k0nahrik’s Dornian Heresy: Siege of Terra White Scars.

[k0nahrik]

Hey all! 
 Today’s update brings the completed Ganzorig. I’ve wrote a lore accompaniment to go with the model, so without further ado;

 

Ganzorig Noyan-Khan, Master of the Keshig, Devoted of Slaanesh, Commander of the IInd Company; Vth legion White Scars.
 

Ganzorig gazed through the oculus into the boiling, rolling currents of warpspace. Shapeless neverborn shrieked silently beyond the glass as they were ripped apart by the Swordstorm’s Gellar Field, and the myriad colours of lights illuminated a grizzled, battle hardened face with a hard stare in the reflection of the window. Turning away, he paced anxiously across his chambers, the low growl of servos in his modified Terminator armour just audible over the creaking and groaning of the ship’s superstructure.

Decades of planning were finally coming to fruition. It had been a winding, treacherous road fraught with danger at every turn, but he had made it to it’s end now, and was soon to reap the rewards. Dorn’s rebellion had provided the perfect spark to ignite the flame of chaos in his gene-sire’s heart, and all it had taken was a small push here, a small shove there, to send Jaghatai tumbling into the arms of She Who Thirsts.

Ganzorig stopped his pacing at a mirror. It’s gaudy, gilded frame was studded with countless gemstones, a trophy taken from one of many worlds brought to compliance and sacked by the Vth legion. They had always been pillagers, even on Chogoris. The Khan had been a fool to deny it, and had surrounded himself with other fools to cushion his fragile new reality. It had pained Ganzorig deeply to see the greatest warrior in the history of Chogoris - a man he had followed into battle countless times even before the Emperor’s Angels had descended from the sky - play the bureaucrat. It had hurt more to see other great warriors support it. 

But they could never quell his father’s love for riches, for the spoils of war. Ganzorig had kept himself in good stead with the Khan by providing ample bounties collected from the dying populations of a hundred worlds. So long as there were riches to be had, the Khan could always be counted on to collect them. Arranging the meeting with the High Priest of Ikesentii had been the easy part, once Ganzorig had confirmed that the holy man was on the same page as him. Persuading the priest to give up Mamonas and Avauras had been trickier, but Ganzorig was nothing if not persuasive. The fool hadn’t even realised that the most priceless relics of his civilisation had two of the Dark Prince’s most powerful children bound within them. 

The moment the Khan had laid eyes upon them, he was enraptured. But it would still take time. Time for the Warhawk to truly hear the song of excess, and appreciate it’s melody. Time for himself to tie up loose ends while his gene-sire had been locked away in his private chambers. He had summoned the Stormseers he could trust to raise up a tremendous warp storm that would disable the warp drives, and went to work while the Immaterium stalled them. Qin Xa had been the most challenging mountain to overcome, and it had almost cost Ganzorig his life. 

He winced as he thought about it. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, his sight traced the scar that had almost claimed his left eye. It still stung, though the wound had been inflicted many weeks ago. The former Master of the Keshig was the only one who could pull the Khan from his dwellings, and presented a major threat to Ganzorig’s plans. Even ambushed, alone, and outnumbered in the bowels of the Sworstorm, Qin Xa had fought like a caged dragon. But She Who Thirsts had given Ganzorig the strength to overcome his former master, and now the Keshig, and truthfully much of the legion, belonged to him. When the Khan had finally emerged from the chamber, only Ganzorig had been expecting it. The Khan had set to work repairing the warp drives personally, and in the mean time, Ganzorig began to rally the troops that would not follow the legion’s new direction. 

After that, they had stopped at Chogoris and jettisoned the brothers he had assembled, telling them to defend their home to the last, and trust nobody. They had no idea of what was to come. Then they had broke for Terra. Now it was but a matter of days until they arrived. They would sack the greatest repository of art and culture in the history of mankind. They would take from the cradle of humanity and raze what remained into ash and dust. 

