All the orky shenanigans notwithstanding, I do of course remain a devoted follower of both the blood god and the XIIth Astartes legion, and I have the conversions to prove it: Touching up my World Eaters bikes some time ago gave me the idea for an additional bike in the squad. Once again, I wanted to build a model channelling the legion’s gladiatorial traditions, serving not so much as a mobile weapons platform, but rather as a modernised version of one of the chariots you would expect to see in films about gladiators in ancient Rome.
I was pretty sure that the World Eaters would have found a way to adapt the regular Space Marine trike to their gladiatorial fighting style. So I mulled over the idea and talked to Biohazard, who, bless his heart, pointed me towards Big Jim’s fantastic Infernal Assault Bike conversion. That really got my creative juices flowing, so I got myself a trike and some bitz from my bitzbox and got to work. And here’s the result: The Veredus Pattern Assault Trike:
Quite an easy kitbash, really: The undercarriage came from the regular trike, although I had to use a plate from an Ork kit to close the huge hole that was created by leaving off the seated marine. A huge shield from the WFB Minotaurs was added to serve as front armour. Apart from that, I only used a couple of additional spikes and a horned skull (once again from the Minotaur kit) to make the whole vehicle look more chaotic.
Getting the two World Eaters assembled and posed took a little more doing: The driver was simple enough, but the gladiator standing in the sidecar was a little more complicated, since I wanted him to be gripping the front of the sidecar for support, while brandishing a chain weapon in his other hand.
I used an unarmoured arm from the WFB Chaos Marauders and combined it with the hand from a CSM biker to achieve the pose I wanted. I also gave the model a bare head from the Grey Knights kit to make it look even more like a World Eater — those cables make for really convincing Butcher’s Nails!
Getting the model into the right position without having it awkwardly bump into the rider was probably the most difficult part. Seeing how little room there actually was, I decided to use a Dark Vengeance Chosen backpack since it’s a little less bulky than the regular CSM backpacks.
The rider is a fairly straightforward build, with just an arm wielding a wicked looking axe added for some extra brutality (the arm came from the Skullcrusher kit). However, after having obsessed over the choice of head for quite some time, I went for something a little more unconventional, sawing through one of the old, early 90s plastic berzerkers Biohazard sent me. That was quite an intense bit of surgery, but I managed to keep the head perfectly intact — I really love the facemask on that helmet!
And with that, my attack trike was finished. I may attach an additional bit here and there, but the overall build is as complete as it is ever going to be. As for gameplay uses, I may just use this trike as a regular bike or – when I am feeling adventurous – as a counts as Chaos Lord riding a juggernaut 
Anway, I think the model is a really nice fit for both the World Eaters’ gladiatorial traditions and my own army’s background as a hunting party.
As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!
Filed under: 40k, Chaos, Conversions, WIP, World Eaters Tagged: 40k, arena, bike, chaos, chaos space marines, chariot, conversion, hounds, khorne, trike, veredus pattern attack trike, WIP, world eaters
