Khorne's Eternal Hunt - KrautScientist's chaotic WIP thread 2024: Baby steps...

[Skrundle87]

Awesome!!! A NEW FAVORITE.

I think I have to agree... Effin' awesome

[Biohazard]

Have to agree with Midian. The heads a bit off. It looks a little squared off from any angle but straight on? As for the rest of the conversion I love it! The chain and mace head look brutal. Excellent work.

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot, guys! I'll admit the meteor hammer was a bit fiddly to get right, but honestly not as bad as I expected ;)

 

I may have to take another look at the head, though. Hmmm...

[MasterBuilder]

Well well, left this for a few days and what have I come back to?

 

Pure bloody awesomeness, that what! That hammer! I never knew the meteor hammer was simply a violent version of the Olympic throwing hammer! Reminds me of a cross between the spiked ball the schoolgirl uses in Kill Bill and a cowbell! Can imagine it's used pretty much the same too...

 

And so, onto aesthetics - you know what would look awesome on this Kraut?

 

One of the world eaters terminator bare heads. Sure, they're rather thinner than the usual rebreather hesds, but would make the partially unarmoured gladiators pop. I'm sure there is also a great one from the FW zerker upgrade kit too...

 

The detail on them is amazing, great brand/scar marks which could be picked out by ink/washes beautifully.

 

I do think the biker/vehicle head is a bit chunky for my taste. Have you considered using *gasp*, a loyalist rebreather head? The new tactical squad would look great!

Edited March 25, 2014 by MasterBuilder

[KrautScientist]

@ MasterBuilder: Well, to be fair, in order to be an actual meteor hammer, the weapon would need a mace (or ball) on both ends of the chain, but the FW versions don't have this either, so I though a regular ball and chain setup was close enough to the source ;)

 

As for the head, mate, that was pretty much the perfect suggestion! Thank you! I really wanted to use a rebreather head - since it nicely adds to the model's sense of brutality, if you ask me - but the original one did end up looking a bit too clunky. Believe it or not, though, it actually is a loyalist head (from the old tac squad).  However, as you suggested, using one of the FW heads worked perfectly in this case. Take a look:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/3/26/597367-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Gladiator%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/3/26/597366-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Gladiator%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/3/26/597368-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Gladiator%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

So, all in all, that leaves me with these three gentlemen to paint:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/3/26/597365-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Gladiator%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

As always, let me know what you think!  :)

[Skrundle87]

This new batch is so very cool, I have to admit I've never been a fan of the crest but it suits that double axe weilder perfectly, and the pose on the guy with claws is just so ddynamic, I love it Edited March 26, 2014 by Skrundle87

[Gratan]

If you aren't cutting a thumb or finger every week or so, you are doing it wrong...

 

I cut myself whenever I change to a new blade... My thumb is a mass of callous scar tissue at this point.

 

I love the work, very inspiring.

[MasterBuilder]

3 words about that head, and the mini.

 

That. Is. Perfect.

 

I'm well impressed, and so very excited to see how you manage to capture the facial scarring.

 

He looks sufficiently angry hey?

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot, guys! Turns out I couldn't quite leave the hammerguy alone, though: I found myself thinking about Midian's comment regarding a longer end of chain dangling from his left fist possibly looking even cooler: I secretly agreed, so I made one more addition. As a bonus effect, the model is now wielding an actual meteor hammer (or at least a reasonable approximation of that weapon):

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/3/26/597450-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Gladiator%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

 

Let me know what you think! :)

[Montuhotep]

Mind telling a mere mortal like myself where the chin is from and where you got the arms?

[KrautScientist]

Haha, no problem, mate ;) Most of the chain (the left and middle parts( came from a bit of chain that comes with the Skullcrusher kit. It's intended as decoration for the riders, I suppose, so I carefully cut it apart to get the maximum amount of chain out of the deal ;) That was then kitbashed with the gauntlet holding three balls on chains from the Chaos Lord on Manticore kit: The gauntlet was used as the right hand for this model, while the tight part of the chain (complete with spiky ball) was cut away from the original three that were part of the gauntlet. It sounds rather complicated, but it really wasn't: It grew pretty organically, as conversions go ;)

 

As for the arms: The right upper arm is a bog standard CSM bolter arm, I just cut off the hand and replaced it with the gauntlet. The right arm is a bolter arm as well, although a loyalist bit of some sort. I'm not sure where it's originally from, but I chose it because it coincidentally had this strange "clamp" on the lower arm that resembled the hands holding the meteor hammers on the FW Rampager models. The open hand was replaced with a fist (from the Sanguinary Guard, IIRC). Oh, and I added a small cable to show how the clamp has some kind of power supply, possibly to generate some kind of energy field on the actual weapon.

