WARPED SENSE OF PERFECTION

 As you will have read in my last post, the Emperor's Children were constantly striving for perfection, and were easily manipulated to follow chaos through their arrogance, especially their primarch Fulgrim. When I started this army I knew I wanted a Demon Prince to lead the army, so why not Fulgrim himself.

The model started as Brother Artemis from the Inquisitor range, to give the size I wanted, the tail came from the wood elf dragon, the bottom arms were from the original Keeper of Secrets model, and the wings came from the LOTR fell beast. I wanted his armour to have nods to his Primarch armour, rather than a Demon style armour.

Above I've included some detail shots as well, I repainted the wings this week as I wasn't happy with them before, and now happy to call them finished.

I've also finished the last 3 Noise Marine Terminators

And here is the rest of the squad.

I've also got all my Noise Marine bikers based.

Now some of you may be saying but you can't have noise marine bikers and terminators Dave, well in the current rules you'd be right, but back when Chaos armies had differences between each force, you could, and so I'm sticking with it.

That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun ! 

Cheers Dave

HE WILL NOT BE TAMMED

 I decided to continue on finishing old projects, and as I still haven't got hold of a box of plastic Kroot, I've moved on to my Emperor's Children army. For anyone who is unfamiliar this army here is some background.

The Emperor's Children, also sometimes known after their fall as the Lords of Profligacy, are a Traitor Legion of Chaos Space Marines who devote themselves solely to the service of the Chaos God Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure, though they were originally the Imperium of Man's proud III^rd Legion of Astartes.

The Emperor's Children was the only Space Marine Legion to bear the Emperor's own name and His own icon -- the Palatine Aquila -- granted to them by His hand as a symbol of the Legion's martial perfection. Few were ever so honoured amongst the ancient Space Marine Legions and given less cause to betray the Master of Mankind than the Emperor's Children.

Given the plaudits and accolades accorded them, few could doubt that they were the embodiment of what the Emperor had intended the Legiones Astartes to be: noble in action and aspect, excelling in all matters, strong, civilised, firm of purpose and loyal to the core.

From this height they descended in treachery to the lowest and vilest of creatures, enslaved to pride and consumed by hedonistic desires that no natural power could fulfill. The Emperor's Children are now a scattered Legion much like their counterparts the World Eaters, their unity devoured by their allegiance to Chaos.

The Emperor's Children Legion now exists only as scattered, autonomous warbands located in the Eye of Terror who are dedicated to their own pursuit of corrupt, hedonistic and usually murderous pleasures. The Chaos Space Marines of the Emperor's Children are known for possessing outlandish mutations and surgical alterations as "gifts" from Slaanesh which are designed to make them more "perfect" in the eyes of their twisted patron.

The Emperor's Children Traitor Legion exists for no other purpose but to exceed every extreme and to know every possible sensation. Its warriors are entirely in the thrall of Slaanesh, the Dark Prince of Chaos, but once, the Legion of the Primarch Fulgrim strived for perfection in all they did, and were counted as one of the most dedicated of all of the Emperor's followers.

The infant Primarch of the Emperor's Children grew up upon the bleak, dying world of Chemos, a mining colony long fallen to decay and decline as Old Night claimed the domains of Mankind. Isolated from surrounding systems, the industry of Chemos had fallen silent, the mines replaced by the reclamation plants and vapour extraction facilities that kept the dwindling population from vanishing entirely.

Within fifty standard years of his arrival on Chemos, Fulgrim had risen to become its leader, and it was his dream that the wonders of long lost ages might be rediscovered and rebuilt. However, it was only when the Emperor came to his world that the Primarch could begin to fully realise his vision.

By that time, it was not simply his homeworld that Fulgrim desired to see elevated to glory, but the entirety of Mankind. When Fulgrim was introduced to the Space Marine Legion that shared his genetic inheritance, he found not a resplendent host as did so many of his brothers, but a mere two hundred Battle-Brothers.

