Ciphas Cain (and Jurgen) Model

[darkhorse0607]

2 hours ago, Matcap86 said:

I think the 'eavy Metal paint job just isn't all that suited to faces. 

 

Yeah, so I have been staring at it for a while, and I think the main problem is the paintjob. 

 

For example, Cain's left eye, the shadowing under the eyelid is much bigger than the right eye which makes him look a bit off. Then, the two scars near his nose going down to the fur hair, they've painted them almost up to white (as is eavy metal's style) but then didn't come in with much/any shading to denote that it's actually two scars rather than weird lines running across his face (we have seen them do this with pink/purple/burgundy for example). Additionally, on the left side, that scar is painted almost the exact same as the highest highlight of his facial hair, so it looks like it is just a random hair farther up the face, again, rather than a scar. Then you have the almost white highlight on the left side of his face (why do they hate this sculpts left side so much?) that isn't blended, etc.

 

So I have zero doubt that a lot of the monkeyism of the photo is partially down to the paintjob, partially down to GW's photography, etc. I think we will see a lot of variants of this painted that don't look as ape

[Robbienw]

Both decent, perhaps Jurgen is the herald for plastic  Valhallans.
 

Who here is old enough to remember the original Cain model?

 

Wasn’t actually bad for its time, one of the less goofy BL limited models 

[Aramis K]

Cogforts and Cain and a new 40k. That'll be a healthy earnings report!

 

 

Does Jurgens coat have power weapon nodes?

 

Heated? A design flourish I don't think is drawn from the books. Perhaps a way to distinguish Valhallans from other generic greatcoat soldiers. New range confirmed?

 

Protective field for Amberly's special helper? New book confirmed?

[Robbienw]

Both decent, perhaps Jurgen is the herald for plastic  Valhallans.
 

Who here is old enough to remember the original Cain model?

 

Wasn’t actually bad for its time, one of the less goofy BL limited models 

[sitnam]

11 minutes ago, Aramis K said:

Cogforts and Cain and a new 40k. That'll be a healthy earnings report!

 

Don't forget the Defiler. Constantly sold out due to being both an awesome model but also broken rules...that can be used in 5 armies 

[Wispy]

as someone has painted a lot of mutton chops with the space wolves, you can diffuse the gorilla aspect by extending the facial hair with clearer stubble, mixing the hair colour/grey into the flesh tone. little hair under the lip helps a lot. 

[grailkeeper]

Jurgens looks a less WW2 Soviet than the old Ice Warriors. Maybe it's a sign they're coming with a new design.

Edited May 18 by grailkeeper

[gideon stargreave]

I love it. Just needs a slightly different paintjob

[ThaneOfTas]

Outstanding! The face will be fine once someone else paints it, and worst case I've got the Artel W versions that I can use instead. But I'm glad that they've finally gotten rules

[Kommisar_K]

4 hours ago, Robbienw said:

Who here is old enough to remember the original Cain model?

Not me! Got a picture?

 

On another note: The good Commissar is going to be horrified when I assign him to my Krieg regiment. Over the top!

[Mechanicus Tech-Support]

Looking at Jurgen some more and I'm reminded of this old piece of art. If this is a tease for future valhallans I wonder if the general chunkiness of the cold weather coat will be how GW visually makes another greatcoat regiment look unique, Krieg by comparison look fairly thin  

[brother_b]

First thing I thought of, Journey to the West TVB circa mid 1990s

I love both models and the gunner looks like he needs to be part of an Inquisitorial Agents unit.

 

[Felix Antipodes]

Will be picking up both of these models.  Looking forward to seeing alternate paint jobs though.  Only minor quibbles - Cain looks a tad short to me for some reason and Jurgen needs more pockets/webbing and the paint job makes him look too clean compared to my mental image from the books.

I won’t mind if this becomes the new look for an updated Valhallan range.

[jimbo1701]

Love that they’ve done it. Can’t help but feel someone else did it better a while back. 
 

 

[Robbienw]

10 hours ago, Kommisar_K said:

Not me! Got a picture?

 

http://www.solegends.com/citle2000/blacklibrary/blciaphus/index.htm

[Firedrake Cordova]

They're definitely nice models.  

