Converted Orruk Megaboss

Long time, no posting... Sorry about that! Here's something to make up for it: a conversion of the new Age of Sigmar Orruk Megaboss. Original plan was possibly for a pre-discovery Angron, but he's just too big and I didn't have a head that fitted which could be Angron (was tempted by the Ogre head with the chainmail face mask for a bit?) Instead he's ended up as a mini-Daemon Prince, some sort of Terminator Lord on the path to ascension. In game I'll probably run him as a Lord-on-Jugger, have him join the Bone Collectors (my Bloodcrushers).

He's been a fairly simple conversion. Head and axe head from a Daemon Prince, shoulders are the rear pads of a Forge Fiend, neck is from a Jugger. Plus a load of green stuff to fill the gaps left by not putting on the main torso armour, and a few extra bits & bobs (Khorne icon on his loincloth, DP loincloth on his rear, random grill from somewhere on his back).

Look how big he is! I really didn't realise when I bought him, thought he was a bit of a rip-off until I started making him. But no, he's worth it.

Six Converted Bloodthirsters!

Angron's Bodyguard, the Cruor Praetoria, is now taking shape, with my 6 smaller Bloodthirsters all built. As you can see, they are all designed to be roughly the same size as the classic Bloodthirster in the middle. In game terms I can run them as normal Bloodthirsters (of Unfettered Fury) or as Daemon Princes - this will be particularly good for Codex: Khorne Daemonkin, if the rumours that some of the formations need non-Bloodthirster HQs are true, and as it seems like Daemon Princes can carry the cool artefacts that Bloodthirsters can't.

As you can probably tell, these Bloodthirsters have been made from 6 basic kits (Juggernaught, Balrog, Bloodthirster, Forgefiend, Hive Tyrant, Daemon Prince), but hopefully mixed up enough and with enough extra pieces from my bits box added that by the end they are a coherent set of 6 Bloodthirsters. Hopefully!

The Lord of the Rings Balrog is an excellent Bloodthirster stand-in. He's bigger than the classic model, comes with a wonderful whip (which I trimmed the flames off very easily), and just fits so well! I opted to give him a headswap for a Juggernaught, giving him a more bestial, bull-like appearance. I also up-armoured him, with bits from Daemon Princes, Hive Tyrants, and WFB Marauder shields. Finally I swapped his lovely big wings for some smaller Daemon Prince wings - I want to use his wings for some larger Bloodthirster projects!

As soon as I saw the WFB Morghasts I knew that I wanted to use their wings for a counts-as-Skarbrand, they're just perfect. Possibly they're a touch small, but they're so beautifully made. Skarbrand's body is a Juggernaught, his legs are from a Hive Tyrant, and his brutal twin cleavers are from the Morghast Harbingers (with Daemon Prince arms & shoulder pads). Finally his head is from the Balrog, with some green stuff tentacles for dreadlocks. I love my green stuff tentacle maker so much, it's changed everything!

This Bloodthirster is my weediest, apart from the classic. He'll probably be relegated to being a Daemon Prince more often than not. His wings are the old metal ones from a Chaos Dwarf Lammasu, whilst his torso and shoulder pads are from a Daemon Prince. His legs are the marvellous Forgefiend back legs again, and his arms are from the very useful Hive Tyrant.

This final Bloodthirster is the most unique, thanks to his Blood Slaughterer legs. The idea is that he is an overseer of the Brass Forge, working for Khorne to create his Daemon Engines. His Hive Tyrant torso ties into this, with overlapping armour that evokes the Blood Slaughterer, Juggernaughts, and Brass Scorpions. His arms and wings, of course, are from the Daemon Prince again.

These guys are now all sitting on my painting desk. I've got quite a task ahead of me...

Lots of Red: 1st Painting Batch Done!

The first batch of painting is done and (finally!) photographed. Sorry the photos aren't very good, my camera is rubbish and my house is dark...

