Khorne's Eternal Hunt - KrautScientist's chaotic WIP thread 2024: Suddenly, Death Guard...

[KrautScientist]

1 hour ago, Augustus b'Raass said:

 

Also, You've inspired me to return to my old thread...

 

 

THAT IS AWESOME!!!

[frankendoodle65]

On 3/10/2023 at 1:38 PM, KrautScientist said:

 

 

I really think the blunt, Mk II-ish faceplate is a great fit for the massive, spiky armour.

Oh man I love this guy, particularly that last photo looks so brutal and intimidating, that head is perfect. 

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot, @frankendoodle65!

[KrautScientist]

So, time for a more sizeable update on some of the kitbashes I have been working on recently. Be ye warned, though: There be lots of unpainted plastic and crude WIPs ahead!

Now when the World Eaters release was first teased by GW, I was relieved to see that all of my most recent, painted World Eaters stuff – from back in 2019/2020 – would probably still make the cut when placed next to the new models. It’s good to know that “The Hateful Eight” (appearing earlier in this thread) have not been made obsolete by the new release!

 

 

But of course my first action was to go through the as-of-yet-unpainted models and see whether I might be able to tweak and improve them a bit. To be perfectly honest, not only did I do this to bring them up to the level of the new models, but also as a substitute for actually getting to work on the new bitz, as I was still waiting for my first box of new Khorne Berzerkers to be delivered at this point

 

First up on the table were these three gentlemen:

 

 

All of these have been tweaked a bit, but without using any of the new parts. This was really mostly about bringing the existing conversions up to snuff and about straightening out any remaining kinks and areas I didn’t like. Let’s take this model, for instance:

 

 

I must have tweaked and re-tweaked this particular kitbash half a dozen times by now, but now I am finally happy with the conversion: The model combines the head, torso, upper thighs (and half of a weapon arm) of an AoS Blood Warrior with the lower legs from the plastic Mk. III Marines. I threw in shoulder pads from the vanilla Chaos Space Marines and the old FW World Eaters conversion kit. What really sells the conversion, in my opinion, is the left arm (from the Age of Sigmar first edition starter box Blood Reavers): I knew I needed at least one berzerker to carry some freshly taken heads, and now this noble task falls to this particular gentleman.

Next up is a model I was already very happy with back in 2020:

 

 

The original plan here was to build a World Eater wearing massive, archaic & spiky Mk. III armour, and the plastic Plague Marines presented me with the perfect body for that look. The shoulder pads and left arm came from the vanilla CSM; while the right hand gripping an axe came from the Blood Warriors included in the old AoS starter box. The one tweak I chose to make was to exchange the somewhat dodgy FW Red Butcher axe the model had before for the Chaos Space Marine chainsword you can see above. I’m not quite sure yet whether I want to keep this version — we’ll see.

 

- And of course you will also remember the model from the recent shenanigans surrounding an optional, helmeted head -

 

 

Finally, there’s this gent here:

 

 

Another 2020 conversion, this one. This is what he looked like before I worked on him:

 

 

Granted, the model seems cool enough in that photo, but the proportions were really all over the place, with a right leg that was MUCH too long. The model seemed cool at first glance but became dodgier and dodgier the longer I looked at it. So the right leg was shortened, leading to a slightly different pose. The infuriating thing is that it’s now much harder to find the right angle to show off how the model has been improved, as the legionary is aggressively thrusting forward his chest. It works really well when seen firsthand but is a lot of trouble to photograph right…

 

 

The conversion was, once again, based on one of the Blood Warriors from the AoS 1st edition starter box, and I think the armour works really well for a World Eater, looking much more archaic and gladiatorial than standard Astartes warplate. In this case, I didn’t replace either of the shoulder pads, because I really wanted to embrace the gladiatorial look.

The one thing I added to bring the model more into the 40k universe was to add some GS Butcher’s Nails to its head:

 

 

Granted, compared to the new stock heads, these nails seem pretty crude, but I think the model still works pretty well overall. The model still needs a bit of cleanup and gap-filling, but I think the look I want for the character is clearly there now.

Then there’s this converted Khorne Berzerker champion, built around some parts from the – somewhat problematic – Wrathmongers/Skullreapers. It remains a slightly dodgy conversion, but I am still fond of the sense of brutality it exudes. I’ve added a Blood Warrior shoulder pad to the left arm which definitely makes a big difference, even though it’s such a small detail.