 

I'm a little bit sad that Jurgen doesn't look like Tony Robinson (given that the books are basically Blackadder in Space, and in the audiobooks, Jurgen's voice sounds somewhat like Baldrick to me, that's my mental image of him).  

[Joe]

As a side tangent, it does amuse me that the studio has CAD files for the following regiments;

• Cadian Shock Troopers
• Catachan Jungle Fighters
• Death Korps of Krieg
• Drookian Fen Guard
• Valhallan Ice Warriors

This isn't including the Armageddon Steel Legion refresh / design. And this is just the stuff we know about. I remain doubtful that we'll see more in the way of the Drookian's (although swamp guardsmen Kill Team could go hard versus Exodites, you heard it here first), however I would not be surprised if Jurgen was done alongside a broader selection of Valhallan assets for... future shenanigans.

[Antarius]

I always envisioned them as inhabiting a different, more comedic 40K universe, sort of like Blood Bowl is set in an alternate, more comedic WFB. But it's nice for those who want them 

[Arkley]

If Valhallan Ice Warriors are gonna be like Jurgen here... Its an instant buy. I was always a big fan of them since 2nd.

[Matcap86]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

As a side tangent, it does amuse me that the studio has CAD files for the following regiments;

• Cadian Shock Troopers
• Catachan Jungle Fighters
• Death Korps of Krieg
• Drookian Fen Guard
• Valhallan Ice Warriors

This isn't including the Armageddon Steel Legion refresh / design. And this is just the stuff we know about. I remain doubtful that we'll see more in the way of the Drookian's (although swamp guardsmen Kill Team could go hard versus Exodites, you heard it here first), however I would not be surprised if Jurgen was done alongside a broader selection of Valhallan assets for... future shenanigans.

 

Don't forget the Tanith

[Cleon]

5 hours ago, Antarius said:

I always envisioned them as inhabiting a different, more comedic 40K universe, sort of like Blood Bowl is set in an alternate, more comedic WFB. But it's nice for those who want them 

They do live more comfortably in 2nd edition universe, than 10th edition....  everything got a bit more serious and locked down somewhere between 3rd and 5th.

[Arikel]

21 hours ago, gideon stargreave said:

I love it. Just needs a slightly different paintjob

Glad too see those clamouring fir a cain model finally got one. I read a good many of the flashman books back in the day, and cain did seem a very similar type of fellow from what I’ve heard. How good is the humour, writing level of the Cain books in comparison?
 

I’m not big on WH literature outside of rulebooks, seemed even more hit and miss than the SW EU and the D&D novels by the time I got into 40k in my late 20’s so I stayed away from it fir the most part. I might make an exception for 40K Flashman, though, if it’s in the same style and well written.

[phandaal]

5 hours ago, Arikel said:

How good is the humour, writing level of the Cain books in comparison?

 

It is one of the best series Black Library has done. You might think it will just be a goof because of the premise, then it turns out to be awesome. Sandy Mitchell is an excellent author.

 

Ciaphas Cain, his deprecating view of himself, Amberly Vale's interjections, and the "citations" of the people who witness Cain and buy into his "hero of the Imperium" persona all add up to a really great series.

[Firedrake Cordova]

12 hours ago, Arikel said:

How good is the humour, writing level of the Cain books in comparison?

Probably the best bet is to hop over to Audible - they have all of the books available, with a ~5 minute sample available for each.

 

From my perspective, they're well written, and with great humour (to my mind, it feels a lot like Blackadder, and there's some nice pop-culture fun-poking Easter Eggs scattered through them, like the picter series "Arbitrator Foreboding" ) - they were some of the most enjoyable GW books I'd read (along with the Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn, and Gotrek series). The audiobooks are particularly well-produced, in my opinion.

Edited May 20 by Firedrake Cordova

[Magos Takatus]

On 5/18/2026 at 6:20 PM, Robbienw said:

Both decent, perhaps Jurgen is the herald for plastic  Valhallans.
 

Who here is old enough to remember the original Cain model?

 

Wasn’t actually bad for its time, one of the less goofy BL limited models 

I wouldn't bet on it. Nobody would want to follow Jurgen, especially depending on the wind direction...