Ganzorig turned again to look into the swirling colours of the Empyrean. From the corner of his eye he caught a flutter, deep in the shadowy, vaulted roof of his chambers. Staring down at him with hungry, vacant eyes, the vulture. The damned creature had been following him for years now. He could not recount when it had begun. He could not even explain how it had managed to stay by his side all these years. But it had. Watching. Waiting. Hungering. The bird cawed and swept down from it’s perch, landing on his pauldron to gaze out of the oculus with him.

‘All is well, friend. I hunger too. Soon… we will feast.’

 

Hope you guys enjoyed the read! Really enjoyed writing it. Onto the model - I’m super pleased with how he’s turned out. Some of the key things I’m pleased with include the freehand flames and red triangles, the leopard print on the fur fetish, and the blood effects.

 

The eagle eyed among you may notice that there’s been a couple of small changes to the model - firstly, the tassel on the sword was removed (it got damaged and when reattached looked off so I just opted to remove it altogether) and more importantly, the new bracers/gauntlets. These are the hip guards from the power axe praetor from the new AoD box, and fit the bill perfectly - I opted to attach them to up the ‘opulence’ of the model and I think they do a good job of selling the rank of this fella.

 

The model is intended to represent Ganzorig not long after that lore piece takes place - at the Siege of Terra, plundering an Imperial palace for it’s riches, taking it’s nobility for slaves. You know, normal Slaanesh stuff.

 

Here are a couple close up shots of the base just to highlight some of the aforementioned blood effects.

I was going for a sort of arterial blood spray effect which I think I’ve achieved pretty well. I also love the idea that Ganzorig has spilled gallons of blood around him, multiple opponents, and all without a single droplet landing on him.

 

lastly - close up on Birb!

* Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen intensifies*
 

Thats all for today! Cheers for reading, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

[One-eye]

Absolutely love it, especially the fact that the WS and the Slaanesh influence on the mini blend so well together.

It looks like a "real" mini and not a kitbash, which is an amazing feat !

[ZeroWolf]

Love this, everything comes together so nicely on it

[Valkia the Bloody]

Absolutely amazing.

[k0nahrik]

On 4/20/2023 at 8:59 AM, One-eye said:

Absolutely love it, especially the fact that the WS and the Slaanesh influence on the mini blend so well together.

It looks like a "real" mini and not a kitbash, which is an amazing feat !

Appreciate it! I’m super happy that the model reads that consistently, and I’m always happy to hear from One Eye about the scars!

On 4/21/2023 at 1:01 AM, ZeroWolf said:

Love this, everything comes together so nicely on it

 

5 hours ago, Valkia the Bloody said:

Absolutely amazing.

Thanks you guys!

 

quick update today - making a standard bearer based on the old metal Khârn

 
Still a ways to go, let me know what you think! Cheers for reading

 

[ZeroWolf]

You made great use of of the old Khârn's pose. Looking really good at the moment.

[RolandTHTG]

Some great work and creative conversions. I'm loving it. 

[k0nahrik]

On 4/24/2023 at 9:13 AM, ZeroWolf said:

You made great use of of the old Khârn's pose. Looking really good at the moment.

 

On 5/3/2023 at 4:23 PM, RolandTHTG said:

Some great work and creative conversions. I'm loving it. 

Cheers guys! Converting is probably the most enjoyable part of the process for me so I’m glad that’s showing through.

 

Small update today with a WIP on the standard bearer

He’s 90% finished - backpack, standard, base and gun to go, but that shouldn’t take too long. 
Originally I’d intended to incorporate the Lord of Pain’s head as simply an unhelmeted head, but as I filled in a few gaps left behind from the conversion process I realised it would make a really good base for an Oni/Hannya mask - the sort of BDSM(?) girdle thing in the LoP’s mouth actually reads it pretty well as the iconic outward-facing tusks present in a lot of Oni artwork. I decided to add a pair of horns to sell it further and opted to painted it red rather than flesh tones, something I’m really pleased with - I wanted a more orange-red than is present on the rest of the armour and I think it came out great.
 

