Chaos Space Marines: Tzeentchian Cultists

I finally got around to completing my Tzeentchian Cultists for my warband, the Watchers Of Ophios. These guys are known as The Changers Of Ways.

As well as a Flamer arm, I swapped the arm of this Champion with the *other* Cultist Champion, and used a Maxmini head. The other chap has just borrowed a banner from the Flagellants kit.

More Flagellant goodness here - it's a veritable treasure trove of bits! - and another simple headswap on the Heavy Stubber guy - this time with the Champion's head.

Flagellants and Chaotic bits once again, for more simple kitbashery.

And ditto here. One of the great things about the Flagellant kit, from my point of view, was that it allowed me to introduce pink flames as a spot colour for the group.

Chaos Space Marines: Raptor #2

So, after the drawn-out process that was painting my Heldrake, I'm back on the infantry for my Watchers Of Ophios, and in particular, I have gone back to painting my Raptors. Here is my latest effort.

I've tried to use Screamer Pink once again as a spot colour on the 'tubing', in an attempt to tie it in with the other units (I've particularly used the pink with Jokaero Orange highlighting on my recent Hellbrute and Heldrake).

The paintjob is pretty straightforward - there's not much to it in the way of craft or guile - but I think it's reasonably striking and effective. Go Team Tzeentch!

Chaos Space Marines: Heldrake

Back to my primary project now, and The Watchers Of Ophios - my Tzeentchian Chaos Space Marine warband. I have been working on this Heldrake for quite some time now - in the background whilst I have been doing other things such as the Hellbrute and other infantry for the same group.

I used the same colour scheme - Kabalite Green, drybrushed with Hawk Turquoise, then with a Guilliman Glaze over the top, with Bright Brass (Vallejo) trim - as I have with the rest of my warband, and they tie together well, I think. I've used Screamer Pink as a spot colour for a bit of cohesion.

The Heldrake is one of the least-rewarding models to paint, because everything has to be done in sub-assemblies in order to do it justice. As a result, I was only able to see the fruits of my labours right at the very end. With other models, you can use them whilst you work on them... Not so with the Heldrake, unfortunately.

Here he is, sat alongside examples of the pther forces in my warband, to give an idea of how they all tie together, visually.

Chaos Daemons: Army In Progress

Some of my friends wondered how my Daemons army was progressing, and whether I could post some pictures on the shared (private) blog that we jointly contribute to, so i took some photos. Turns out I have more Daemons than I first thought. Who knew?

Whilst a little Nurgle-heavy, my army is one of Chaos Undivided, drawing in warriors from all four of the Ruinous Powers, from Daemonettes to Screamers, Bloodletters and Nurglings.

Here's my freaky Fanged-Vagina-Faced Herald of Slaanesh, cobbled together out of Kromlech/Maxmini bits and the Tzeentch Sorceror kit.

My Herald Of Nurgle - basically just the WHFB Nurgle Lord sat atop a 40mm base, so he can tower over his fellow followers of the Plaguefather.

My Soul Grinder and Plaguebearers, shambling along as usual, and providing a backdrop of bilious green and faeces brown to my army.

My Herald of Khorne - once again pilfered from WHFB. I just feel that Heralds should stand out from the crowd, rather than being a slightly larger Bloodletter/Plaguebearer/Daemonette/Horror.

Speaking of which, here is my Tzeentchian contingent, featuring not one, but two heralds, and a Burning Chariot to give them a bit of firepower.

So there you go...

Chaos Space Marines: The Watchers Of Ophios (WIP)

So, here are the beginning phases of my recent Chaos Space Marines project: my Tzeentchian Warband, The Watchers Of Ophios. This is not a finished group shot (hence me labelling it a WIP), but it gives an idea of how the units may look against each other. Over the coming weeks, I intend to add some Havocs (built but not painted), some Raptors (ditto), some counts-as Thousand Sons, fashioned from the bolter-wielding Chosen from the Dark Vengeance kit; another Rhino (for the aforementioned Rubricae) and a Heldrake (hurrah!). This isn't designed to be a competitive force, and I won't even play them on their own, really. I have a much larger Nurgle force, with smatterings of Slaaneshi and Khornate units thrown in, forming a Chaotic Coalition of sorts, from which I will be able to draw whatever units I need for a particular battle. This Warband is more for fluff purposes, and because I like the paint scheme I stumbled upon.

These are my Chaos Marines, fashioned from regular CSMs, but using the Warp Talon heads from the dual kit Raptor box.

