The Bonelords of Khorne a Khorne Bloodbound plog

[uselesswizard]

I've started my very first blog covering my hobby progress. I hope you enjoy the blog as much as I am enjoying the hobby that makes it possible. 

The Wizard's Workshop is going to focus first on my Khorne Bloodbound force The Bonelords of Khorne. 
http://wizardsworkshop.wordpress.com 

It's pretty basic right now. There's still a lot of stuff that I want to add to the blog to make it look better, but there are already a few posts covering my hobby progress. The next few things I want to work on are additional graphics, a fluff section about the Bonelords, links to some of my favorite blogs, etc. 

I'll also be adding the actual blog posts here to make it easier for people to keep up to date. 

I'm going to be attaching the first blog post and following posts to this thread in their own posts. Wish me luck, and feel free to visit the blog proper in the mean time!

*****

The Bonelords of Khorne are Born 

I've assembled the majority of my two Bloodbound starter sets for Age of Sigmar, and may I say that these are some of the best chaos models that Games Workshop has ever put out. The only starter models that even come close are the the 40k Chaos Chosen and Chaos Cultists that came with the Dark Vengeance set. 

For now, I'm just going to talk about the Blood Warriors. I'll be writing another article covering my thoughts on the Bloodreavers, and another on some of the other models later. The sculpting on the Khorne Blood Warrior models have all of the exaggerated depth of detail and sharp lines that I've come to expect from Games Workshop, and personally I find that to be one of my favorite parts of their model lines. One of the major failings that I've seen when working with miniatures from some other companies (especially younger companies) is their details are sculpted without enough depth to really stand out from the rest of the miniature. To be certain, most companies have very talented sculptors who understand the unique differences in small scale sculpting opposed to sculpting in larger scales, but Games Workshop has continued to do a great job of keeping an over-exaggerated style of sculpting in each of their new releases. This style of sculpting allows painting techniques like washes and drybrushing to really stand out in a paintjob. 

 

Warning: I'm going to go a bit off track for a second because I want to address something that is closely related to my thoughts on the Blood Warriors. As a hobby focused player I find the idea of duplicate models to be annoying. I feel strongly that each miniature in an army needs to be unique from the rest of the army in some way. One area of sculpting that Games Workshop has really improved on in the past few years is how active their miniatures' poses appear, but the changes they have introduced to make those improvements has caused some other issues. Namely, duplicate models, especially in units with larger than standard unit sizes. The single greatest change that has allowed for these kinds of poses has been the use of the single-pose plastic model. If you compare these new kits to the multi-pose models that have been GW's standard in the past, you can see how they've had to change how they have approached creating their newer models. Single-pose models allow sculptors a degree of freedom that multi-pose models do not. Of course, in order to achieve this freedom they have had to largely abandon the flexibility that the multi-pose models allow players. Multi-pose models allow for far more poses to reduce the chances of duplicates because each part can be placed in a different position. The poses given to the Blood Warrior models are wonderfully dynamic and visually interesting. Each one feels like it's in the middle of combat getting ready to take it's next skull, and where would be a better place to find the devotees of Khorne than in the depth of a pitched battle? Games Workshop's choice to give players single-pose models in their starters has allowed them to produce some very dynamic looking miniatures, but it definitely presents an issue with duplicate models when units made up of minis from multiple starter kits are used. This is certainly nothing new for Games Workshop's starter boxes 

It took me a long time to decide on a color scheme for the whole warband, and I figured that the Blood Warriors. I'm really tired of painting red as I play Word Bearers for my 40k army, so I didn't want to another mostly red army. I finally settled on a dark bone color for the main color of my Bloodbound. Now, I can't completely paint a Khorne army without some kind of red to honor the god of slaughter and blood, so I'm using red as a spot color for the Khorne symbols. I'm still not sure what color I want to paint their skin. I've thought of painting the skin as lighter tones with hints of blue and purple to contrast against the warm tone of the armor, but I've also been thinking of doing darker skin tones to contrast with the lighter colors of the bone colored armor. I'm also playing around with the idea of painting all of the skin with Blood for the Blood God or Tamia Clear Red so it looks like they are all covered in fresh blood. What to do, what to do. 

Here's what the beginning of the color scheme looks like on the Lord of Khorne on foot and the Bloodsecrator. I need to work on the lighting in my photo setup, it's a little too dark. I'll add a picture of the Blood Warriors as they currently stand when I fix the lighting. 

 

 

 

I also grabbed a box of the non-push fit Blood Warriors to see what that kit is like. In short, it's pretty amazing. There are tons of extra bits and some really great sculpts in this box. I'll be assembling these guys with twin Goreaxes and the leader with a Goreglaive rather than the Goreaxe and Gorefist. I'll be able to say more after I've assembled them, so keep an eye out for a post about them. 


Automatically Appended Next Post: 

The Conversions Begin 

After assembling the two Bloodbound starters I was left with an extra Mighty Lord of Khorne, Bloodstoker, and Bloodsecrator. At first I thought about painting them up and selling them off on Ebay. Then I found this lovely article from The Vanus Temple, Age of Sigmar Converted Khorne Models. I highly recommend looking it over, there's a bunch of great articles on all kinds of hobby subjects. The gentleman who runs the website is currently managing a GW store in his area so he's not able to post as much as he did, but his archive is worth digging through. With the inspiration his conversions gave me I was able to have a ton of fun converting my own extras along the same lines. Of course I had to do a little bit of my own thing, but I'm very happy with the results. 

 

 

I kept the same weapons and just switched them from the original Bloodstoker model to the Bloodsecrator. I removed the shoulder armor and loincloth from the cluster of skulls that went over his chest. 