The head itself is supposed to represent an unhelmeted head wearing an ornate and scary theatre mask rather than any true mutation, so I left the rear portion of the head painted in a true skin tone to imply this.

 

That’s all for today! Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know what you think. Cheers for reading!

[ZeroWolf]

I really like what you did with the Oni head, I think it works quite well

[k0nahrik]

On 5/6/2023 at 7:21 PM, ZeroWolf said:

I really like what you did with the Oni head, I think it works quite well

Cheers! I normally wouldn’t lean too heavily on Japanese inspiration for White Scars, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

 

today’s update brings the finished model 

 

Really happy with how he’s turned out. His combi-volkite is looking a little barebones but I’m too lazy to really worry about that for now. It was super fun putting this guy together, especially making that standard out of what limited suitable parts I had.

 

as always, let me know what you think! Cheers for reading :)

[Smoke Frog]

Wow fantastic work! Great to see how well you have brought these heretical White Scars to life!

[Valkia the Bloody]

It is always a joy to see what you come up with next.

This standard bearer is great and I love that he is wearing a demonic mask, as opposed to a mutation!

 

[Monstra Sumus]

This whole thread has been sublime. 

[Brother Nathan]

Amazing work!so many nice combining details and such... now where is the finished khan himself...?

[k0nahrik]

17 hours ago, Smoke Frog said:

Wow fantastic work! Great to see how well you have brought these heretical White Scars to life!

Thanks! Much appreciated!

17 hours ago, Valkia the Bloody said:

It is always a joy to see what you come up with next.

This standard bearer is great and I love that he is wearing a demonic mask, as opposed to a mutation!

 

Thank you as always! I’m glad that the mask reads well, I don’t want to go -too-mutation heavy on these guys if I can help it - they’re late heresy, approximately siege of terra, so they haven’t had a huuuuge amount of warp exposure yet. I’m aware in the original lore that Jaghatai does not become a daemon prince until after fleeing to the eye, but I’m fudging that a little bit just because it’s cooler to have a daemon prince jaghatai for this force lol. I figure the plundering of terra’s riches was probably the kicker that granted him ascension anyway.

 

14 hours ago, Monstra Sumus said:

This whole thread has been sublime. 

thank you so much!

 

14 hours ago, Brother nathan said:

Amazing work!so many nice combining details and such... now where is the finished khan himself...?

cheers! Jaghatai is on his way, don’t you worry - still a little work to be done though!

[mandaloriano]

Amazing job!!!!!! This thread makes me want to start an army of the Dornian Heresy. The freehand flames and details are great. Congratulations!!!!!!!

[k0nahrik]

Hey all!

 

No update today per se, but a few folks over on Reddit asked for a parts list on the standard so I thought I’d post it here too;

 

 

- so the hand and arm come from a CSM normally contained in the shadowspear kit

 

- the pole itself is made from various parts that came from other space marine standards, thunder hammers, etc

 

- the speartip at the base of the standard and the slaaneshi icon that tops the banner both come from the now OOP old chaos space marines kit

 

- the crossed lightning bolts come from the limited edition forgeworld ultramarines standard bearer, painstakingly removed from the greater part of the standard

- the white scars icon itself is from jetek Suberei’s bike, from the deathwatch overkill box set

 

- the string of skulls and bones comes from the dankhold troggoth

 

- the two tassels that form the mounting points of the skull-rope come from the allarus terminator custodians, from one of their armoured tabards

 

- the wolf-skull topper is from geigor fellhand

 

- the final tassel that comes from behind the wolf skull is one of the three from the FW White Scars praetor in terminator armour

 

having a somewhat limited parts supply in relation to the Vth legion made making this banner a bit of a challenge, I’m very happy with the job I did considering the lack of ‘appropriate’ parts. Hope this was informative, cheers!

 

 

 

[k0nahrik]

Hey all!