 

 

And I also built one additional model, mostly by combining CSM and Blood Warrior parts in the already well established way. However, this model was mostly conceived as a vehicle, so to speak, for one particular bit: Its head:

 

 

This particular head was a gift from fellow hobbyist Drone21c — and from all the way back in 2015,

if you can believe it! I’ve had this part in my bitzbox for so many years that it was finally time to build a model around it. The helmet itself was converted by adding berzerker “bunny ears” to an old Chaos Warrior helmet, I believe, with some customisation and GS cabling making the design look even more original. The body, meanwhile, was my usual combination of CSM and Blood Warrior parts, with arms from the CSM Raptors.

My idea for this character was a legionary who takes a moment to aim a bolt pistol shot at the enemy while advancing, and I think the pose sells that idea well enough.

 

The next two models were also originally built in 2020, but in these cases, I actually tweaked them by using some parts from the new berzerker kit:

 

 

The guy on the left, with his Corpse Grinder Cult circular saw (a bitz donation from my buddy Augustus b’Raass, by the way) originally used a rebreather head from some Primaris kit or other:

 

 

Nice enough in its way, but I think you’ll agree with me that the model has really been transformed simply by giving it a “proper” new World Eaters head:

 

 

There’s an added element of viciousness to the model that was really missing before. And there’s something subtly feral about those fanged rebreathers that I just love. This is definitely a case where a single bit has managed to enhance an entire model!

 

The second model was already really close in concept to the new Khorne Berzerkers, albeit converted from CSM and Blood Warrior parts:

 

 

I only really swapped in a different sword arm, as it turned out one of the Berzerker chainsword arms worked a bit better than the vanilla CSM arm I had originally used — although this also has the cool side-effect of leaving the model with one of the rather vicious, hacksaw-like Berzerker chainswords now:

 

 

Which invariably leads us to the models that were built using only (or mostly) the new Khorne Berzerker bits — but I’ll be saving those for the next update.

 

For now, allow me to leave you with one additional photo of my recently converted "Arx Death Helm", albeit on another "borrowed" body (I just like this particular photo a lot):

 

 

As always, let me know what you think!

[BadgersinHills]

Really nice minis. The MKIII berzerker is one of my favourites. The head swap on the guy with the Corpse grinder saw really adds to the mini.

[Valkia the Bloody]

Some great conversions. I just love the Corpse Grinder Kit- it is such a source of great brutal chaos bits.

 

[frankendoodle65]

There's a lot to unpack here and I think they all deserve some discussion, so I'll talk about them all in order.... Sorry this might be long! 

 

The first guy with the freshly cut heads is lovely in the way only a khorne beserker can be, really menacing and imposing and the legs look seamless. Only thing that's slightly bugging me is his left arm looks a fair bit longer than the right, but I have a feeling that's just a quirk of the photo. 

 

I liked the chunky mkiii guy with his dual axes, somehow the chainsaw just feels a little out of place to me. I know you weren't keen on that particular axe, do you have any others to try on him? 

 

Huge improvement on the next guy, your tweaks to the legs really help and the new thrusting forward pose is super aggressive and I love that head.

 

The beserker champion is really nice in so many ways but the pose feels totally off at the moment - he looks like his arms are stretched out for a hug! If the pistol arm is ever so slightly lowered and the head turned to face that direction that should fix it in my opinion. 

 

Next guy is cool, he's got a slightly retro second edition vibe to him. Not really much to say here but I like him.

 

I agree with BadgersinHills that the new head on the corpse grinder saw guy works really well, and I love those shoulder pads. Only thing I don't like is the taloned feet, they feel somehow out of place to me. Wouldn't be difficult to trim off the toes, but that's just my opinion as always so feel free to ignore me.

 

The next guy is nice too, you always manage to combine the blood warrior parts so smoothly with CSM parts, it just looks like it belongs. Only criticism is the pistol arm feels like it's at a bit of a funny angle, looks like he's about to shoot a rabbit or something! 

 

Hopefully some of this is helpful and I look forward to seeing what you're working on with the new beserker bit.

Edited March 14, 2023 by frankendoodle65

[KrautScientist]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

 

@BadgersinHills Yeah, I am really fond of the Mk III guy as well! And I am glad to hear you agree about the head on the circular saw swinger

 

@Valkia the Bloody Fully agreed! So far, I only have a handful of bitz from the kit, courtesy of my buddy @Augustus b'Raass, but I may have to pick up a box of them at some point!

 

@frankendoodle65 Hey mate, thanks so much for the detailed feedback! I really appreciate it, especially since there haven't been that many comments so far!

 

• For the first guy, you are quite right on the left arm being too long -- I will still have to tweak that further. Well spotted!
• For the Mk III legionary, yeah, the process of finding another weapon for him is still ongoing. The axe wasn't great, but the sword is probably not the end of the process, either.
• Glad you like the next guy -- he certainly took the biggest amount of work
• not sure I agree on the champion: For all his dodginess, his pose is not one of the problems I have with the model. He also happens to be looking along the barrel of his plasma pistol rather nicely...
• trimming the claws off the feet would take some doing -- but I'm pretty sure I don't even want to give it a try: If I see those clawed toes, I get the image of a huge hound running across a tiled floor, its claws producing clicking noises. And I think that works rather well for a World Eater -- does that make any sense at all?
• yeah, the angle of the pistol arm on the running Berzerker may have to be tweaked before the glue comes out. Good point!

 

In the meantime, I have been working on some new things. Here's a guy I've just idly tacked together for now:

 

 

He's just a quick experiment for now, but he does serve as proof that it's perfectly feasible to combine "leftovers" from vanilla CSM, Berzerkers and Blood Warriors and come up with something that works.

 

The other project I want to share has been a bit more deliberate: A fair few years ago, I painstakingly created this model here. Huntmasker Skarn, Captain Lorimar's second-in-command:

 

 

Come to think of it, the model must have been built almost ten years ago, and I seemed like such a towering achievement back then. But I didn't get around to painting Skarn, as is so often the case for me, and then the model's time kinda came and went: I did make a couple of attempts to tweak him and bring him back in line with the rest of the army, but the magic was somehow gone. But I still kept thinking of the way to re-create or update the character.

 

This was also on my mind when I started to work with the new CSM kits, back in 2019/2020, but I have held off on building a new version of Skarn until now. Well, no longer! Here's what I have so far:

 

 

 

 

To be fair, this is still a fairly early build, but having danced around this particular project for years at this point, I had this "Eureka!" moment just the other night, and I already like him quite a bit!

 

As always, let me know what you think!

[Montuhotep]

Skarn looks brilliant, but my favourite has to be the face on the first lad - I presume it's one of the new Bezerker ones? It's the visual manifestation of:

 

 "Yeah, I'm enjoying this."

[Pearson73]

The headswap on the Corpsegrinder chap works really well.

 

Huge fan of the new mishh-mash fellow too, the face sculpt has such a wonderful expression. The evolution of Skarn is also great to see, following this iterative process of hobbyists refining and rebuilding their key characters as their resources and skills grow (and the legend of the character) is something I find particularly rewarding about the hobby, and this round is off to a great start! 

[Xenith]

Great to see you back, that guy with the corpsegrider saw is amazing! 

[frankendoodle65]

On 3/16/2023 at 12:33 AM, KrautScientist said:

 

@frankendoodle65 Hey mate, thanks so much for the detailed feedback! I really appreciate it, especially since there haven't been that many comments so far!

• not sure I agree on the champion: For all his dodginess, his pose is not one of the problems I have with the model. He also happens to be looking along the barrel of his plasma pistol rather nicely...
• trimming the claws off the feet would take some doing -- but I'm pretty sure I don't even want to give it a try: If I see those clawed toes, I get the image of a huge hound running across a tiled floor, its claws producing clicking noises. And I think that works rather well for a World Eater -- does that make any sense at all?

Hey KrautScientist, glad you took all of that the right way, I was a bit worried some of it might come across a bit nitpicky.

 

Regarding the champion's pose, I've only got the one photo to go by so I'm happy to be proven wrong, it's not always easy deciphering a 2d image of a 3d object! 

 

And yep I get what you mean about the clawed feet, I had a feeling you'd disagree with me on that one! If I remember right there's something about havoc's using their toe claws for stability when firing heavy weapons, that's probably why I don't like them on a combat guy. 

 

 

Loving your "quick experiment" guy so far, definitely looks like you've put more time and thought into him than you're letting on! 

 

Skarn is looking really promising so far too. There's a certain charm to the original version, really takes me back a few years... New guy is definitely an improvement though, and you've nailed most of the important features that link it back to the original - I think the only thing I'd be tempted to change is the head. It's an awesome bit and looks great on the model, but is it the same guy? I wouldn't know what to suggest as an alternative though so maybe you've already got the best option!

 

You'll be pleased to know the toes don't seem to bug me on this guy though!  

[KrautScientist]

Cheers for the feedback, everyone!

 

@Montuhotep Yeah, that particular head from the berzerker kit is really cool! Some of the bare heads do have their problems, making them a bit situational, but this one's really cool. There's even a throbbing vein on the forehead, for crying out loud

 

@Pearson73 Cheers! Refining the model to represent a character can be quite daunting, especially if you were already pretty happy with the previous version. But in other cases, it offers another chance to truly bring a character to the fore when that didn't quite work before, for whatever reasons. That's definitely the case with Skarn.

 

@Xenith Cheers! Circular saw FTW!

 

@frankendoodle65 Oh, don't worry: I always appreciate detailed feedback like that! Some of it will have me hemming and hawing, but it's always useful, so don't hold back on my account.

 

As for Skarn, the thing I didn't tell you in the previous post is that the  - admittedly cool - horned CSM head was always more of a placeholder on the old version, one that I always wanted to replace with something suitably Khornate. When the Skullcrusher kit came out, I was sure that the champion head would be perfect -- only it didn't quite work as well on the model as I had hoped. Skarn then went through a succession of different helmets, but none of them were quite IT. So, in a way, I am really returning to my preferred solution using this head, only this time it actually looks cool on the model!

 

In the meantime, I have been fiddling with more stuff. First up, here's a World Eaters axeman created completely from "leftovers", so to speak:

 

 

The vague idea behind the conversion was that I wanted to create another eviscerator berzerker for one of the older squads. I realise the arms are just a bit too long, but I think we might have to put that down to mutations

 

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I've had to pull apart that quickly improvised World Eater you all liked so much for the above conversion -- but fear not: His remains are currently being used for another - early - experiment:

 

 

As always, let me know what you think!

Edited March 18, 2023 by KrautScientist

[Pearson73]

Those legs work very nicely for Raptors, they look a bit more slender and lighter.

 

The axeman is also looking solid, I think the slightly long arms look fine and, as you say, would be a very appropriate mutation anyways.

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, @Pearson73! Yeah, the problem with those Wrathmonger legs is that they don't really work on anything BUT a Raptor -- had them on the axeman first, and the pose would have worked, but the model ended up looking almost twice as tall as everyone else On a jump pack model, the problem is still there, but you can explain it away with the model just landing, so it almost, kinda works...

[Montuhotep]

The resurrection of the beast known as Kraut Scientist is making it so very tempting to stop my white-and-blue Heresy WE project and go full-on looney....

Edited March 18, 2023 by Montuhotep

[Gederas]

I'm just happy this thread being back means I have plenty of ideas to steal reference!

[KrautScientist]

Thank you very much, @Montuhotep and @Gederas! That is very kind of you to say!

 

Just a small update for today, as I've already shown off most of the flashier stuff. But I have yet to post the models I have actually been building from the new Khorne Berzerkers kit, so here goes:

 

 

I like the new Khorne Berzerkers kit a great deal, especially the many shout outs to the earlier plastic kits AND the metal miniatures that came before. At the same time, the look of these models has been thoroughly modernised and nicely refined.

 

I do have some minor quibbles with the kit: For one, while it is more versatile than many of GW’s recent kits, it is maybe not quite as versatile as it seems at first: The bodies only ever really go together in one specific way, for instance, although that is not such a big deal, given the fact that you actually get ten unique bodies in the kit. A more immediate problem is the fact that you get two different types of gloves on the hands – standard CSM gauntlet and a modernised version of the classic berzerker leather gloves (looking far less clownish this time around) – and while I love the inclusion of the latter, this also means that you cannot simply combine any two arms from the kit without the result ending up looking a bit dodgy.

 

But anyway, I am still feeling my way around the kit, which is why the first couple of models have been mostly built “by the book”, so to speak:

 

 

Sure, I have subtly tweaked a pose here and there, but so far, the models are still fairly cookie cutter, which is really the biggest problem right now, as I still want them to feel like unique characters. So I will yet have to make a few tweaks and adjustment, find the perfect heads and helmets for these,… all in an effort to make them more unique. But I think I’ll be getting there in the end.

 

Then there’s this guy that I keep coming back to:

 

 

The original plan was to build a model stepping forward in a challenging way and bellowing out a challenge. I really wanted to use one of the shouting, bare heads for this, but as it turns out, they are not entirely unproblematic: Due to the way they are built, they can end up looking a bit strange when used on actual models (the open mouths resulting in a bit of an elongated neck). So I’ve fallen back on using a rebreather head for now, but of course this means you lose some of the intended viciousness.

