Khorne Warband Update - Citadel Bloodletters

 My next additions to Torranga Sama's retinue posed a slight problem. Can you have Bloodletters in a warband or not? They don't seem to appear on the list of followers in Slaves To Darkness but some daemons (fiends, flesh hounds etc) are depicted in the painted examples of warbands in the book.

 Having owned several Bloodletters for many years and not ever done anything with them, I decided to chuck a couple in anyway.

For all my Chaos paint jobs over the years, these are the only Realm Of Chaos lesser daemons I have actually ever produced

Torranga Sama accompanied by his daemonic subjects on either flank

I'm about a third of the way through this warband now and would like to have it wrapped up by Christmas although it appears I may be alternating it with another small project over the forthcoming weeks.

Torranga-Sama, Champion Of Khorne, Chaos Warband Leader

 I didn't want to get too far into this warband project without painting its leader. This has proved a major headache and I had to scrap the initial plan of one of Jes Goodwin's Khorne Champions converted on a juggernaut. It was all going perfectly well until I had issues with the jugger colour scheme and wasn't happy with the opening stages of the champion. This is not the first time I have destroyed a perfectly good Realm of Chaos Champion;  I can think of at least EIGHT who have bit the dust over the years in attempts to convert into mounted characters. The mere thought of it makes me throw up in my mouth.
 Anyway, in the end I went for this guy mounted on one of the three excellent Realm of Chaos steeds.

 Part of me feels like I have wimped out with a slightly less ambitious creation. In fact, it has proved to be a bit of a ball ache all the way; various fuck ups hindering me as I toiled to get him painted. It feels like this whole warband project has been a bit of an ill-fated voyage what with endless figure selection problems (and I'm still not finished there) and numerous frustration. I hope this can change and I start enjoying this project like I was supposed to be.

 Once a Marienburger nobleman named Dirk van den Ruitenbach, he opted to walk the path of Chaos, changing his name to Torranga-Sama.
 As yet, his rewards have been few; his Chaos Steed He'khar, mandatory Khornate armour and the power of regeneration but he has acquired a number of loyal followers; Thugs, Chaos Dwarfs, an Ogre, Troglodytes and the like.

Torranga-Sama accompanied with an Ogre follower

So next up will be more of the Champion's retinue

My Orctober Submission - 2nd Edition Orc Blood Bowl Team

 Despite being weighed down with other projects I decided to make an effort with Orctober. I have to admit that a number of them were painted some time ago but I've taken time to modify them slightly and add a feel more. Unfortunately I haven't enough at present for a whole team but hopefully I'll sort that out in the future.

Blitzers 

The first from the left is a head conversion from one of the Orc War Wyvern riders with a Blood Bowl helmet sculpted afterwards

Blockers

Throwers & Star Player

Linemen

My Chaos Warband Begins

 With my last Bratt ganger not quite finished, I have eagerly made a start on my next project a Chaos Warband which I'm planning on having completed by the end of the year.
 After pondering briefly on which Chaos power to choose I opted for Khorne probably for the main reason that I already have most of their champions and daemons so it saves a lot of time and money hunting stuff down.

 Up first is an Ogre armed with a flint headed spear and axe which is one of the three head variants (and my perosnal favourite of the three) from the AD&D range; a series of figures that I have sometimes tended to overlook, mainly because of limited catalogue appearances.

 I think one of the beauties of painting a warband is that there is enough figure variation to keep one motivated without getting too bogged down with units all looking the same, getting bored, moving on to another project and leaving yet another one unfinished as we all can be guilty of that from time to time.

 The next plan is establish some discipline in order to finish off that Bratt ganger, attempt to bash out something for Orktober and crack on with the next member of this warband, although I haven't decided on who yet; I'm still deciding on final ideas for the leader so it's more likely it'll be a follower or followers of some kind.

Confrontation Bratt Ganger

 Up this time is the first Bratt ganger to join the leader I painted last week. Though not as crammed with detail as his leader, there is still plenty to paint on this one. This guy, along with the other Bratt ganger I possess (currently being painted now) are both limited editions and can be fairly difficult to get hold of.

 I decided not to go with a colour arrangement that exactly matched the leader and like Harlequin troups you can get away with the use of colour in different areas. There is undoubtedly a technical term for this but it's getting late and I can't really think straight.

 Rather unimaginably I have gone for the smiley badge which the only other two painted examples of this fig have both had.

 So two down, one to go. Then it'll be a case of trying to get hold of the remaining unreleased Bratt gangers.....

Don't hold your breath.

Confrontation Bratt Leader

 I've been waiting a long time to get this project started. Not having any of the required figs didn't exactly help either. Thanks to Steve Casey aka Bridgend Steve, I have acquired this wonderful unreleased Bratt Leader fig plus the limited edition gangers.

 First up is the leader who I've been after for ages.  What an impressive sculpt he is! A Jes Goodwin intricate detail fest that ranks up there with the Realm of Chaos Champions when it comes to difficulty level. I haven't painted a figure as testing as this one for quite some time. It took a lot of working out what colours to use on him. In the end I just made it up as I went along. I had pretty much every paint I generally use opened in front of me at one stage.

 It felt pretty rewarding once he was completed but it was a constant challenge and not for the faint hearted.

 Next up will be the gangers who I'm very much looking forward to starting.

Rogue Trader Space Marine Vignette - Salvation

SALVATION

Star Reavers Exploration Force

Medusa V

Rogue Trader Space Marine Vignette

 Bringing up my half century of posts, this has been a project that I have had planned out for some time now; I just needed to get my ass in gear and start it. There isn't a great deal of conversion work on display here, just a collection of great figs that have been sculpted in appropriate positions for me to achieve what I aimed for.

 I have stuck with my Star Reavers marine chapter but have painted them in the chapter's exploration force colours (that's not because I was running out of Go Fasta Red; I merely wanted to give them a little more scope).

 The centrepiece of the vignette may look a little flimsy but seems pretty durable. I drilled a hole up the left leg of the marine up to the knee and inserted some brass rod that goes all the way through the terrain and into the base. A second brass rod was fitted into his left forearm and travels nearly the whole way through the back end of the jet bike. Two part epoxy resin has been used to make sure it's not going anywhere unless I drop it. I have also used the last two of my rhino crewmen (all have now been used for other purposes), one being rescued, the other wounded and left to his fate.

Some work in progress shots. I should have taken many more really.

 Originally a Limited Edition, this is my personal favourite Chaos Renegade. Its colour scheme has been partially based on an entry from the 1988 Golden Demon Awards.