Dual Wielding Berzerker: Hollywood Zerk #4

TJ here with Hollywood Berzerker number 4. Gris, the dual pistol wielding zerk is a part of the original squad I converted back in 2009 and it feels nice to get some paint on him. Let's take a look at how he turned out.

Alas Sicarius, I knew him well: Hollywood Berzerker #3

TJ here with another of my converted Zerks. This one has some massive bragging rights as he carries the helm of the Ultramarines' second company commander. I will let the reader decide whether that is Sicarius or perhaps some commander from the past. Anyway, let's take a look at the model:

Hollywood Khorne Berzerker #2: Zharuk, Legion Executioner

TJ back again with my second Khorne Berzerker for my Hollywood squad. Let's take a look:

Garrax, the Crimson Mist, Khorne Berzerker #1 painted

TJ here with the first painted Berzerkers for my World Eaters. Garrax is one of the eight berzerkers I made for the 8 days of Khornemas in Dec. 2009. These guys were all converted to the best of my ability at the time and with a new Khorne-specific codex, I figured I would get them painted up. Let's take a look at the first member of the squad.

Khorne Berzerker Freehand Armor for World Eaters WIP: Opinions Required!

TJ here to ask for your opinions on a paint scheme I am working on for my World Eaters. I have free handed skulls and Khorne symbols on the larger surfaces. Right now only half the model has the new paint scheme applied to the red parts of the armor and most of the details are better visible in the photos below. 

World Eaters Knight Titan Lord of Skulls Kitbash: Inspiration and a Plan!

TJ here. Ok, so it is no secret that I love huge conversions and evil machines/ monsters. For more than a year, I have looked at the Lord of Skulls and wished it was something else, something more. Then Imperial Knights came along and I got really excited, but figured the scale of the Lord and the Knight were off (the torso seemed way too big for the knight legs in photos ... but then I just kept getting bombarded with ideas.

Sculpting and Converting Angron, Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters!

Old School here with a sculpting project on the table: Angron, Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters Legion! I have wanted to make Angron more than any other Primarch since I first started converting models. He has always appealed to me, but it wasn't until the Ghorgon was released, that I started to look at the possibility. I began the project in earnest last night and I am sure to have a long road ahead. What you will see in this post is what a sketch is to a finished painting, so keep in mind the flat, blank armor and such (even the shape of the armor in places) will change. I plan on having Angron wearing the kind of Ornate stuff you see in the art, but let's take a look at where I am at:

Resurrecting the Eaters of Worlds! Where I Stand and a Preview

Old School here with a change of Course on my Hobby-Fu. I will still be rocking out Ogres at the cyclic rate and slowly crafting the Death Wing, but with recent (salt-needed) rumors on Chaos Legions and with great new Monsters coming out from Fantasy (so much potential for conversion), I feel the need to pull the Chaos out and make it ready for war. I used to joke around saying that I would get around to painting my Chaos Marines one of these years ... while the collection built up and multiple legions massed on my shelves and bits boxes. No longer!

Now is the time to start building and thankfully, I waited just long enough to get pretty good at painting! Above is a WIP of a Berzerker I began painting last night. Cameras hate the color red, so the smooth transition from blood red to the red gore to the scab red within the armor is almost unrecognisable, but believe me, it is there. There is much painting left for this model, but the World Eaters shall be the first of my Legions to be brought to the front lines and given full army wide paint and this will be the basic pallete behind the paintjob! What have I got to work with so far? What is the plan?

Khorne Thunderwolf Conversion: Counts as Canis: Khanis Bloodborn, painted and ready!

Old School here to welcome in Halloween with my Khorne Version of Canis Wolfborn - Khanis Bloodborn! I know it sounds cheesy, but the model speaks for itself! Here is the newest member to my growing 14th Black Crusade - yet another Forge World Khorne Berzerker on Juggernaut!

The arms came from the Chaos Lord plastic kit and they were painted black as a small homage the Blood Lords must pay the Black Legion when marching under the banners of the latest Black Crusade, The bodey is from the FW Berzerker conversion set and the head is the bare FW Lord Zhofur head.

As usual, please forgive the camera for not liking red.

The face really is one of my favorite things about this model as it adds so much life to it, along with the over reaching pose of the model reaching forward every available inch to try to dig those claws into somebody. Coupled with the pose of the Jugger, I think this Khorne Khav model best captures the raging fury of the World Eaters better than the other two I have painted.

As usual, I went for the gritty look with lots of blood spatter and green washed into the brass on the Jugger. I also liked the green lighting effect from the last one so have made it a fixture for all my upcoming juggernaught projects.

This dude has some serious trophies to take home for the Blood God, including a Salamander head taken from the Space Marine Commander set (you know its gonna happen CVinton!), a sanguinary Guard head, and plenty of skulls ... oh and almost forgot the dirty, blooded head of a Dark Eldar (just for you, SeerK).

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Overall, I just had a lot of fun with this model. Now that I can see it in super-zoom-close-up mode, I have spotted a ton of little mistakes. I am my harshest critic (besides CVinton and Capt. Obvious of course). I would love to here what you all think of it! Happy Halloween and if you live near me don't be suprised if I stop by for "Trick or Beer"!

Completed Khorne Lord Zhofur for the 14th Black Crusade!

Old School here with some photos of the Forge World Lord Zhofur model I painted up today. I impulse-grabbed him from my case and got to work on him. When I first modelled him nearly a year ago, I wanted to use him as a Chaos Terminator Lord with Daemon Weapon and I wanted to keep the nude head for another potential project. I hated the trophy racks as they limit the range of motion you get from the model, so I checked them and used some green stuff to fill the gaps - along with tons of pinning. I based him on crushed-up floor tile.
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He was already primed Valspar's Ruddy Brown (reddish-brown color), then hit all the red areas with Mechrite Red foundation. I then hit all the brass areas with bestial brown and proceeded to wash the entire model in a good thick wash of delvin mud wash, ensuring I pushed it into every crack and gap.

Once that was done, I hit the eyes and the small meters on the back of the model with layers of green starting with Thraka foundation, followed by dark angels green, goblin green, snot green and the hints of scorpion green. The areas that were mechrite, were then painted with thin layers of red gore to build up and blaend the areas shaded by the wash to give the model a time-tested look. I love gritty!

Once I had the red gore just right, I hit the high areas with a solid highlight of blood red, then went through with thin layers and blended it onto the model to fade into the red gore. The camera, no matter how I adjust the brightness with photoshop hates red (as we have seen in previous posts), but hopefully you get the idea. The powerfist on the base was painted blue and heavily weathered with the idea of adding a little balanced contrast to the base that also ties to the planets in the World Eaters emblems.

The brass was worked up with Game Colour brass, followed by a wash of 50/50 delvan Mud/ Gryphone Sepia. I then hit the highest points with some flow-aided Dwarven Brass.

The world on the World Eaters Shoulder Pad was done with a progression of greens on the continents much like the eyes. I just thought it looked cool to make the planet look like an actual globe!

The Commisar on his back is an awesome touch by the designers at Forge World. The painting was simple with such smooth, flowing lines and surfaces to work with. There are a ton of little details on it that you don't come to appreciate until you sit down to paint it - like the little medal on his chest.

So the question then becomes "How does Zhofur work into your Counts as themed Black Legion 14th Crusade?" Well, he does have a black powerfist (lol).

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Seriously, this was a chance to paint a great Forge World model and I will figure out a way to run him. He could easily stand in for Abbadon in some lists or even Logan since he has a fist and an axe. No matter what, you can rejoice that you will see this guy in battle reports coming soon.

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That's all I have to show off today - I'm sure I'll be building some new, fun stuff tonight. Let me know what you think of Zhofur. Feedback is always welcome.

Khorne Thunderwolf Cavalry: Thunder Hammer Lord Complete!

Old School here and the marathon of hobby continues! Here is the completed (99% anyway) Forge World Khorne Lord On Juggernaut with Thunderhammer! I am very happy to have this model painted as it marks another step in the 14th Black Crusade.

I decided to stick with the iron and brass colors on the juggernaut as they provide a nice contrast to the World Eater's armor. I love the Forge World kits, the head is actually from the FW WE terminator kit. I would never attempt this project with plain GW zerks.

As I look at these photos I see the 1% not completed like where i used a GS joint to fasten the jugger to the base and a couple spots that need light effects on the hammer.

CVinton, I hope you enjoy the Salamander head on the back ... get used to it, buddy!

These plastic juggers are a dream to work with and if you have any excuse to field them in your army, pick them up. Keep the comments rolling, I will be slaving away in the workshop for the rest of the night!

Khorne Cav Lord Update: New Color on Jugger

Old School here with another WIp of my Khorne Kavalry Lord. I really am making him my test model as I have already adopted the things I like about him into the plastic models I am working on. His jugger was originally red, but no matter the contrast, it was still red on red, which just doesn't work and across multiple models, it would have been complete failure.

When I tested this scheme the first time on the jugger model, it was actually on one of my plastic ones and honestly, the plastics seem to take the paint much better thatn this one has - same for washes (the crevices in the plastics also lend themselves to washes. I like the contrast of color, it ties into a muti-legion theme. It also has iron and brass elements to jive with my Black Legion's Sivler and Gold. I think I will keep the paint scheme color wise, now all I need to do is touch up some tide marks, touch up some errant highlights and paint the back of the shield.

It may be hard to see, but the head of Sicarius is back there - a rather bold claim, but I think he could take the master of the 2nd company!

I wanted to try the green lit-up eyes and I think i like them enough to keep them with my other juggers, though I am not sure how attached I am to the gloss effect blood ... maybe adding some more variant reds and browns to the existing spots.

Well, now I point the horn to you. Let me know what you think - should I be cast from the Warp for my lack of skills, are there things I could work on within my skill level or am I on the right track and sure to rack up many skulls? Let's hear your thoughts.

Khorne Khavalry Lord painting WIP ... Very WIP!

Old School here with a quick update on my metal Khorne Khavalry Lord. This is VERY WIP, but I wanted to show where it is at after a couple hours of painting before unleashing the fully painted model.

