“The first warrior’s ceramite armour plating was cast in the same white as clean marble, from churches that should never have been built. The suit’s reinforced edges were the same blue as a winter sky back in the impious age of Old Terra, before humanity burned the world’s surface and drank the natural oceans dry. His skin was as pale as any consumptive, a legacy of the pain machine inside his skull. It pulsed even now, teasingly erratic, sending fire tick-tocking through the meat of his mind.
The helm he carried under his arm was a slant-eyed, snarling thing of red eye lenses and a Sarum-pattern mouth grille. An officer’s crest of white horsehair rose, sharkfin-like, to mark him out from his men in the heat of battle. The etching on his shoulder guard, written in the mongrel tongue called Nagrakali, named him as Khârn of the Eighth.”
Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Betrayer
Welcome to another World Eaters-related update — I almost feel like I should apologise for the somewhat monothematic nature of recent posts, but then I am simply on a bit of a roll with this latest project of mine, and I know better than to second-guess inspiration when it strikes… 
So you probably remember my conversion of Khârn here, created fairly recently:
Now earlier this week, fellow hobbyist Aasfresser talked me into joining a small painting event at one large German hobby forum and suggested I enter my interpretation of 30k Khârn. I let myself get roped into it — which was all for the best, ultimately, but we’ll be getting there in a minute.
Before I could start painting the model, however, there was one last additional touch I wanted to include: Seeing how Forgeworld’s official model comes with options for both a helmeted and bare head, I just wanted to include the same variants on my own conversion as well. Now the bare head was already taken care of, which left me with having to come up with a suitable helmet.
ADB’s description of Khârn’s helmet (as quoted above) calls it “a slant-eyed, snarling thing of red eye lenses and a Sarum-pattern mouth grille.” And the accompanying piece of BL artwork came up with a version that is fairly close to the model’s actual design:
I knew I wanted something very slightly different, however, because I couldn’t shake the feeling that the one helmet design perfectly matching the description above…were the helmets that come with Forgeworld’s 40k World Eaters conversion set.
And it makes a lot of sense, too — wouldn’t those 40k World Eaters still be wearing the corrupted versions of their original Sarum-pattern helmets? Plus there was also the fact that I had seen Mr. Poom put the same approach to excellent use on his own, spectacular World Eaters.
So I very carefully shaved the Khornate crest off a World Eaters helmet and used it as a template for my first Sarum-pattern helmet:
And I was reasonably happy with the result — I would definitely be able to create a suitable helmet for Khârn this way, of course with an added officer’s crest!
The other thing to take care of was the model’s base. Now I quickly realised that a character of Khârn’s stature warranted a bigger base, so I upgraded him to a Terminator-sized base right away. When it came to the base’s actual design, I wanted it to contain visual shout outs to Angron’s base, creating an even closer link between the two models, which only seemed fitting. So I tried to repeat several elements that appear on Forgeworld’s base for Angron: torn metal beams, diamon patterned metal plates and rocks, stuff like that. At the same time, I also tried to make it fit the design of my other World Eaters, using the same general texture:
With those preparations out of the way, the time for painting had come. And in spite of the tight deadline – or maybe because of it – the model almost came together by itself, surprisingly enough. Seriously, I had a blast with this guy!
So here’s everyone’s favourite, bloodthirsty madman in his younger years:
Khârn
“The Bloody”, Eighth Captain,
Equerry to the Primarch Angron,
XII Legion Astartes
It was absolutely clear, of course, that I would have to include some kind of blood effect, but I also didn’t want to overdo it — which is why I chose to focus the blood on the left leg, where it would probably end up when gore keeps flying from the teeth of Khârn’s axe.
I also have to admit that I actually really love the helmeted version — which is a strange development, seeing how the bare head was what inspired the whole conversion in the first place, but then that’s creativity for you… In all fairness, however, it also feels quite appropriate to have a helmeted version when the original, classic 40k Khârn is defined so much by his helmet.
Regarding the model’s base, like I said, it now serves as a “missing link” between Angron’s base and the bases of my remaining World Eaters:
In an interesting twist, fellow hobbyist Soric pointed out over at The Bolter & Chainsword that there’s a matching piece of broken aquila in the same basing set that would just be idea to base an Argel Tal conversion — a rather interesting and tempting thought, really…
Oh, and here’s a closer look at the bareheaded version of the character:
It’s mentioned several times in Betrayer how the pain of the Butcher’s Nails is a constant companion to Khârn, yet in contrast to many of his brothers, he actually tries to fight their influence and stay levelheaded more often than not, so I thought it would be nice to give his face a drawn, haunted quality. And I do think both head options really have merit, which is why I’ll leave the head interchangeable.
And, of course, Father and Son:
Wha…? Are they wielding the exact same axe at the same time? TIME PARADOX!
What I really like is how the model really kinda looks like an “end boss” next to one of my regular World Eaters. Even the – rather vertically posed – Secutor Hamund is a bit shorter than Khârn:
When all is said and done, my objective was to create a model that draws enough visual cues from different sources to really read as Khârn. And when it comes to the 40k versions of the character, I think my model could reasonably grow into the classic Khârn over the next 10,000 years — but also into the new (plastic) version:
And I would argue he even takes enough cues from Forgeworld’s version of Khârn to clearly read as the character from that angle as well — and not just as any old World Eaters Centurion.
So I am really rather happy with the finished model — thanks must go to Aasfresser for actually convincing me to get off my arse! Oh, and this should go without saying, but I would definitely love to hear your feedback on the model, so make sure to drop me a comment!
As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!
Filed under: 30k, Conversions, paintjob, World Eaters Tagged: 30k, captain, centurions, conversion. paintjob, heresy, Horus Heresy, khârn, khârn the bloody, kitbash, praetor, Pre-Heresy, world eaters
