How to model cultists

[stev]

So for a while id been thinking about renegade guard...i almost bought the cadian battleforce and everything...but now i can have cultists in my world eaters army no problem...are cadians still a good base...i would like a slightly more military look than the dark vengeance models. i know forge world make conversion kits but are their any other (cheaper) ways to do it. also, how can i make the cultists look khorney so the fit with my worldeaters?

[Oojamaflip]

You could try combining the IG kit (Cadian or Catachan) with the Chaos Marauder set from fantasy. Maybe avoid the helmed heads, but the big, muscular chests and arms and the furs, spikes and axes would look great on them.

[JeffJedi]

Scrape Chaos Stars and Khorne Marks into the shoulder pads.

Deface the Imperial Eagles.

Sprinkle in different heads and bare arms from other kits.

[Lieutenant Steel]

Yeah, you can have a Khornate Guard force and make them look like the Blood Pact- they're rebel Guardsmen who worship Khorne, but rather than being full on blood-lusty they retain their structure and are very organised.

Found this description of them somewhere on the internetz: 

The Blood Pact is highly unusual among Khornate Chaos Cults in that it fights as a highly-disciplined army rather than the disorganized warbands of berserkers that normally characterise Khornate devotees.Comprised of both highly-trained human troops and xenos mercenaries, the forces of the Blood Pact were instrumental in Chaos’ victory in overrunning the Sabbat Worlds and are equally important in defending the Forces of Chaos’ gains from the ongoing Imperial Sabbat Worlds Crusade. The Blood Pact is easily the equal of standard Imperial Guard Regiments in its discipline and effectiveness.

 

 

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So yeah, defacing all the Imperial insignia and adding a few chaos/ Khornate icons to soldier pads etc should be fine.

[stev]

The blood pact idea sounds really cool...is there any other fluff for them anywhere? And xenos mercs intrigues me...any ideas for them...i always liked the orc commandos models...some ogres? Is that what it means?

[hummus]

Blood Pact warriors usually resemble a particularly ragged or barbaric regiment of the Imperial Guard.
They wear fabric battledress uniforms either looted from the corpses of
Guardsmen, or manufactured to resemble a basic Imperial design. Over
this are worn packs, webbing and the usual assortment of infantry kit,
including a steel bowl-helmet. Because their kit, equipment and battle
dress is essentially a mix of plunder and homemade, no two Blood Pact
troopers are ever identical. Their appearance is rough and ill-kempt:
their clothing torn, patched and dirty, and helmets chipped and dented.

A Blood Pact member is most characterized by their ritual iron visor, known as a grotesque,
and which is worn by all human members. These generally portray a
grimacing, or leering face, often coupled with an exaggerated hooked
nose or chin. These masks are usually a black color, although it has
been known for senior officers to wear one of gold or silver.

Their armor and clothing is all a drab red, the color of dried
blood. In fact, one of the Pact's rituals prior to battle is to dye
their clothing with the blood of their enemy. As a result, the Blood
Pact warriors exude a revolting, charnel stink, made even less palatable
by the unguents and oils with which they anoint their bodies and their
own lax standards of hygiene. Their support vehicles all tend to be
painted this universal crimson as well.

A Blood Pact warrior's hands always remain bare to display the
ritual scars across the palms and knuckles, made at the time of
induction to the Pact. Often this ritual scarring covers other parts of
the body and face. The deeper and more severe the wounds, and the
amount, are part of a unofficial honour system and devotion to Khorne.

Organisation

The Blood Pact, originally consisting of soldiers from the worlds
around Ghourra, is a diverse organization. As the Blood Pact rose to
prominence amongst the forces holding the Sabbat Worlds,
many lesser war bands and forces submitted to their rule and were
absorbed. The leaders of the Pact willingly encourage the integration of
other Chaos war bands, especially traitor Imperial Guard regiments and soldiers. The Blood Pact is also allied with alien races and mercenaries, such as the Loxatl.

The Blood Pact is a highly organized army, consisting of soldiers rather than blood-crazed cultists. They often have support in the forms of plundered tanks, which are often looted from defeated Imperial armies or manufactured in captured forge worlds.
They are drilled and trained in warfare techniques to a standard of
competence at least equivalent to the Imperial Guard. They have
excellent (often captured) communication systems, and a firm chain of
command, meaning that they can be confidently deployed with tactical
precision. A Blood Pact General is called an Etogaur.
The Blood Pact can hit specific targets or accomplish specific
missions, and individual warriors have the intelligence and field
training to operate independently, if necessary, for the Pact's
interests. This is what makes them so dangerous. They are not mindless
fanatics; they are excellent battlefield soldiers in the sworn service
of Chaos.

Certain elite or veteran sections of the Pact form the so-called Death Brigades,
representing the finest and most ruthless storm squads in the Blood
Pact. Though few in number, the Death Brigades are often encountered at
the spearhead of assaults, as the private company of senior Chaos
leaders, or deployed on specialist missions, and are the most dreaded of
all Blood Pact units.