One smaller breakthrough was to actually ditch the stock Berzerker backpack and swap in an Mk. III backpack: I think its more concentrated bulk works a lot better with the outline and mass of the model. But in any case, expect the pose & bitz on this chap to still change quite a bit before we are done ;-)

 

The one case where I have already committed to a slightly more involved conversion is the squad’s vexilla/icon bearer:

 

 

Look, I am old skool to the bone: Backpack mounted banners and trophies are strictly for champions in my book. The icon bearer needs to be lugging around an actual icon: I love the idea that even the World Eaters will take it upon themselves to carry banners and icons into battle, all in an attempt to bring more glory to Khorne — they absolutely need to look suitably vicious, of course, so they could believably be used as weapons in their own right, should push come to shove.

I also like it when every squad has their own, original icon, so I am working towards that goal as well.

 

 

 

 

The icon bit itself came from the 1st edition Age of Sigmar Blood Reavers. I really liked its vicious, barbed look, and it has a lot of skulls, which is always a plus. I had to shave off the – slightly too reedy – Blood Reaver arm holding it. That area was covered up with yet more skulls, and a Wrathmonger arm was swapped in for its added mass:

 

 

As always, let me know what you think!

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

They look great!

[ElDuderino]

Kraut! I have to say that I'm very glad to see you back here! I was gonna say that it's a glorious day, then I realized you've almost been back for a month. I think I'll be checking b&c more frequently from now on.

 

I haven't actually looked too deep at your new minis, everything looks stunning at first glance as usual. Just had to express my joy that you're not lost in the warp forever:)

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot for the kind words, gents!

 

Hey @ElDuderino, so great to see you're still around! You'll maybe appreciate the fact that Brother Orska of Skandia is still very much alive & kicking (and taking skulls, of course):

 

 

I've simply got to ask, though: Any chance of you going back to your World Eaters as well? That thread of yours was always one of my absolute favourites -- and, in fact, I just went through all 22 pages of it again earlier today, and it turns out I love it even more than I remember. So, pretty please...?

 

In other news, here's a small update for you: First up, a slightly more cleaned up version of that WIP Raptor champion. Meet Syrax of the Harriers, everyone:

 

 

 

And since I have never learned how to resist "Ohhh, shiny!"-Syndrome, here's a first attempt at turning one of the new-ish Chaos Terminators into a proper World Eater:

 

 

Here are two more shots of him -- less moody, certainly, but the actual conversion/kitbashing work is a bit more visible in them

 

 

 

As always, let me know what you think!

[Pearson73]

New icon bearer looks great, I love that each squad has it's own individual icon to mark them out and boost the personality of the squads even more.

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, @Pearson73! Yeah, I'm an old skool chaos player, so wanting "proper" icons for my squads is very much in my blood!

[Montuhotep]

I'm looking forward to the Kraut Insanity when the new scale Termies get released.....

Edited March 26, 2023 by Montuhotep

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, @Montuhotep! Don't hold your breat though, because - in a case of truly excellent timing - I recently picked up a box of "new" Chaos Space Marine Terminators that could end up being woefully outscaled by the new loyalists...

 

Speaking of which, I have been messing around with those very Terminators for the last couple of days. My objective with them was threefold:

• turn every one into an individual, because these are ancient veterans of the Long War and deserve to look like it
• believably turn each of them into a World Eater
• have them still read as Terminators: Now this sounds like it wouldn't be a big deal, but you can really end up converting Terminators so much that you lose a huge chunk of the classic look that actually clearly makes them come across as Terminators, so I needed to keep a balance between creating cool conversions while maintaining the iconic look.

So here's what I have so far:

 

 

You have already seen the gentleman with the twin lightning claws, of course, and you also know this guy -- he was my "test model", so to speak:

 

 

 

Next up, the heavy weapons guy. For me, the silhouette of the massive autocannon is so very iconic of Chaos Terminators that I knew I had to use that gun. Beyond that, it was mostly a matter of adding some visual flourishes to make this guy look like a World Eater:

 

 

 

The (Forgeworld) World Eaters shoulder pad is the most obvious addition here, although I also did some work on the model's breastplate:

 

 

And finally, what is probably my least favourite body pose from the kit ended up turning into my favourite model so far:

 

 

 

The coolest thing I tried with this model was to convert the helmet to resemble the look of Lord Zhufor's helmet (if anyone still remembers that model from Forgeworld). I am reasonably pleased with the results of this first attempt:

 

 

Oh, and since this is a question that came up over at my blog: Here's a quick scale comparison to show you how my converted, "refurbished" Terminator Lord stacks up next to the newer models:

 

 

As always, let me know what you think!