An accident had befallen the nascent III^rd Legion early in the development of its gene-stock, setting it far behind its fellows. Thus, it was necessary that Fulgrim and his warriors be integrated into the ranks of another Legion until such time as their numbers were sufficiently restored for them to take to battle on their own. The Legion to which Fulgrim and his warriors were assigned was the Luna Wolves, the Legion of Horus, and Fulgrim could not have had a better companion at whose side to master the arts of warfare.

From the earliest days of its service to the Great Crusade, the nascent Legion was recognised for its drive to attain perfection in all its deeds. It was in recognition of this drive that the Emperor granted the warriors of the Legion the right to bear the Imperial eagle upon their chest armour, a unique honour at that time. In recognition that the Emperor was the very pinnacle of the perfection Fulgrim aspired to, the III^rd Legion was named the "Emperor's Children," a title it retained even after the calamitous events of the Horus Heresy.

Some would say that it was Fulgrim's impossible desire to attain perfection in all that he did that ultimately led him and his Legion into the service of Slaanesh. The exact circumstances of Fulgrim's fall are all but lost to history, but certainly, Horus must have appealed to his refined sensibilities and stoked the fire of what, in retrospect, was an increasingly disturbing quest to attain otherwise unattainable heights of sensation.

Gifted with the physique and intellect of a Primarch, no endeavour was beyond Fulgrim's attainment. Having mastered every strategy and tactic of war, he sought ever more esoteric pursuits, turning his hand to every creative pursuit imaginable, from poetry to sculpture.

As his soul was slowly poisoned by the insidious taint of the Prince of Chaos, Fulgrim's passions grew ever darker and his drives ever more extreme. At the last, acting at the behest of Horus, he attempted to persuade his brother Primarch Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands Legion that factions within the nascent Imperium were aligning themselves against him and his kin, resulting in a bitter confrontation between erstwhile brothers. Though Ferrus survived the confrontation, the reward for Fulgrim was damnation, setting him well and truly upon the road that led to the Emperor's Children siding with the Traitors at Istvaan V, and ultimately to Terra.

Though the Emperor's Children were present at the siege of the homeworld of Mankind, they were not numbered amongst the formations that assaulted the mighty fortifications erected by Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion, to defend the Imperial Palace. While the World Eaters and other Traitor Legions launched assault after assault upon the palace, the Emperor's Children are said to have laid waste to the surrounding city and other outlying regions, slaughtering untold thousands, perhaps even millions, of the Emperor's subjects in an orgy of unfettered cruelty.

Some have even suggested that the Emperor's Children were using the unprecedented violence of the Siege of Terra to slay sufficient victims to render their vital fluids into some abominable distillation, a stimulant that would grant them access to previously unheard of heights of sensation. In the end, the Siege of Terra was lifted when the Emperor slew the Arch-traitor Horus, and the Emperor's Children were driven from Terra along with the rest of the Traitors.

Leaving a trail of desecrated worlds and violated populations, the Emperor's Children joined the ranks of those Legions taking refuge from the Imperium's wrath within the Eye of Terror, beginning a new and devastating series of wars against their erstwhile allies.

The history of the Emperor's Children in the period that followed the defeat of the Traitor Legions at the Siege of Terra is largely obscured from Imperial scholars, for obvious reasons. Perhaps the greatest mystery surrounds the fate of the Primarch Fulgrim himself, for it appears that he disappeared entirely. Some say that the Dark Prince of Chaos had already granted him apotheosis, and he assumed the mantle of a Daemon Primarch.

There are those that claim that Fulgrim has retreated to some Daemon World of his own creation, and rules there still, overseeing such debased extremes of sensation and experience as no mortal can imagine. Some of those who revere Slaanesh regard this mythical place as the holy of holies, and spend entire lifetimes obsessively questing after it.

Now the first piece I've finished is a Noise marine Dreadnought. For those who don't know a Dreadnought is a robotic construction that houses the remnants of a fallen marine, for those of the Emperors Children, it is worse than death as they are sealed away from sensation and pleasure, which is why I made this one, with the sarcophagus plate removed, as if the marine inside tore off the front so he can still experience as much as possible.