Combat Methods

Unlike most Khorne worshipers, the Blood Pact favors a more disciplined and tactical style, utilizing martial aspects of the War God besides that of the berserker. This means that the average Blood Pact trooper will be armed with a lasgun or autogun
as his primary weapon. In close-quarter environments such as trenches
or when storming techniques are required, they favor plate or chain mail
tunics and arm themselves with billhooks, trench clubs and grenades. Some are able combat specialists in the field of demolition or sniping.

Blood Pact units will often contain a mix of heavy and support
weapons akin to those of the Imperial Guard. Some Imperial tacticians
claim that the officers of the Blood Pact deliberately style themselves
on the Imperial Guard, and it is certainly the case that traitor
Guardsmen are used to hone and improve the basic combat abilities of the
Pact. Such traitors, due to their relative rareness, are distributed
throughout the Pact's numbers to disseminate good techniques. Others
point out that Blood Pact armaments resemble those of the Imperial Guard
because these are the most commonly plundered. Several
munition-producing Forge Worlds - especially Neffethyl and Urdesh
- were amongst the planets conquered in the Sabbat cluster, and from
them the Blood Pact have enjoyed a ready supply of Guard-quality
weapons.

The Blood Pact - thanks to these captured Forge Worlds - have
numerous armor and artillery formations. Blood Pact armor is generally
slightly inferior to standard Imperial, most of it being Urdeshi-pattern
variants such as the STeG 4, and the AT70 Reaver-pattern tanks,
though they do also have more limited numbers of the larger and more
powerful AT83 Brigand-pattern tanks, as well as a few of the rare Baneblade super-heavy tanks. The Blood Pact also field a lighter-armored variation of the Defiler known as the Stalk tank.
All Blood Pact armored vehicles are painted red, inscribed with
numerous obscene Khornate slogans, and are often decorated with the
skulls and hides of their enemies.¹

In addition to their fearsome weaponry and vehicles, the Blood Pact have special psykers known as Gore Mages.
These dark wizards can possess Blood Pact warriors with Daemonic
spirits, turning them into ferocious, almost unstoppable creatures that
they call Blood Wolves. Also, Gore Mages radiate a sense of irrational fear and have access to many other powers involving blood.³

[stev]

Merci...next question....how to model the visor?

[Lieutenant Steel]

Well, this is the kind of look you'd be going for. I would suggest these, but I think they're CSM sized and not Guard size... anybody who wants to correct me is welcome though as I haven't bought them before.

[Caratacos]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZqZ6LdNQ-lk/UJOQgmrbz2I/AAAAAAAAAHI/fU2lKCIXrTg/s1600/Chaos+Cultists+of+Khorne.jpg

 

 

This is how I made my cultist from Cadians.

[happybounce]

I run all my Khorne marines as fallen loyalists, and the idea of scraping off all eagles and aquallas (but not skulls, of course) that someone mentioned above works well for me.  As for the cultists, I think that a lot of these suggestions make sense.  I have some alternate chaosy-looking heads that I'm just popping on Cadians.

 

Another thing I was thinking about doing was upping the weird mechanical element of chaos.  I got a bunch of guitar string, and I made a tester model where I ran two of the strings (which look awesome as wires and are textured nicely) from the gun to the back; then I run two more from the back round each side of the head, and drill a hole into the eyes.  The wires go from the gun to the back and from the back to the eyes.  Add a scope on the lasgun and it looks like that's the only way they can see, and a bit of greenstuff or a random mechy bit makes for a cool backpack.  Takes a while but it looks cool, and you don't have to worry about kitbashing for heads too much.

[Lieutenant Steel]

@ Happybounce: What alternate heads do you use? I'm looking at getting several large squads of Cultists soon for a list, and I really need to find a way to convert them in bulk, as the official models are far too expensive for the 120+ Cultists I'm looking at having... I obviously don't mind non-GW brands but I haven't seen any Imperial Guard sized heads that looked Chaos-y yet.

[deathspectersgt7]

Lieutenant Steel, I found these companies that sell heads and stuff .anvil industries uk  puppetswar.com. the later has quite a few heads that go real well for chaos

[happybounce]

@Lt. Steel: I'm not sure what they are called, we picked them up at Adepticon last year.  I'll take a look this weekend and see if I can find the little blister; they were like 10 heads per pack and look convincingly chaos-y.  And less work than farting around with guitar string!

[happybounce]

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE 

 

Aptly named "evil heads":

http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_23&products_id=106

 

And some cool gas mask heads that I just found:

http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_23&products_id=18

[Caratacos]

The "evil heads" are the ones I have used for the cultists I refer to in my previous post.

[Dr. Clock]

Speaking of Blood Pact and maxmini:

 

http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_23&products_id=54

 

I'd love to have the time and inclination to go all hordey with the cultists - but I'm focussing on the Marines and Daemons right now.

 

In addition, while I love the idea of Blood Pact, I'd likely do them only as an Allied contingent using IG rules - Blood Pact are NOT cultists, but an independent fighting force. 

 

If I ever complete my Khorne projects already on the go, cultists will be raised in the form of beastmen. No armour, no guns, no problem. I've also considered LotR Orcs, as they look crazy and feral without being obviously GW orcs.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.