Djymikh the Debaser is a patron of Hans Kho'ren of the World Eaters. When Hans Kho'ren's Skull Takers were recruited by Angron for the attack on Armageddon, Ymmikh accompanied them, eager to shed blood in Khorne's name.

Bunankh the Deranger is the beast that broke the mind of the Red Cardinal of Iddesleigh. The Blood Cardinal, plagued by visions of a grinning daemon torturing him to death whilst his entire world burnt, lead the horrific Crusade of Peace in order to root out the evil which he believed must lurk in the populace of Iddesleigh. The innocent agri-worlders were entirely wiped out, a task started by the Blood Cardinal's fanatical followers and finished by Unnakh himself once enough blood had been shed to allow him to enter the physical world. The Red Cardinal was the last person on the world to die, impaled on the spire of his cathedral by the mocking Bunankh. Now he seeks to destroy Armageddon as he did Iddesleigh...

The Bone Collectors. Once mortal champions of Khorne, they walk the fine line between Spawnhood and Daemon Princedom: vastly mutated beyond their mortal bodies, but only just maintaining control over their form and mind. They spend their lives shedding blood and collecting kills for Khorne: to keep him smiling upon them; to persuade him to not smite them into Spawn; and possibly to convince him to bless them as Daemon Princes.

I love the way that characters in Black Crusade have to balance their infamy vs their corruption, that whole idea seems a wonderfully Realm of Chaos vibe. These are my counts-as Bloodcrushers

This particular group of Bloodletters were all created from the blood shed in fights between Space Marines, between those who should be brothers. They first emerged in the Horus Heresy, as Angron purged his legion on Istvaan III, and have followed his career ever since - from Ultramar to Terra to the Eye of Terror. Now that Angron has descended from the Devourer of Stars to destroy Armageddon and its Space Wolf defenders, they pull themselves out of the Immaterium once more, formed from the blood of Astartes of both sides.

Mankind has always told tales of horrors lurking the shadows, violent man-shaped beasts waiting to emerge and devour. From beyond the circle of light cast by flickering campfires to under the beds and in the cupboards of brightly-lit hab-blocks, people have always stared fearfully into the dark. And with good reason, for in the liminal shadows these bestial Bloodletters wait...

Born long ago in a terrible crusade between two armies of heavily armoured knights, both believing that they fought for the One True God, these Bloodletters have always flocked to violence and sought to use mankind's violent urges to create rents in reality.

So along with 3 Soul Grinders (using my Daemon-Knights models) this is 1,500pts of Chaos Daemons! Next step: 4 more small-sized Bloodthirsters (who, like these 2, will be used in games either as Bloodthirsters or as Daemon Princes), and then I'll have my birthday and with that extra cash I'm going to get the new Bloodthirster and bits for more Bloodthirsters in his scale. And also, with Khorne Daemonkin now released, I quite want to build some Chaos Space Marines and some Cultists...

The Kitbashed Bloodthirster

My second Bloodthirster is based around the spare torso that comes in the Bloodthirster box, plus a raid on my bits collection. You get 2 torsoes in the box because one head has an attached neck and the other doesn't. A nice bonus, I thought!

The legs are the back legs of a Forgefiend/Maulerfiend, they have that goaty feel that's oh so Khornate. Plus lots of pistons, helping anchor the model in 40k. They were joined by a plastruct tube, and then I filled it all in and bulked it out with green stuff.

The head is from a defiler, and the wings are from a daemon prince. The lower arms are also from a daemon prince - the whip/tentacle arm is meant to be his tail.

He just needs a chain going up his rear - I've got to dig around deep in my craft box, but I'm sure I remember seeing one in there.

And now one final shot, of the family so far. This guy is a bit less tall than the official Bloodthirster, due to the wings, but he's got a bulkier lower body and I don't think it's game-breaking. Next I need to work on both their bases, and then break out the paint!