 

Finally got my hands on FW’s Jaghatai Khan model and was able to make some progress on the primarch himself

 

super happy with how he’s turning out! He’s massive - he’s already a head taller than a leviathan dread, and I added the base to make him extra imposing. He’s a degree smaller than the other daemon primarchs and is on a 75mm base from the centaurion marshall.

 

Had to do quite a bit of tricky converting - especially on the back - as Jaghatai’s power pack comes moulded to his cape and wouldn’t fit with the trophy racks. He’s still a WIP and I’m not totally sold on the head yet, but soon he’ll be ready for paint.

 

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

[Naryn]

Gorgeous work. He has a great barbarian splendor.

[ZeroWolf]

He's looking great to me 

[Gamiel]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:37 PM, k0nahrik said:

He’s still a WIP and I’m not totally sold on the head yet, but soon he’ll be ready for paint.

Personally I want to see how he looks with Jaghatai's normal head. 

 

The gladiator helmet doesn't really feel Jaghatai, to me.

[KrautScientist]

The Fallen Primarch is an absolutely fantastic conversion, but the helmet almost feels like a cop out for me, for lack of a better word: It really lacks personality and obscures the fact that this is supposed to be Jaghatai in the first place. I think some bareheaded option is definitely needed!

 

Off the top of my head, the two most interesting options might be to...

 

• either go with a head that has curved horns emerging from the forehead, which I think would be a great match for the centaurian mutation (and would also fit Slaanesh). Two possible heads to start with that come to mind would be the ones from the Exalted Deathbringer or the standard AoS Chaos Warlord:

 

 

Both probably aren't perfect, but they can at least serve as starting points -- or to illustrate my point. The former already has a topknot that might work for the converson, while the latter's facial features are subtly bull-like, which might be interesting. I also have the bit in my bitzbox and can safely say that it actually looks far less dodgy than it appears in the photo.

 

In both cases, I think the head would really need some kind of ornate mustache, maybe with some smaller trinkets/Slaaneshi symbols woven in.

 

• the other way would be to go towards the other end of the Slaaneshi spectrum, with a face that is more...birdlike or even alien. Like the face in this piece of artwork.
  In this case, the mustache (and a topknot) could, again, be used to communicate the fact that this is supposed to be the mutated version of Jaghatai.

Then agan, you could also start with the model's stock face, as @Gamiel suggested, and take it from there: Graft on a horn (or two), add scarification, or gills or what have you. Whatever you decide to do, however, I would argue that each of these options would create more of a point of focus for the model than a "faceless" helmet.

 

Hope this helps!

 

[Gamiel]

4 hours ago, KrautScientist said:

Then agan, you could also start with the model's stock face, as @Gamiel suggested, and take it from there: Graft on a horn (or two), add scarification, or gills or what have you.

I think it's possible that you don't really need to do anything with the head. Keep it as it's but paint it like a slanech daemon, or a mongolian demon mask.

[k0nahrik]

On 5/23/2023 at 3:10 PM, Naryn said:

Gorgeous work. He has a great barbarian splendor.

 

On 5/23/2023 at 7:21 PM, ZeroWolf said:

He's looking great to me 

Cheers guys!

12 hours ago, Gamiel said:

Personally I want to see how he looks with Jaghatai's normal head. 

 

The gladiator helmet doesn't really feel Jaghatai, to me.

 

7 hours ago, KrautScientist said:

The Fallen Primarch is an absolutely fantastic conversion, but the helmet almost feels like a cop out for me, for lack of a better word: It really lacks personality and obscures the fact that this is supposed to be Jaghatai in the first place. I think some bareheaded option is definitely needed!

 

Off the top of my head, the two most interesting options might be to...

 

• either go with a head that has curved horns emerging from the forehead, which I think would be a great match for the centaurian mutation (and would also fit Slaanesh). Two possible heads to start with that come to mind would be the ones from the Exalted Deathbringer or the standard AoS Chaos Warlord:

 

 

Both probably aren't perfect, but they can at least serve as starting points -- or to illustrate my point. The former already has a topknot that might work for the converson, while the latter's facial features are subtly bull-like, which might be interesting. I also have the bit in my bitzbox and can safely say that it actually looks far less dodgy than it appears in the photo.