The model started off as an Imperial Dreadnought, which I added a twin linked sonic blaster from Forgeworld, then I added all the details to the body and other shoulder. The close combat weapon came off a Defiler which I shortened and shaped.

And here he is with his 3 brothers, the two on the left are both Forgeworld models, and the one on the right is GW latest version a Hellbrute, which I will use as a demonically possessed dreadnought.

That's all for today, so until next time stay safe and have fun ! 

Cheers Dave   

DON'T TRUST THEM

 The last bit of Kroot I have to show, were never listed by GW, as they were the idea of Mark Bedford, who at the time of his idea was the head sculptor at Specialist Games, before it was then axed by GW, and later brought back as part of Forgeworld.

The idea was that you occasionally get Dark Shaper's who are not trusted by the regular Kroot, as they are willing to experiment with tainted meat, possibly Tyranid, and most definitely Chaos meat from the ruinous powers. Where they create some strange monstrosities called Warp Kroot. Occasionally regular Kroot will employ them for a task, where their payment may be some younglings to further the Dark Shapers experiments, or helpers.

The model was actually built and painted as my first entry into Monster May(hem) run by Keith over at angrypiper but I felt he needed some handlers, which is where these four models come in, I've built them as if they have been fed on a diet of Ork, and Space Marine, to increase they size and bulk, to be able to handle the brute in front of them. 

All four models used standard Kroot heads and accessories, but the rest was made with greenstuff.

Here they can be seen with their Dark Shaper

I've also done some work on the base to show casualties, as the handlers are removed.

That's all for this post, don't know what I'll work on next, so until next time stay safe and have fun ! 

Cheers Dave

THEY'RE FLOCKING THIS WAY

 On one of my recent post Joe pointed out that I hadn't really explained what a Kroot was, and he was quite right to point this out, so for anyone unfamiliar with this species here is a description of them.

The Kroot (Krootis aviana), also designated by the Imperium as Kroot Carnivore, are a xenos species of savage humanoids who are members of the T'au Empire. The Kroot evolved from avian creatures on their homeworld of Pech.

Kroot are tall (a good half-metre taller than most Humans), their avian ancestry giving them a bird-like beak and long quills protruding from their heads like hair.

Smaller quills, possibly the evolutionary remnants of feathers, can be found scattered over their bodies.

A unique feature of the Kroot is that they evolve by selecting genetic traits of their defeated foes to absorb by eating them. Due to this, the many Kroot warbands across the galaxy often look radically different.

Kroot leaders are known as Shapers; they are generally the Kroot with the best ability for recognizing desirable traits in defeated foes and tell their kindred (the word for a Kroot clan) what to eat to reshape themselves to suit the task at hand.

For instance, a Shaper who wants his Kroot to gain muscle mass will campaign against Orks to acquire the suitable DNA, while extensive feeding on flying predators will allow the Kroot to grow wings.

This eating of their foes ties in with the religious beliefs of the Kroot: they believe that when a warrior of any race dies, his warrior spirit should be kept, and the only way to do this is by eating his flesh. The Kroot practice this in their "burial" customs, in which the body of the deceased is consumed by the kindred.

Kroot, who prey extensively on a particular species, will begin to take the characteristics of that creature. In sentient species such as Orks and Humans, they may take on cultural aspects of that people as well. Kroot, who have fed on Drukhari, for example, soon begin to show signs of the cunning and intense cruelty the Drukhari are known for.

In the case of animals, this sometimes leads to evolutionary dead ends. A kindred will find itself locked into an animalistic and unintelligent form, unable to evolve themselves any more. Species such as Tyranids who also absorb the DNA of their prey are hazardous for Kroot to prey upon, as they may acquire too many undesirable Tyranid characteristics.

