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: 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.

Chaos Space Marines: Tzeentch Cultist #3

The simple addition of a banner from the Empire Flagellants kit makes this Cultist a little bit different... And helps to tie him in with the rest of the squad!

These Cultists are some of my all-time favourite Warhammer 40K models...

Chaos Space Marines: Tzeentch Cultist #2

Here's another follower of Tzeentch for my Warband - I kept the flame theme running through, as you can see, courtesy of the Empire Flagellants kit.

This headswap was a little trickier to carry out, and it was a bit of a wrench, as the original head was a cool, gas-mask-y one.

I've not gone to town on the conversion, but I'd like to think that the substantially-different head gives it a bit of character of its own.

Chaos Space Marines: Cultist Champion

This latest batch of Dark Vengeance figures sees me being a bit more creative with them.  Because they were going to be devotees of Tzeentch, I wanted them to be a bit warped and twisted, so I raided by Bitz Box.

Obviously the main body of the miniature comes from the Cultist Champion model in the Dark Vengeance set, whilst I used one of the mutated heads from a Maxmini set.

His arm (well, one of them, at least!) comes from a Flamer of Tzeentch.  These darker, pink/orange flames are a recurring theme in this Tzeentchian Warband.

The other hand, meanwhile, came from the other Cultist Champion.  A handswap never did anybody any harm, did it?  Did it...?

Chaos Space Marines: Chaos Cultists

The Dark Vengeance boxset is an absolutely fantastic starting point for anybody wanting to enter the world of 40K - both of the factions feature fantastic models, and the Cultists are no exception.

Whilst they aren't the multi-part plastic kits that many would have liked (and that we saw used later on in the Stormclaw boxset), these guys are great as they are, and easy to modify, should you wish to.

I painted my first two bands (there are two squads of ten in the DV boxset) as followers of Khorne and Nurgle, which I have shown here.  My Slaaneshi and Tzeentchian ones will follow later, so that all of the four powers are represented.

A couple of great Champions come with the set, and add a great bit of character to the group.

Some of my Nurglite followers, here... I've tried to give them a relatively distinct colour scheme.

Cultists were a big addition to the CSM ranks in 6th Edition, allowing cheap troops to be fielded easily.

What it did mean, however, was that regular CSMs started to become rarer and rarer on the battlefield.  Those are points that could be spent on heavier-hitting units.

Chaos Space Marines: Chaos Cultist with Heavy Stubber

So, here's my first blog post!  Well, my first proper one, anyhow.  And I have chosen to devote it to this chap from my Chaos Space Marine army.  I was inspired to start collecting CSMs when the Dark Vengeance boxset was released, and you were able to get a whole range of fantastic, snap-fit miniatures in one easy-to-afford box.  There were 20 Cultists inside, but this chap was one of my favourites.

The detailing on the miniatures was really nice - enough to be interesting, but not so much as to be daunting.  I decided to paint up my first batch of Chaos Space Marine Cultists as followers of the Chaos God, Nurgle - the Plaguefather!  With the focus on rot and decay, I used a lot of browns, greens and purples, with splashes of red for blood.