 

Hope this was understandable enough! If not, just let me know ;)

[El-Diablo]

Yup, thats better. The head is in scale now (one of the problems with the 3rd ed tac squad is the bare heads are so out of scale it's unreal) and the extra chain levels the fig out nicely.

[daemonclaw]

 

 

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/3/26/597367-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Gladiator%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

 

 

 

 

very nice the new head looks ace funnily when i first glanced this guy it looked like he had black leather trousers on like some psychotic rock god  (man i think i been working too long)

seriously your dude looks great and that weapon is the bomb might have to

the whole trio look great like some khornate trinity

[Montuhotep]

Cheers much, boss!

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, guys! And glad to be of help! ;)

[KrautScientist]

I added some final touches to the Helbrute model you saw in my last update, but the changes are nearly invisible at this point, which is always a sure sign of the model being finished. Here are some photos of the completed model:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599692-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.JPG

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599693-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599694-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599695-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.JPG

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599697-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.JPG

And, once again, with the rest of the "boyband":

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599698-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.JPG

Actually, just imagine these guys doing the Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance routine -- or Smooth Criminal...  :D

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599696-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.jpg

“No. No! Not the sarcophagus… Khorne damn you, you disloyal curs, just kill me! JUST KILL ME!”
- Khalos the Ravager, last words prior to Helbrute internment


Anyway, I am pretty happy with the model, to be honest. However, there’s the problem of tieing him into my army’s background:

You see, I try to come up with a background for any squad or bigger model I use, and a Helbrute/Dreadnought is certainly big and impressive enough to warrant his own name and story, right? Well, therein lies the problem:
One of the defining factors of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt is that its members cling to their martial honour, in spite of suffering from the bite of the Butcher’s Nails and the steady degradation of their sanity over time. For them, apart from periods when they are “lost to the nails” during battle, the thought of permanently devolving into mindless beasts is the ultimate horror. And in order to slow down the inevitable decline of the company, those physically or psychologically corrupted beyond redemption are organised into separate suicide squads, to die in a last blaze of glory before their corruption spreads to their brethren.

Roughly the same goes for the company’s Ancients, of course: So the last two Dreadnoughts I built for my army exemplify opposite ends of this spectrum, with Khoron the Undying remaining mostly sane, in spite of his millennia of internment in an ironform (with the danger of finally succumbing still always present), while Marax the Fallen was already forever lost to the nails prior to being transformed, so for him the internment was an eternal punishment, and his function is to act as a reminder to his brothers what their fate will be if they permanently give in to madness and anger.

So far, so good, right? But now I have this third Dreadnought/Helbrute that is visibly mutated and corrupted and seems just as angry as Marax, if not moreso. So where does he come in? How do I explain him as a character? And what will be his name?

I agree that this is not really a huge problem, and I will certainly present the model proudly alongside all the others, even without any background or justification. But as someone for whom the background of an army is an inseparable part of the whole project, this does bug me — so in case you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them!


Oh, and there is another thing I want to share with you today:

The most terrible fate (at least from a hobby perspective) recently befell fellow hobbyist Legatho: A fallen tree crashed into his garden shed during a hailstorm, where most of his various hobby materials were stored, and almost all of his models were lost in the deluge (check out his Ammobunker thread for the whole story, complete with cringe-inducing photos). Seeing the results of that catastrophe made me realise that I wanted to help, and so, a couple of other guys and me each sent Legatho some bitz in order to help him rebuild his bitzbox.

And then the most awesome thing happened: I had also included a converted World Eater in the package, a model that, for one reason or another, I had never bothered to paint: I just thought it might be a nice personal touch to send along something World Eater-ly, along with the other stuff.
Well, it turned out that this was the first model Legatho chose to paint following his personal hobby Armageddon. Take a look:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599699-Berzerker%2C%20Champion%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lord%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599700-Berzerker%2C%20Champion%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lord%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion.jpg

He also made some fitting additions to the model, like the Ogre gut plate and some additional skulls and chains. And I particularly like the spears on the base, since they closely echo the basing motif I used for my own model for Lord Captain Lorimar.

The best thing, though, is that Legatho included a small plaque on the base as a further shout out:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599701-Berzerker%2C%20Champion%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lord%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion.jpg

That one really made me smile! All in all, I really couldn’t be any happier with the outcome: I think Legatho really managed to do the model justice with his paintjob, plus it was great to be able to help out a fellow hobbyist! And I really love the thought that a “goodwill ambassador” from Khorne’s Eternal Hunt  now resides in France. Way to go, brother-slaughterer ;)

The best thing, however, is that Legatho seems very motivated to keep building and painting models, and I think that’s really admirable! I am not sure my own hobby mojo would have recovered from a hit like that, but there you have it! Anyway, helping out felt good anyway, but as you can see, I also got an awesome hobby moment out of it as well!

