So how do you follow up a post like the one about Legion? Easy: You don’t, at least not right away 
While quite a few pictures of the game set aboard the Arrke (some of them slightly fuzzy, but all of them fantastic!) can already be found online, I’ll give it a few more days until all the other people involved have had a chance to post their own fantastic models and their different takes on the game. After all, when I next talk about Legion and his/its/their friends, I would love to be able to point you towards all kinds of interesting blog posts, so let’s just be patient for a while. It’ll be worth it!
The downside, obviously, is that some of you might find today’s post somewhat pedestrian. But, heck, regular 40k business has to continue as well: I can’t just be building snazzy high concept stuff for games involving John Blanche himself every day, you know?
So, cut to Khorne’s Eternal Hunt: You may remember that I was working on a squad of traitorous Space Wolves to serve as regular Chaos Space Marines in my force of World Eaters. Just to refresh your memory, these were the first test models I cobbled together from some – very rough – bitz:
And this is the first of those I painted as a tester:
As some people have pointed out here and on the forums, the problem is that the model looks a little too much like a member of the 13th company just having a slightly bad day. So while I liked the overall look and paint recipe well enough, it was clear to me that the main challenge would be to achieve a look that, while still obviously showing the wolves’ loyalist heritage, also made it perfectly clear that they had turned and now served another master.
The most effective way to achieve this was by carefully considering which bitz to use. So I dove headfirst into my bitzbox — and also received quite a nice bitz drop courtesy of fellow hobbyist Gerner (cheers, mate!). Both factors allowed me to work on some more models for my Blood Wolves, and I believe you’ll find these to be somewhat less conventional than the initial test models. Let’s take a look:
This first model is actually one of the test models shown above, only slightly reworked: I wasn’t perfectly happy with the model, so I added a different head and right arm. The whole model was also undercoated with Army Painter’s Uniform Grey, in order to better blend together the different (partly painted) bits I used.
And here’s the third test model from the picture posted above:
While I was already happy enough with the menacing look and overall pose, I still made some small changes: The shoulder pads were exchanged for SW pads to make the loyalist origins of the model more obvious. The head was replaced with a similar but slightly more chaotic looking head from the Raptor kit (to which I added a wolf totem from one of the SW helmets). Again, the model was undercoated grey. I must say I am really pleased with this guy! He has a menacing, predatory look about him that rather fits a fallen Space Wolf…
There were also two models I had originally built as World Eaters. Yet due to the fact that I had used some SW parts in their construction, they had just the right look for my squad of Khornate wolves, so I just chose to repurpose them:
In my opnion, this first model is a pretty good blend of SW design and a clearly Khornate touch. As you can see, I used the huge axe from the SW terminator kit: A memento of the Marine’s original chapter as well as a fitting weapon for a servant of Khorne! An energy generator (without the power coils) from the Battle for Maccrage boxed set was used as some kind of toppled Imperial icon for the model to stand on. I really like the badass look of this guy!
The other model was designed to be channelling a very classic 90s pose:
I just couldn’t help myself…
And finally, I built some new models from the bitz I had assembled. First of all, an icon bearer for the squad:
The model uses one of my favourite heads from the WFB Marauder Horsemen. While this guy could still be mistaken for a loyalist, I imagine the icon itself will change that, once it is finished. I’ll be using a huge, trophy-like banner from the WFB Minotaur kit. I love the static but powerful stance oj this guy!
And finally, I needed a worthy squad leader, of course! Another great head from the Marauder Horsemen and some bitz from the Skullcrusher kit did the trick. Take a look:
Easily my favourite model in the squad so far, this guy really maintains a delicate balance between a SW/barbarian look and a couple of clearly chaotic attributes.
So far, the squad seems very focused on combat at close quarters. However, I still have enough bitz for another six models, and most of those will be wielding a trusty Boltgun. But I think the new models are already far more recognisable as chaos followers. I really like their massive and grizzled look. Take a look at the squad so far:
What I like about these models is that including a squad of fallen Space Wolves with some actual background seems far preferable to just building World Eaters wielding Bolters, just for the sake of WYSIWYG.
So what do you think? Are those new models a step in the right direction? I’d be happy to hear from you in the comments section!
In any case, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!
Filed under: 40k, Chaos, Conversions, World Eaters Tagged: 40k, blood wolves, chaos, chaos space marines, conversion, joras turnpelt, khornate wolves, khorne, renegades, space wolves, traitor wolves, WIP, world eaters