The ecology of the Kroot homeworld of Pech includes many species of animal that are partially Kroot, the results of a kindred's evolutionary missteps. The Kroot use these related creatures as labourers, pack animals, and even as weapons. The most common examples are the canine Kroot Hounds, the lumbering and powerful ape-like Krootox, the dromaeosaurid Knarloc riding beast, and the massive, dinosaur-like Great Knarlocs.

Another creature of note is the Kroothawk, an animal held sacred by the Kroot, possibly because it may be their evolutionary ancestor. There are other Kroot sub-species that are considered outcasts in Kroot society and are killed by Kroot if found.

In order to gather genetic material from all over the galaxy, the Kroot offer themselves as mercenaries and sell their services to anyone willing to pay them. They travel the galaxy taking limited contracts from both major and minor intelligent starfaring species and are regularly employed by the T'au.

While the contract with the T'au is supposed to be an exclusive one, the Kroot regularly send out their warspheres to continue their mercenary trade amongst the wider cosmos.

Hopefully it makes a bit more sense now, for anyone who didn't know. So this week I've been working on something new, but it's not quite ready to show yet, but I have managed to finish another Vulture Kindred, these Kroot have been fed on birds to regain the gift of flight.

And here he is with the rest of the pack so far, still got 3 more to convert.

The other thing I have managed to achieve this week is getting the rest of the army I have so far based, first up is a standard squad.

Next is the second standard squad, performing their favourite task, gathering meat.

Next is the Master Shaper, and his two personal hounds, I made these a bit stockier than standard, almost like a Rottweiler version compared to the normal greyhound type.

Next we have an elite squad the Headhunter Kindred, these Kroot have been on a diet of all the most poisonous creatures and have a poison attack, hence the one spitting venom, and the frills like the Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park.

Next up we have the start of my Krotox squad, just need to add 10 Kroot to the unit.

Another heavy unit, is the hunter kindred, they use Kroot hunting rifles, that lose the close combat attacks but counts as a sniper rifle, I removed the blades, and extended the barrel, and added a scope to help represent this.

Last up today is a Great Gnarloc, and herders, this was sold by Forgeworld, just wish I'd got the other 3 variants ! LOL

That's all for today, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave 

LET LOOSE THE HOUNDS

 Continuing on with the Kroot, I've finished the shaper, for the hound pack. I used the head I did the test colour scheme on, and the arms and accessories came from my spares, I had to greenstuff the body, legs and coat to tie it all together, I also put it on a slightly larger base, to make it more stable, as he is only stood on one leg.

Here he is in a group shot with all the hounds which are all now based.

When I can find some plastic Kroot, I'll finish the squad, and I'm thinking of doing them all female, to have all the paler tones in one squad.

That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

A NEW SHAPEr

 I feel like I need a break from a galaxy far, far away, so have moved over to a Grim Dark one instead (break from Star Wars, onto 40K). Long time readers of the blog might remember I have a Kroot army, and I fancied doing some work on this. I currently have 4 squads left to finish, the hound pack, the Krootox herd, the Vulture Kindred, and the Knarloc herd. I currently have the parts for the Vulture kindred, just need to finish the conversions, but need about another 24 Kroot to finish the other squads. I had a quick look on GW site, and the plastic box set is still out of stock, and ebay prices have gone silly, so will have to keep my eye out in the meantime. Two things I know I want to include is an albino as a shaper, and some female Kroot, as I have a lot of spare heads, I decided to do a test paint for the above. for the Albino, it looks a bit like a Cockatoo, but as that's a bird that's not a bad thing. For the Female, I didn't want to go the route of stick some breasts on it, as these creatures evolved from birds, I've gone with a muted colour scheme and less plumage, following birds in nature.

The next thing I've done is the Shaper for the Knarloc squad, now I don't have the Knarlocs that Forgeworld released, as I didn't get them while they were available (always had other bits I wanted to buy first ! LOL) so using some eagles I already had I made Great Crested Knarloc's. The shaper was made from greenstuff, except the arms, head, and accessories. Still have another 3 troopers to do, but need to get hold of some plastic Kroot to make this job quicker and easier.

Still working on some other bits, so will probably be more Kroot in the next post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave