No one would have believed in the early years of the 41st Millenium that the prosperous hive-world of Armageddon was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were being plotted against by their neighbours in sinister blood-cults; and that the capricious tides of the warp were catapulting a space hulk filled with the most devoted disciples of the Blood God towards the planet, to commence the first of three terrible wars that would cripple the great planet.
But still, they come.
I've always loved the tale of the Daemon-Primarch Angron and his bodyguard at the 1st War for Armageddon, the twelve terrifying Bloodthirsters known as the Cruor Praetoria. 109 Grey Knights standing proud against 13 of the greatest daemons of the Blood God? That's the stuff that epics are made of; that's 40k's answer to the Hot Gates of Thermopylae.
So I decided to make Angron and the Cruor Praetoria, and for Christmas I got the bits to get my plan started. And then, just as I began, the rumours hit that GW is making a new plastic Bloodthirster kit, and a new Khorne codex combining Berserkers and Daemons. Excellent...
Here's my first Bloodthirster. He might be downgraded to a Daemon Prince rules-wise once the new stuff arrives, if the new kit is too much bigger! Over time, he might even drop out of my count of the twelve. But for now, he's a start...
For my first Bloodthirster I decided to pretty much assemble the classic Bloodthrister kit it as it comes, to provide inspiration / scale guidance for the rest. Of course, I had to make some modifications. Otherwise it'd be boring.
I started by making the legs more dynamic - so easy with Finecast, I just dunked them in boiling water for a minute, bent them to their new pose, and then put them under the cold tap. I wanted to make him look like he's running, add a sense of movement, so I also added the whip the wrong way round. I think that makes it seems more that he's sprinting forwards, just in the moment of cracking the whip down. My previous models for my Adeptus Mechanicus & Dark Mechanicus (viewable [URL="www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?50020-Dark-Mechanicus-Daemon-Knights-of-the-Unblinking-Eye"]here[/URL]) are quite static, so I'm keen to use this project to experiment with more dynamic models and poses.
I want all of my Bloodthirsters to have at least *something* that makes them more 40k than WFB, some technology, so I changed the head. I also want them to work alongside my planned Forge of Souls / Dark Mechanicus daemon army, so a technological edge is essential. I quite like the idea of them all having helmets rather than uncovered heads, this may continue for the entire army of 13. The head is from the vehicle upgrade sprue, an excellent little sprue that I use lots.
My second Bloodthirster is based around the spare torso that comes in the Bloodthirster box, plus a raid on my bits collection. You get 2 torsoes in the box because one head has an attached neck and the other doesn't. A nice bonus, I thought!
The legs are the back legs of a Forgefiend/Maulerfiend, they have that goaty feel that's oh so Khornate. Plus lots of pistons, helping anchor the model in 40k. They were joined by a plastruct tube, and then I filled it all in and bulked it out with green stuff.
The head is from a defiler, and the wings are from a daemon prince. The lower arms are also from a daemon prince - the whip/tentacle arm is meant to be his tail.
He just needs a chain going up his rear - I've got to dig around deep in my craft box, but I'm sure I remember seeing one in there.
And now one final shot, of the family so far. This guy is a bit less tall than the official Bloodthirster, due to the wings, but he's got a bulkier lower body and I don't think it's game-breaking. Next I need to work on both their bases, and then break out the paint!
"That day, we faced twelve. The Cruor Praetoria, the twelve strongest; the twelve daemons whose lives and deeds most pleased their wretched Blood God over fourty thousand years of warfare."