Here is my Chaos Sorceror, Orestes Agammemnon, who will lead this troupe of ne'er-do-wells into battle. As you can see, he's just a modified Chaos Lord from the Dark Vengeance box, with his head swapped out for one of the more Tzeentch-y ones from the CSM kit, and his arm hacked off and replaced with a freaky fireburst one from the Possessed kit.

All of my Cultists in this Warband are quite heavily modified, since I have so many sets of Cultists from a number of DV boxes. The Champion, for instance, features a Chaotic head (from Maxmini? Kromlech? One of those...) combined with the clawed hand from the other Cultist Champion that comes in the boxset, and the right arm from a Flamer Of Tzeentch. I've also used some parts from the Plaguebearer kit (which I have found look really different if you use an unfamiliar palette for them - ie, steering away from greens and browns) and the Empire Flagellants. The latter of these two kits is fantastic for combining with 40K miniatures.

And last, but not least, here is my Hellbrute: 'The Inconstant' (as named by my good friend, Himn). I hacked off his Multi-Melta and gave him a twin-linked Lascannon (fashioned out of two regular Lascannons) for a bit of variety and long-range capability in my army. I already have two Nurglite Helbrutes with Multi-Meltas, so this just offers something different (and possibly more reliable... I have lost count of the amount of times my hellbrutes have been destroyed after rolling 1's and 2's to hit with their Big Guns...)

Chaos Space Marines: Raptor

A change in photographical style today, with an attempt at a deliberately overblown shot for dramatic effect. Here's my first Raptor! Painted to match in with my Tzeentchian warband.

The colour scheme is fairly simple, and works pretty well with the lightning effects, I think.

The details on the Raptor miniatures are really nice, I think, although they do take a little time to complete with care - it must be quite hard to cut any corners with these models.

Chaos Space Marines: Completed Helbrute III

Hurray! My third Hellbrute is finally finished! The details took quite a long time, but it was quite satisfying at the end of it all.

All of the eyes, and teeth and tendrils and mechanical bits mean that there is an awful lot of stuff to pay attention to on this model, which can be quite daunting for new hobbyists picking up the Dark Vengeance boxset.

I went for fairly pallid flesh tones on this chap, which I had to re-do, after I accidentally applied too much Agrax Earthshade as an all-over wash.

I used purples and reds as spot colours on the tentacles and fleshy tubes on the Hellbrute, to match it into my collections of Cultists and Marines.

Here you go - more fleshy chimney-style bits atop his hull/body.  I really like this model.

Chaos Space Marines: Hellbrute III

So, for a change of pace (and to indulge in a little housekeeping), I decided to go back to this Tzeentchian Hellbrute which has lain dormant for far too long.

Given that I already have two Nurgley Hellbrutes with the original Dark Vengeance Power Fist/Multi-Melta axis of weapons, I decided to do a bit of slicing and dicing with this one; cutting out the Multi-Melta and replacing it with Lascannon bits that I plundered from some old Devastator kits.  They're not *entirely* straight, but this *is* Chaos Marines that we're talking about...

My first day of reclamation work saw me painting the Hellbrute in the style of a 1980s shellsuit, with nice greens and purples. YUM!

Day Two, however, saw the little blighter taking shape a little more, and looking a bit more civilised.  I applied the gold trim to his armour, and I also started adding a few more colours to the tentacles and tubes.

The reds and oranges that I applied are designed to tie the Hellbrute in with the other elements of my Tzeentch warband - The Watchers of Ophios, whose flame effects use some of these colours.

There's still a long way to go, but at least we're starting to get somewhere now...

(This is the scheme he needs to match to. Fingers crossed!)

Chaos Daemons: Flamers of Tzeentch

Here are some Flamers Of Tzeentch: so-called, because... well... I'm sure you can make the leap of logic. These chaps form a fairly important part of my Daemons army because they can shoot! Which is rather important, I suppose...

They were super-easy to paint - mainly relying on drybrushing, with only a few details picked out for finishing touches.

As with all Daemons, these chaps are very forgiving of slap-dash painting, and look great after a few washes to pull the colours together.

Chaos Space Marines: Tzeentch Cultists #4 & #5

Rounding off today's Cultist selection are these two likely lads - two variations on the same model, but hopeful unique enough in their own way.

I probably don't need to give you any hints to help you figure out where this guy's head is from...

A pallid fleshtone changes the character of the head, though, I feel.  I probably could have used it for a Slaaneshi Cultist, too.

I honestly can't remember where I got the freaky hand for this chap from... Some  kind of Tzeentchian character?  The Possessed kit?  Answers on a postcard, please...

This unit (or the first half of it), have been my most pleasing painting project in a long while.