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

[KrautScientist]

So anyway, time for another update: With the recent success of the painted Dreadnought (and a new, tweaked World Eaters recipe) still fresh on my mind, it was time to address the issue of the new chaos models:

 

You see, the recent CSM release has been a bit of a bittersweet affair for me. Sweet, of course, because the models are obviously brilliant, and such a long overdue reworking of some rather ancient kits. At the same time, however, the added size of the new CSM makes a rather big part of my World Eaters look pretty runtish. There's also the fact that I don't see myself revamping the entire army anytime soon -- or, in fact, ever: I'm not sure I still have it in me to build and paint huge 40k armies, as I am much more interested in smaller, bite-sized challenges like INQ28 retinues or single pieces that appeal to me. And yet I did of course want to get in on some sweet chaotic action -- so what was I to do?

 

The best possible approach was to start by purchasing some new plastic crack, of course, so I hot myself a box of vanilla CSM and Havocs each (I just couldn't resist the massive, brutal look of the Havocs, even if rules don't even interest me all that much at this point). And I began some preliminary experimentation.

 

Now as many of you will already know from firsthand experience, the new CSM are noticeably taller than the older models, and that makes quite a few of my chaos models look rather weird next to the new guys. Unfortunately, this includes a fair bit of my still unpainted stuff. So the first order of the day was to find out which of my latest (still unpainted) models were still salvageable. In order to find out, I quickly tacked together a new CSM to serve as a point of reference:

 

 

This guy was mostly built straight out of the box -- although, as you can see, I couldn't help adding a Caedere Remissum helmet crest, even at this early hour -- more on that particular design decision later...

 

Using the new guy as a point of reference, I was lucky enough to find some models that might still work.

 

There's my WIP Iron Warriors kill team, for starters:

 

 

Now this project was started before Kill Team was even a thing (again), so I mostly played it by ear. Most of the models (except for the one tester lurking in the back whom you may safely ignore) were mostly based on Dark Vengeance Chosen, and while the models are still a bit shorter than the new CSM, they don't look too out of place. Two Iron Warriors remain unpainted, but have already been built, as you can see, and after that, I think I'll be adding a heavy weapons specialist (built from one of the new kits), add a few suitably IW-themed cultists and call it a day. The finished team should hopefully still work well enough. And KiIl Team, with its smaller model count and potential larger focus on individual characters (and models) appeals more to me than standard 40k at this point.

 

But where does that leave my World Eaters?

 

Well, the good news is that I found some guys that should still work rather well in this upscaled world. Take a look:

 

 

Once again, most of these conversions were heavily based on the Dark Vengeance Chosen, so they still work fairly well (even though they are just a tad shorter than the new models):

 

 

I also think that coming up with a really cool World Eaters Kill Team (code name "The Hateful Eight") should be a very rewarding project in and of itself. If that prompts me to keep building and painting World Eaters for 40k proper afterwards, so much the better. But for now, I want to explore the new kits and use them to build some of the best World Eaters I can come up with -- at least that's the plan.

 

That being said, the new kits turn this into an interesting challenge, because many well established conversion recipes may not work anymore due to the slightly changed scale (many stock arms, for instance, just seem too short on the new models). So my first little project was to find out how to make the new vanilla CSM look more like World Eaters, so I started to mess around with a couple of bitz:

 

 

The good news is that most older helmets and shoulder pads should still work fairly well -- this includes some of the older FW shoulder pads (as seen here with the pauldrons from the berzerker conversion kits. They torso pieces from the same kit, however, are right out).

 

But I also wanted to do something slightly more involved for my first test model, and after looking for a while at a Blood Warrior chest piece, I got a bit more creative:

 

 

Some of the new breastplates are still a bit bland, to be honest, so I decided to splice in some Khornate goodness: I carefully cut through the torso front just above the abdomen as seen in the picture above.

 

The Blood Warrior breastplate (seen on the left) fit with just the slightest fraction of shaving. However, there was a huge gap underneath it that, while not directly visible when looking at the model from the front, still made it obvious that the torso was hollow. So I used a bit of GS to create a small lip, like this:

 

 

 

Then the Blood Warriors breastplate was simply glued on. The GS plugged the gap, and the new torso works really well, what with the cabling on the abdominal section and everything:

 

 

 

Granted, the whole assembly seemed a little less convincing when seen from the side:

 

 

But most of this ends up covered by the arms anyhow -- I merely added some GS to create a straight surface for the arms to attach to.

 

Here's a mockup of the entire body:

 

 

And here's my first World Eaters test model made with the new CSM kit:

 

 

 

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

[Shovellovin]

Excellent work on giving the torso of your berserker more flavor. Also, the head swap and Paul from addition look really good on this model.

 

Will you continue to use this torso swap for a squad?

[Gederas]

The new Marine looks pretty cool. Good to know they work with Blood Warrior torsos with some work.

 

Hopefully World Eaters can still have Havocs if/when the codex comes out :lol:

[ElDuderino]

Hehe great minds think alike, I did that exact thing with the torso:) It's quite a good fit and does wonders to spice up the models.

