Lords of Blood: Daemon-Primarch Angron & the Cruor Praetoria

[miteyheroes]

Thanks!

Anyway. The base isn't done yet on this guy, nor the smaller armour plates and details, but here's the basic structure of Kagh Bo'orchu, one-time apothecary and loyal lieutenant of Hans Kho'ren. In game he can be a Possessed Champion, Herald, or Lord, as I go through my current period of rapidly adjusting army lists all the time.

He's a lovely model to build, with some beautiful details.

[miteyheroes]

Hans Kho'ren's Skull Takers live! I've been doing a big build of these guys whilst watching Daredevil (possibly more appropriate for Night Lords, but hey). There's a few more coming once I have a few more skulls to finish the bases on one more squad.

So, here's the first squad that I built, a squad of Possessed. These guys seem pretty essential for Daemonkin, as adding them will enable me to have a Slaughtercult at the core of a Blood Host. Free Blood Tithe points is always good!



Their shoulder pads display their allegiance, matching the ones used by the rest of the Skull Takers. All of Hans Khoren's men wear one gladiatorial shoulder pad, reflecting their father Angron's past. The Skull Takers believe that they should emulate their primarch as much as possible, continually remaking themselves in his image, and this is part of that. Their other shoulder pad is always a skull, proudly displaying their loyalty to Hans Kho'ren, the Skull Taker, commander of the 19th Company of the World Eaters.

The torso, heads, and arms are all from the standard Possessed kit; the backpacks are from Chaos Space Marines; the legs are a mish-mash of random Space Marine bits that have been clogging up my bits box for too long; the shoulder pads are from Berserkers and Marauders. The Champion's legs are from the new WFB Khorne Wrathmongers, lovely pieces.

Some basic Chaos Space Marines:




Their upper halves are primarily from Chaos Space Marines, with Chaos Warrior axes (a nice brutal "Skull Taker" vibe) and the legs again drawn from my bits box. They have been fighting the Long War in a very casualty-heavy way for 10,000 years: their armour is salvaged and scavenged, their ranks expanded by more recent defectors as well as the original World Eaters. So not all of it has nice brass edging. All of the helmets are horned because all of the serious troops in my Daemonkin (from the Bloodthirsters to the Bloodletters and everyone in-between) have horned helmets.




This squad is made up of more recent recruits, ferocious barbarian warriors who have been gene-bulked and strapped into power armour. Their helmets, from a mix of Chaos Warriors and Chaos Knights, show their primitive origins. The legs of the champions of both squads, surviving members of the original World Eaters legion, have Wrathmonger legs. This makes them nice and big, almost true-scaled, which I like. I trimmed their tassets off their plackarts, as their upper legs looked a bit blank without them.

To support my Chaos Space Marines I wanted some Cultist chaff, to throw at the enemy and sacrifice for Blood Tithes. They're pretty much just the basic plastic ones from Dark Vengeance, with some head-swaps and weapon-swaps on the close combat squads. I quite like the shooty guys as they are, not sure if I want to head-swap them.

[miteyheroes]

Hans Kho'ren has always preached that the aim of a Space Marine is to emulate their Primarch. His loyal apothecary, Kagh Bo'orchu, is essential for this. It is Kagh who implants new members of the Skull Takers with the gene-seed and blood of their Primarch to turn them into true World Eaters; Kagh who was one of the first apothecaries to experiment with the Butchers' Nails; and Kagh who, after Angron's apotheosis, studied with Lorgar's Word Bearers to discover the secrets of the Possessed. Kagh's drive to become more like Angron has taken him far from humanity, but his journey is not yet over.



Kagh Bo'orchu's right arm still bears the twisted Chaotic remains of his Narthecium, constantly in flux and emitting new spikes as required. His armour is brass, forged to mimic the Armour of Mars worn by Angron, showing he is an important figure in the Skull Takers. On his left shoulder he bears a gladiatorial shoulder pad, in memory of Angron's past; his right shoulder pad is a snarling skull, symbol of Hans Kho'ren's Skull Takers. His helmet is pale and horned, like all in the Skull Takers, in honour of their daemonic patron.