So yeah, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!  :)

[Montuhotep]

How about making internment in a sarcophagus the ultimate punishment for someone who really, really, hacked off the boss just one too many times? Like the fate that Marduk had in mind for Burius-Drak'shel in the 'Dark' series of Wordbearer novels. Burias went from being Marduk's champion to rebelling against him and was implanted in a Dread for his crimes.

 

 Sort of a 'Don't you try it as well, because this is what will happen.' warning to everyone else?

[thamier]

its fun kraut cause i dont really like the helmet he got, but you made it work, he looks really good, he has character.

[Seleucus]

I think that the back story for your last 'brute would have to centre around the mutation aspect that sets it apart from the other two - and most of your army!

 

Maybe something along the lines of this being the oldest 'brute in 'The Hunt', and the only way the interred guy could stave off falling into everlasting insanity has been to accept small 'gifts' of mutation?

[KrautScientist]

Thanks for the feedback, guys! :)

 

@ Paladin 7221: While that is a fairly cool concept for a Dreadnought's background, it's also pretty much exactly the story I have already "used up" for Marax (who was interred into the Dreanought ironform after trying to kill Lorimar during the battle of Skalathrax).

 

@ Seleucus: Quite right, coming up with a sensible explanation for all the mutations is key here!

 

Thankfully, all the different suggestions I received across the different forums I frequent gave me enough material to work with for a suitable piece of background. Here goes:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/2/599693-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dark%20Vengeance%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Helbrute.jpg

Khorlen the Lost

Ever since the Skalathrax campaign, the warriors of Khorne's Eternal Hunt have been trying to keep the inevitable descent into madness that has claimed most of their legion at bay, instead clinging to their fierce martial pride. However, Lord Captain Lorimar's retreat from Skalathrax earned him no small number of opponents amid the ranks of his own legion. One such enemy, Karakar the Exalted, considered Lorimar and his company cravens and hypocrites, unworthy of Khorne's blessings and ignorant of the true nature of chaos: Karakar was furious about the Eternal Hunt looking down upon daemonhood and the gifts of the Warp, and he vowed he would educate the fourth assault company about the true meaning of chaos.

In late M39, Karakar and his warband fell upon the Fourth in a series of rapid assaults. During the initial phase of the fight, Huntmaster Khorlen, then a senior officer of the company, and his retinue were captured on the daemon world of Skabrea. Lorimar himself led an attack into the heart of the enemy stronghold, in order to rescue his battle brother and put Karakar to the sword.

When they reached the innermost sanctum of the fortress, the warriors of the fourth discovered a chilling scene: Karakar had wanted to punish the Eternal Hunt for their selfish pride, and for clinging to their long-obsolete past, so he had undertaken a sinister ritual to call the forces of the warp into the vessel provided by Huntmaster Khorlen's body. He had paid dearly, however, as Khorlen - his body twisted and wracked with the raw powers of chaos - had broken his chains and slain everyone present in the ritual chamber. There his brothers found him, crippled and bloodied, his form twisted beyond reason, but yet imbued with a sinister resilience through the powers of the warp. And against all odds, Khorlen remained completely sane, and aware of the horrible changes that had been wrought upon him.

Lorimar and his warriors were at a loss: Had Khorlen's mind been shattered by the ritual, it would have been easy enough to put him out of his misery. But their brother was still sane, and begged them to allow him to continue fighting. So a compromise was reached: Khorlen's twisted remains were interred into a dreanought ironform, in an attempt to keep him combat worthy.

But the ritual had been so powerful that even the internment did not protect Khorlen against the forces of the warp: His ironform began to change and mutate, turning Khorlen into a hulking beast of steel and fleshmetal. Yet at the heart of the hellish contraption, the proud spirit of Huntmaster Khorlen still remained, untainted and unbroken.

Khorlen spends most of his days hidden deep within the great forge aboard the Aeternus Venator, his condition closely monitored by Huntmaster Deracin. Only in times of battle is he released to walk among his brothers once more, seeking a worthy death in battle as long as he is still himself...


As always, let me know what you think! :)

[Kharnaak]

Amazing fluff, your world eaters are an inspiration to us all.

[KrautScientist]

That is very nice of you to say, Kharnaak!

I have something special to show you today: Since my blog , Eternal Hunt, recently hit 200,000 views, there was the question of how to celebrate that. And what better way to celebrate than to get a nice present for myself, as a reward for all the hard work, right? Relax, though: There’ll be something interesting for you as well. So what is this about?

Some of you may remember when I posted about fellow hobbyist AgnostosTheos building 30k versions of two of my World Eaters characters a while back. This was pretty cool, because his World Eaters army is easily one of my favourite Heresy-era representations of my chosen legion.