 

I hope we get to see a lot more of these from you, I've missed seeing basic WE in this thread. Can't wait to see what you come up with with the havocs, teeth of khorne with extra toe-teeth?;)

[hushrong]

I love the conversion work! The AoS torsos look great with the new CSM bodies.

[Augustus b'Raass]

What I think? I think "The Hatefull Eight" is the best name for a Khornate Kill Team in the history of naming teams. It's so good. And you know it's so good, because when you read it your mind goes "OF COURSE". 

Sometimes I'm just a little annoyed with and jealous of your naming skills, Krautyboy. Sometimes....

Also, the conversion looks good. I recently traded my last Iron Warrios METAL BAWKS (the sicaran I did two (or was it three) years ago) for 30 MkIII marines and 30 MkIv marines. SO I have enough to convert my own blood warrior-based Khorne Berzerkers. :D

[Mister Feral]

Look mighty good grafting those Blood Warrior bitz onto the new Chaos Astartes plastics.

 

World Eaters certainly used to have Havocs in the lore, back in the earlier days where Khorne was more focused on all-round martial prowess than the current “BLOODBLOODBLOOD” mentality.

[Sagentus]

These latest additions look epic Kraut!! defo shows what can be done with the new stuff and makes me consider buying the new chaos marine set 

[Lhorke The First]

I told myself I was going to put off adding more stuff to my World Eaters until they get their own release but, yeah that is out the window after seeing this. 

[Achinadav]

Love your dreadnoughts, all of 'em, not just the new guy. Really fun to see you experimenting with the new bits too. Surely there should be some height variation between marine? So is the scale difference really that conspicuous?

 

Hope you polish off that Iron Warriors kill team soon. They're very characterful and I'd love to see them all painted.

[KrautScientist]

Cheers for the kind words, everyone! I really appreciate it! :)

 

@ Shovellovin: I don't think I'll be tweaking the breastplate for each of the models: There are quite a few very nice breastplates in the new CSM kit, for one, that nicely hint at older armour marks, and I'll want to keep some of those. I mostly wanted to see if it could be done, although I might re-use the approach whenever there's a breastplate that's too bland for my taste.

 

Also, who's Paul from addition? ;) [i get it, I get it -- autocorrect]

 

@ Gederas, ElDuderino & Mister Feral: Oh, don't worry, I'll definitely be covering the whole "Teeth of Khorne" angle, if only with a model or two for starters -- the new Havocs are far to lovely for me not to -- so massive and malevolent. Hmm....

 

@ Auggs: Cheers, buddy! Take care of the scale, though: Even the Mk. III/Blood Warrior combo might end up looking a tad short next to the new CSM models.

 

@ Achinadav: The difference is not equally pronounced between all CSM: For instance, the DV Chosen are just a tad shorter than the new CSM, but it's not too obvious. Old CSM models, however, just look really awkward next to the new guys, at least if untweaked. Another issue is that so many well established conversion bitz (chaos marauder arms for bare-armed World Eaters, Blood Warrior arms) no longer work quite as easily due to the scale change. It's not a catastrophe, though, but rather a fun puzzle to be overcome. And yeah, difference in height between individuals could be used to explain some of it away, especially at the Kill Team level.

 

@ hushrong, Sagentus & Lhorke the First: Cheers, gents! :)

 

 

So here's my test model, all fully converted and cleaned up, ready to be undercoated and - hopefully - painted during tomorrow's hobby session:

 

[Atia]

Very cool as usual - what did you use for the bunny ears? Bloodwarrior bits?

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, Atia! Yeah, I still had those clipped-off bunny ears left from an earlier project. They originally came from a Blood Warrior head, though.

[DuskRaider]

Wow... I've been meaning to comment since your last post. Your Berserkers look magnificent! Funny how with a few changes, the new generic CSM can make the perfect children of Khorne. Absolutely top notch, brother.

[The_son_of_Dorn]

Blood warrior bitz <3

[Augustus b'Raass]

*weeps tears of joy at seeing Kraut back to World Eaters* 

Hurray!

[Mechanist]

Off to a good start and interesting to see the breastplate fit. Having just used old bezerker boots combined with AOS starter box bloodwarriors to really update my possessed I'm now a little concerned about size. Mind my new ones stand up next to a Primaris so I should be ok. It's the two from plastic possessed bits that'll be interesting to see how they all look together.

 

Glad to see you back on the chaos wagon.

[Aasfresser]

Those new Berzerkers are amazing! I'm so glad to see those bits fitting together so nicely! And the Dread looks ace, too! I love how the LasCanon turned out. One can barely tell it was once an imperial one.

[apologist]

As with all the best conversions, that looks totally natural. Love it!

[KrautScientist]

Cheers for the kind words, everyobe! I am currently away from my notebook, so just a small sneak peek for now:

[apologist]

Waaagh! – sorry; I mean, Blood for the Blood God!

 

Looking lovely; and I hope this heralds a new chapter in the annals of the Eternal Hunt. :)

[Aasfresser]

Already looking good 

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot, guys! :)

 

No progress on the model itself, but here are some better pictures that show off what I have so far:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

[Lhorke The First]

Very cool, the blue eye lenses really pop.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Berserker is well-painted.

Very cool, the blue eye lenses really pop.

I agree.