears the visage of the Slaughter-Kin and is blessed with unearthly speed. Fear him.
I painted up Ctzezmu in the same palette yet again as his followers, but ramped up the amount of traditional Khornate brass to go along with his natty helmet. After much deliberation, I gave him a weather-beaten black cloak. I briefly considered adding some freehand, but with an already busy model, I elected against it.
After painting his kilt bone, I then realised that it was adjacent to the skull at his waist. Not wanting to repaint the kilt, I decided to render the skull as a deep glossy red - perhaps this is some potent arcane device or gift from his master.
So that's the warband complete (at least for the campaign day in August). So it's probably time to see the whole gang together.
All in all I'm very pleased with the look of the warband - it's certainly got that traditional Khornate feel, and hopefully they all hang together visually without being completely uniform. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they actually perform as a force and pitting them against some rival Renegades!
Read more about this warband:
Part 1 - Creating the Warband
Part 2 - Ratling Renegades
Part 3 - Renegade Inquisitor
Part 4 - Beastmen
Part 5 - More Beastmen
Part 6 - Traitor Legionnaires
Wow, what a fantastic conversion.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil! I have to thank Brian Nelson for sculpting a fabulous figure that I could cut up ;)
DeleteIt was a brave choice but you did well to make a unique champion really. I love the warm hate/cold blood version of khorne much better tbh.
ReplyDeleteKhorne is pretty much synonymous with berserk axe-wielding fighters these days - it was nice to do a different spin on it with a more restrained sinister character. Perhaps he found Khorne through his love of martial perfection, rather than through uncontrolled rage?
DeleteThis is wonderful gang, it's a thrill to see them all together.
ReplyDeleteI really like the look of figure concept 1, with the trophy rack clearly establishing him as a the leader. Though that get up is probably better for the battlefield of mainstream 40K with army level engagements, and not narrative driven campaigns with a smaller scale focus. The uniqueness of your conversion really makes this guy into a character.
Is he a Kroot or a human? I want to see him take his helmet off and reveal his race!
Thanks Curis! It's been a really fun project, even more so as I doubt I'd have embarked on it spontaneously. It's also got a different vibe to the gang-building I've done of late - this feels like different components pulling together to reveal a whole, rather than explorations on a theme.
DeleteI did like concept one, but discarded that pretty quickly as it was proving difficult and expensive to obtain Warlord Queek's trophy rack. It also suffered the same technical issues that plagued those variants - the tricky compatibility of the thin-waisted and fantastically armoured Goodwin torso with the bulkier and cruder RT Inquisitor legs.
I'm not so sure we'd want to see his face mind you...
Wow, that is an amazing conversion, and I can sympathize with cutting out the rifle to give you a place to put the glaive shaft, seems like it would have been brutal indeed (so... fitting then?) Colorwise, I like how he both fits in with his followers, and stands out by having a superior color combination (that cloak pulls it all together!)
ReplyDeleteI am a bit surprised that you did not replace his pointing knife with a pointing bolt pistol, but then I guess that would have been a bit too literal.
You're not wrong, that rifle-ectomy was a pain!
DeleteI did spend a long time mulling over a pistol. In the end I elected to leave the knife, partly because I liked it, partly because I wasn't confident I could replicate the complicated finger/thumbs, but mainly because the figure needed the balance to the large glaive blade.
I've been lurking on your LAF thread for a while, and I've been blown away by your work - bravo!
ReplyDeleteYour champion is the icing on the (skull shaped) cake and a great leader for a warband that anyone would be proud to be slaughtered by.
Thanks very much for taking to time to pop over to the blog!
DeleteI guess the cake would have to be red velvet?! ;)
Definitely!
DeleteGreat conversion, and a very nice warband!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kym! They all came together I think :)
DeleteI'm shocked at the way you saw the different pieces and then envisioned this. It's so awesome. You had some guts to cut that rifle, it certainly paid off. Congrats, this one is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you have to take the gamble! I admit I was nervous removing the rifle, particularly around his hand, as damage would have been difficult to repair. I'm glad you think the result was worth it :)
DeleteI would like to see WIP shots of the removal of the gun (and possible damage) or of similar cuts in the future. I'm sure it would help me and others seeing what you see and getting a feel of the rapairs and touch ups needed to get the kind of clean models you are getting us used to.
DeleteIt migh also help other people to become braver and try similar things themselves. I for one admit you have been an inspiration to do more converting these last few years..
Keep up the good work. It's divinely (or should I say Deamonically) enjoyable.
That's a really interesting suggestion - I don't have pics of this conversion that I could share, but I could certainly share in future. I'll make a note to try it with the next conversion in the queue! You can cover a lot of crimes with green stuff though ;)
DeleteThanks for the feedback!
It's been great fun watching all the different warbands take shape. The final game should look awesome!
ReplyDeleteThank very much! Can't wait to see them all on the table :)
DeleteVery, very, very nicely done ... all the way from conception, conversion to paint.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much! Really pleased he's gone down so well :)
DeleteWow, this guy is just beyond awesome! Shame not to see Queek's trophy rack, but that's only because Queek is Best, and I saw your reasoning above. It turned out so much cooler this way anyway, and you're braver than me for chopping away that rifle! I don't know how you did it with so little repair work, but it was certainly worth the pain. The whole force looks fantastic too.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Queek is a great figure!
DeleteThe gun removal was a laborious process. I actually removed most of the barrel from the rear after I'd chopped off the head, which minimised damage to his right arm. The butt involved very careful slicing along the finger to the hand and removal of tiny pieces of metal. I actually bent the finger to get it out of the way, only bending it back once the glaive haft was in place.
Thanks!
Quite a bit of effort and well worth it! This warband is an amazing accomplishment Jon. Can't wait to see it in person.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom. Really pleased that you guys seem to like them as much as I do! I can't wait to see everyone else's too.
DeleteGenius Jon, making the pages of RoC come to life like that.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jason! That's what I was aiming for and I'm delighted you think so :)
DeleteFab conversion it looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon!
DeleteGoodness but that is impressive sir. I like the more subdued Khorne feel too - these days it, like most of GW designs, are far too over the top and your fellow offers a different take.
ReplyDeleteNow I want to know what you'll plan to do with the left over Champion's body!?
Thanks Dai! I think subtle and sinister is as much fun as in your face. I really hadn't thought about what to do with the headless guy!!
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