Having much of the main work and highlighting done on all the reds, it is now time to clean up the brass and then move to the small details like the head, the trophies on the back and highlighting the skulls.

One of the main reasons I am posting this WIP is because I am worried that this is all too much red ... but at the same time, it looks very striking on the table. What do you all think so far?

As always feedback is more than welcome.

Forge World Berserkers on Plastic Juggernauts!

Old School here with some Forge World Berserkers riding plastic Juggernauts! The other day, when I made the metal lord, It sparked something in me. I started staring at him with my Forge World bitz box in hand and I knew something awesful was going to come of his creation ... then Evolution Games got a few boxes in for the End of Days and I just had to buy a box.
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So far, these two fellows have come from this merger - One with a set of claws and one with a giant, cavalry-style hammer!

Alright first up is the Thunder-hammer and shield Zerk. He is riding one of the new plastic Juggers, which are a pure joy to put together (I timed it at 7 minutes, clipped, cleaned and glued for just the juggernaut). Anyway, I wanted a Zerk who looked like he is ready for a siege and ready to take on the biggest thing on the field with a giant hammer. The shield is from the Chaos Knights cav box. The body and shoulder pads are from the FW World Eaters conversion set. The head is the bare head from the FW World Eaters Terminator conversion set, The hammer shaft and arm are the icon pole from a Chaos Space Marine set, the actual hammer head is made from two pieces of sprue glued together. I then added the brass and card to dress it up a bit. There is obviously a little glue to be scraped off there.

From the back, you can see his trophies. That is something I wanted every zerk to have on his jugger and I think if you have earned yourself a juggernaut, you must have a great skull-taking career. His rack includes a Marine, a rotten head, a skull and a tyranid warrior skull.

The new jugger kits are light and offer so much more frexibility in terms of dynamic position. This one's front legs don't even touch the ground. I have read a few different books where cavalry used hammers and they were either very short in the handle or very long. I thought it would look really awesome to give this guy a long hammer - the better to stamp the icon into skulls!

Here he is from the front, I cut a bolt pistol arm to fit the shoulder the way it does here, so that his arm is held out as if he is bellowing out a challenge as he charges forward. The basing here is not done, but I have been using floor laminate tiles to achieve this effect.

The second Zerk is this fellow here with the huge claws. I fought hard with myself about using these claws because they are huge - they are meant for a termie. So I cut the down and although they are still very huge, I think they work well for the aggression captured in the model.

Alright, you can see he boasts the head of a Sanguinary Guard, amoung a collection of more mundane trophies, though the other marine head comes from the Commander kit.

Once again, the leaping, charging aggression in these plastic juggers really makes them look vicious!

And here he is from the front. I used the FW kits of course for the body and pads, the bare head from the FW Lord Zhofur kit, the claws from the chaos Terminator lord, the pack is from the possessed box and overall, I am pretty happy with this model.

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Putting these together was really fun. The juggers were a breeze to assemble, leave virtually no mold lines, the kit has sooo many extra parts, like extra heads for the juggers, tons of hellblades and head variants for the bloodletters who were meant to ride these. An awesome icon and an instrument - pretty well worth the cost.

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Having all the forge world stuff on hand was really great as it allowed me to assemble some models I have always thought would look so cool. I think I may just paint these guys and see what happens from there. I can say that these guys have gotten me out of a funk I have been in the last couple of weeks and have inspired me to pcik up the brush again to finish off some projects I have laying around (well, I might just paint one of these guys first .... maybe !)

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Feedback is always welcome, let me know what you think. Official End of Days info and details will be up tomorrow!

Kitbash: Khorne Khavalry Lord!

Old School here with some photos of a little kitbashing I did on the Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Khorne Lord on Jugger. I know it isn't the hot new plastic, but the kit has been in my house for over a year and a half and with all the stress of being the head tourney Organizer for End of Days this Saturday (also the first tourney representing the blog name) and all the headaches that go with it - I just needed to grab a good looking kit, some bitz and go to town.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it when I sat down, but I loved everything but the original helmeted head (I already used the horned head), so I built it that way. Then I said hell, let's make it a 40k model. So I tore of the jugger's head decoration and added the spiked-through Ork skull. Then I went through about 12 heads before I decided to glue the forge world zerk head on there.

I was really liking where this was going so I started giving him trophies, including the skulls up front, Captain Sicarius's helmet on the back, along with some severed human heads ...

... then I figured a half a corpse from the shield arm would be pretty awesome! It was still missing something, so I gave him a back pack from the possessed bits I have laying around and decided he would look really good on a dreadnought base..

I have settled for calling him a Khorne Lord on Juggernought (thunderwolf) armed with Blood (runic) armor, a storm shield and a Blood (frost) Axe. I know, the Khorne Wolves have probably been done before, but it was a lot of fun to build and I feel pretty good about painting it in the next week or sao, along with the last of my Legion of the Damned commission and the Tower of Skulls (whoops, did I just let the cat out of the bag?)

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Comments and critisism is welcome as always!