[miteyheroes]

My second possessed squad for Hans Kho'ren's Skull Takers. I had so much fun building the 1st squad, that I wanted more! Also, this enables me to take 2 Blood Hosts, which seems an amazing idea for maximising Blood Tithe points.




These guys have the Roman-style shoulder pads from the Marauders kit. Mostly because I'd run out of the ones with the spikes... I think that they still look gladiatorial though, so still fit with the theme. I think that this champion is possibly my favourite non-HQ model I've made so far. The Wrathmonger legs, horn-swapped head, his mini-daemon-prince pose... I even like his trophy rack more than the ones on other champions!


This guy is a Herald of Khorne (because they're such cheap HQ choices!), who has been formed from the violent thoughts of Eldar. The perversions of the Eldar gave birth to Slaanesh, and now the Eldar have an entire way of life that attempts to deny Slaanesh by entirely focussing on other pursuits. But surely an entire slice of their population being that dedicated to the Path of the Warrior must have some sort of echo in the Warp? I've always liked the idea that there might be links between Khorne and Khaine, as well.



Obviously the body of the model is the new Exarch. He was tilted forwards slightly, given arms from Dark Elves and Dark Eldar, a head from the Chaos Chariot, and wings from the Vampire Counts Morghast. It's an odd concept, but was quite fun to make and I was worried that I'd never find anyone suitable for the Chaos Chariot head! It's too elegant to be put on a beastman/cultist/marine body.




The cheapest Blood Host is a Slaughtercult plus a standard Helbrute. So if I want to get a Blood Host into a 500pts battle, a Helbrute seems a good choice! As I had Dark Vengeance sitting around, this was a quick-and-dirty addition to the force.




This model really wasn't modified much. One leg was sawn off at the hip, and stuck back on in a slightly more dynamic running pose. The head is from a jugger. But that's it. Was tempted to modify the arms, but it all seemed like far too much bother. If I make a second one I will!

[miteyheroes]

Of all the races of the galaxy, the Eldar's souls shine brightest in the Warp. 10,000 years ago this led to their doom, when the echoes of their lusts combined to form a new god, Slaanesh, whose birth tore the Eldar Empire apart and created the Great Eye. Ever since, the Eldar have sought to control their emotions, to prevent such an event from happening again. But it is a hard road, and anger is one emotion it is hard to contain. The Rage of the Dying Race is a Herald of Khorne, formed from the overflowing fury of the Eldar: every time that an Exarch screams hatred at their foes; an Exodite vows revenge on aliens who have stepped upon their world; a Corsair spits in fury at an ambush gone wrong; or an ousted Archon curses their exile from Commorragh.



Nothing really to say about this guy's painting: I did what you'd expect, pretty much. Brass armour, red for revealed skin, glowing green things, white/grey skulls and helmet: just like the rest of my daemons.



Now on to painting marines. Lots of marines. 3 layers of red paint later, I've done the basic armour and am moving on to blacking out the bone areas:

[miteyheroes]

So, I sort of dropped off the face of the planet. Sorry about that. Here's something to make up for it: a conversion of the new Age of Sigmar Orruk Megaboss. Original plan was possibly for a pre-discovery Angron, but he's just too big and I didn't have a head that fitted which could be Angron (was tempted by the Ogre head with the chainmail face mask for a bit?) Instead he's ended up as a mini-Daemon Prince, some sort of Terminator Lord on the path to ascension. In game I'll probably run him as a Lord-on-Jugger, have him join the Bone Collectors (my Bloodcrushers).



He's been a fairly simple conversion. Head and axe head from a Daemon Prince, shoulders are the rear pads of a Forge Fiend, neck is from a Jugger. Plus a load of green stuff to fill the gaps left by not putting on the main torso armour, and a few extra bits & bobs (Khorne icon on his loincloth, DP loincloth on his rear, random grill from somewhere on his back).



Look how big he is! I really didn't realise when I bought him, thought he was a bit of a rip-off until I started making him. But no, he's worth it.

[Kirsten]

he looks fantastic