 

In both cases, I think the head would really need some kind of ornate mustache, maybe with some smaller trinkets/Slaaneshi symbols woven in.

 

• the other way would be to go towards the other end of the Slaaneshi spectrum, with a face that is more...birdlike or even alien. Like the face in this piece of artwork.
  In this case, the mustache (and a topknot) could, again, be used to communicate the fact that this is supposed to be the mutated version of Jaghatai.

Then agan, you could also start with the model's stock face, as @Gamiel suggested, and take it from there: Graft on a horn (or two), add scarification, or gills or what have you. Whatever you decide to do, however, I would argue that each of these options would create more of a point of focus for the model than a "faceless" helmet.

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

I completely agree with pretty much all of this, bar one glaring detail - I really, REALLY dislike the stock Jaghatai head. He looks less Genghis Khan and more Steven Segal imo. It’s also unfortunately no longer an option anyway, as I shaved a lot of the Khan’s original head down to build the Centaurion’s helmet around it 

 

I do certainly agree that the helmeted head is a cop out and not particularly suited to Jaghatai. However, It did definitely help me discern the right direction for the head - I removed the original horns from the Centaurion’s head and tried it without - then added smaller horns. I feel like the best look in the end was actually the hornless variant. I think two horns poking out either side of the head ruins the iconic silhouette of the Khan.

my solution is to use Esske’s head from the Syll’Esske

i can add a topknot, it’s got some great details like the nosering and the slaaneshi symbol scarred into the head, and it also features some great chaotic/demon princely pointy bits in the form of the cheek guard. I’ll be able to add a long droopy moustache and maybe a little chin spike in greenstuff, and from what I can tell it should be the perfect scale for a primarch.

 

I had considered the exalted deathbringer’s head before settling on Esske, but ultimately after bouncing a few ideas back and forth with my friends I came to the conclusion that it could very easily lead to the Khan appearing too Khornate. Other head’s I’d considered included Daemon Magnus’ masked face option, which would have suited the opulent nature of the DH scars fairly well, but I think may have been too large, and the head of Glutos Orscollion, which ultimately I decided against as it didn’t have the personality I was trying to convey.

 

I’m currently on the look out for Esske’s head, when I get my hands on it I’ll be able to finish the Khan up and lay on some paint. (If anyone reading this happens to have one going spare and is interested in trading or selling, drop me a message!)

In the meantime, I also have a small update 

 I spent the afternoon reworking the armour panels around the… waist? neck? the junction between man and horse. I found that the original armour that comes with the Centaurion was a little on the cartoony side, an issue I feel crops up from time to time with AoS models. I found the transition from the smooth, larger plates of armour to the more detailed resin of Jaghatai’s model to be too jarring, and the snarling demon face on the front plate was too much in conjunction with the demonic mouth parts I’d grafted to the Khan’s underside. I also wanted an excuse to use more of Jaghatai’s pieces anyway, so it provided the perfect opportunity.

 

I’m much happier with how this iteration looks. The belt ‘buckle’ area looks a lot more consistent and I was able to showcase the archaeotech pistol a lot more.

 

That’s all for now, hopefully will be back with an update soon. Cheers for reading!

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by k0nahrik

[KrautScientist]

Oh no worries -- the important part is to go with what works for you, and that Esske head sounds like a very promising starting point! I would have expected it to be widely out of scale with the rest of the model, but then I am not that familiar with many of the more recent AoS models.

 

As for the reworked "belly" area, it does a far better job of blending the two parts together (although I have to admit I was feeling partial to the "shoulder pads" you originally had on the front legs. One thing I think you might want to tweak is the cloth underneath those tasset plates, as it seems very straight and static. I have no idea how easy it would be to change that element, though...

 

Anyway, really looking forward to seeing this monster take shape!