Now imagine my dismay when AT recently announced that he would be selling his amazing collection of World Eaters — what terrible news! I, for one, would have loved to see further additions to this force, and maybe even some more 30k versions of characters from Khorne’s Eternal Hunt.

However, and I almost feel guilty for admitting it, this also provided me with the chance as well as the obligation to purchase the 30k versions that already existed.

Now I normally have pretty strict rules when it comes to buying painted models or commissioning people: I don’t usually do it, period.

I have various reasons for this: I don’t want to let other people do the work that actually constitutes a sizeable part of the hobby for me, reluctant as I sometimes am to take up a paintbrush. I also have the creeping suspicion that once I start to commission people like the Spiky Rat Pack, for instance, to build and paint some of their amazing models for me, I’ll never stop until all my money’s gone.

And there’s also the fact that it’s really an all or nothing choice: Either you only buy single pieces and end up with them looking markedly different from the rest of your army, or you commission an entire army, pay through your teeth and actually have no hobby activities left to do yourself — apart from the playing, admittedly, but that has never been the greatest draw for me.

So, to make a long story short: While I usually lack any impulse control when it comes to buying little plastic men, I have so far managed not to buy fully painted ones, at least.

I made an exception this time, however, because the thought of somebody else owing AT’s Heresy-era versions of “my” characters was pretty much unbearable to me.
And due to the fact that I have zero interest in assembling a 30k World Eaters force, it seemed a safe enough endeavour to buy a couple of AgnostosTheos’s models without running the risk of becoming addicted to yet another army. So I made him an offer that he could have – but didn’t – refuse and purchased four models, all in all, along with some supremely useful resin bitz and an almost complete sheet of World Eaters decals. While the latter two will become very useful for my work on Khorne’s Eternal Hunt, it goes without saying that the painted models were definitely the stars of the show. Here are three of them:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/9/601547-30k%2C%20Agnostostheos%2C%20Horus%20Heresy%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt%2C%20Officers%2C%20Pre-heresy.JPG

From left to right, we have a model representing Marax the Fallen in the days before his internment into a Dreadnought, a World Eaters officer based on the WFB plastic Chaos Lord, and Khoron the Undying, once again before being interred into an ironform. Let’s take a closer look:

First up, Marax the Fallen, in both his 30k and 40k incarnations:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/9/601549-30k%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Horus%20Heresy%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

The twin lightning claws on both models make for a pretty clear recurring element, and the blood spatters all over 30k Marax’s armour and face show that this warrior was dangerously unhinged, even before becoming a dreadnought.

Then there’s Khoron the Undying in both versions:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/9/601550-30k%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Dreadnought%2C%20Horus%20Heresy%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

Although blood spattered, Khoron seems less feral and uncontrollable than his brother. His patrician features are also a nice and subtle way of representing his function as a figure of respect among the warriors of the 4th assault company. In the 41st millenium, this face has forever been replaced with the brazen skull mask of a dreadnought, however.

Actually having these guys in my hands to display them alongside each other is a really awesome feeling, you know

And then there’s the unnamed World Eaters officer: While the model wasn’t based on any of my characters, the fact that it uses the same base model as my own Dark Apostle makes it fun to imagine that it might represent a younger Huntmaster Stian Gul:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/9/601551-30k%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Horus%20Heresy%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt%2C%20Officers.JPG

Plus the model was actually a steal, so what choice did I have? My favourite part has got to be the way AT used etched brass parts to add World Eaters iconograpgy to the medieval looking armour.

There is actually one more model I purchased from AgnostosTheos, although one I am not prepared to show you just yet. It will also need some final touches to complete it. As a little teaser, let me just show you the weapons I intend to use for this mysterious warrior:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/9/601552-weapons.JPG

Maybe that should give some of you a clue as to the character this model will represent…


All in all, purchasing these models was a really great way to add some texture to my force! I really couldn’t be any happier with these guys:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/9/601548-30k%2C%20Agnostostheos%2C%20Horus%20Heresy%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt%2C%20Officers%2C%20Pre-heresy.JPG

While we’re on the subject, though, be sure to check out AgnostosTheos’s WIP thread and Flickr gallery: Though the various models may have found new homes, they remain one of the coolest 30k World Eaters armies, and those links allow you to check them out in their entirety — highly recommended!


As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Edited April 9, 2014 by KrautScientist

[oldschoolsavant]

Nice looking comparisons, certainly a characterful addition for display.

 

Kromlech legs and Mk3 backpacks might well be showing up on my own Long War Veterans, currently on the to-do list. The fella has good taste !

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, OSS, and well spotted: I hadn't even realised those were Kromlech parts, but you're quite right. Makes you realise how seamless those kitbashes are, doesn't it? ;)

[Kharnaak]

Lorimar! Lorimar! Lorimar!