 

I used one of the heads from the Wrathmonger kit (another amazing kit that I need to review soon). I used this one because the skin on the lower part of his face has been flayed away to show bare muscle and bone. I has to use some Greenstuff to fill in a gap under his chin, but in the end I think he looks just different enough from both of the original models to stand out on the field. 

 

 

I'm just as pleased with the progress on this conversion even though he's not quite done yet. To be honest he's been a bigger challenge as I had do more extensive surgery to get the parts to fit correctly. Ultimately, I switched out the head of the original Bloodsecrator axe for another axe from the Wrathmonger kit. I wanted this guy to appear just as terrifying as the original model, but show that Khorne's blessing take many forms. Getting the head to fit correctly required me to pin the head so that it rested well above the shoulders. This left a large gap between the chin and the rest of the body. I added a double chin under the helmet and started some basic stringy hair going down the back of his head. I'm going to be adding some more to cover up the areas I cut away the original hair. I honestly wish I had thought this through a bit more and left the original hair, ah well that's the joy of experimentation. 

(insert picture of the Bloodsecrator Portal of Blood) 

I also removed the extra bangles from the banner itself to give it a different visual profile. I need to figure out what to add to the banner to Khorne it up some more. 

For the extra Mighty Lord of Khorne this other article from the one and only Morbak, Arch-Warlord Bogdan Blottrinker has given me some wonderful inspiration for what to do. I have yet to start working on this conversion, but I'll be sure to post up progress as I make it.

[Rogue Explorator]

Looks like an excellent start, both the color scheme and conversions are very promising, though I may be a bit biased, I plan to paint what Khorne I've got in a Bone based scheme as well.

 

You also make some great points in your post, though I'd like to add that the more dynamically posed models are great for converting, even though it takes extra work, and sadly becomes a necessity if you want to personalise your models.

[uselesswizard]

The Spear of Khorne

The latest Bloodbound Leader I built was the Exalted Deathbringer with Impaling Spear. I was in the middle of working on a Skullgrinder conversion, and the parts for this new Leader kind of just fell together.

Read more…I had been thinking about what parts to use to make a nice looking spear. While I was looking over the Wrathmonger kit to find a sutable length of chain for the Skullgrinder, the large two handed toothed sword jumped out at me. When I initially looked over the kit, I really didn't like the look of that particular sword. It struck me far more like a hacking weapon than something meant for slashing. Being the distractable hobbiest that I am and knowling that I also needed to make a Exalted Deathbringer with Impaling Spear, I set aside the Skullgrinder to work on this new project while the creative juices were flowing. I took one of the Chaos Knight spears and removed the spearhead. Once I pinned the toothy blade to the end of the spear, it made a truly daemonic looking halberd style weapon. It may not be the best suited weapon for stabbing, but I was sure that I could graft on a longer spear tip to the top of the weapon. I'll be taking some plasticard and greenstuff to the tip of the blade and exending it into more of a spear shape, so it can actually be used to, you know, impale. I also want to add some more features to where the blade meets the shaft of the spear. Right now it looks like teeth, but I think I want to extend them down a bit, and turn a couple of them into fleshy tendrils wrapping around the spear shaft.

Next was finding a body to use as an imposing base for this conversion. I wanted something with an upraised arm so that the final product would somewhat resemble the official miniature. I ended up using the extra Blood Warrior Champion that was part of the small starter set I picked up from my local shop. I removed the lower half of the upraised right arm and fitted the halberd to it so the weapon is raised over his head. Afterwards I carefully cut away the champion's head to make room for a Chaos Lord head from the Manticore kit. I wanted this guy to look like he has been through some seriously heavy combat on his way to becoming Exalted in the eyes of Khorne, and I think the piece I ended up using reflects a lot of brutal combat.

The last part I needed in order to finish the miniature was the remainder of the left arm. I didn't want to put a weapon in that hand as this particular Exalted Deathbringer is only armed with the Impaling Spear. I looked over some of the extra biz I had laying near to hand and grabbed a left arm from a Khorne Bloodletter. Looking at the finished pictures I'm really not feeling the Bloodletter arm. It's really out of proportion to the rest of the model. I need to come up with something else for that arm.

Whew! Now that he's done, I can get back to the Skullgrinder.

[Rogue Explorator]

The Deathbringer looks ace, though I am not feeling that left arm either.

I don't think it is the disproportionate appearance so much, as that the arm looks rather bland and undetailed for the model.

I'd say both the disproportion and posing of the arm are great, after all a Chaos Champion of such rank should proudly display a mutation or two, but maybe a more spectacular and imposing limb would work better.

[uselesswizard]

Khorne's Anvil

I've finally finished my own Skullgrinder conversion, and here he is in all of his brutal glory.

According to their fluff, the Skullgrinders are the blacksmiths of Khorne's armies, and when in combat they wield the very anvils they use to forge blades as massive flails. Read more…Personally, I think the idea is awesome. Imagining the kind of damage that a daemon aided warrior can do with such a weapon is frankly hilarious. I imagine the effect that it would have on enemy soldiers would be a lot like Sauron's mace from the Fellowship of the Ring. Every swing of the anvil would create massive shockwaves sending soldiers of Order flying every which way.

Since Gorechosen included the official Skullgrinder, I wasn't sure if I was going to continue with my conversion. I ended up finishing the conversion rather than changing him to something else because the original model has some serious flaws in it's execution. The problem I have with the official model is that the “anvil” doesn't look anything like an actual anvil at all. Even taking into consideration the magical/daemonic nature of the weapon, it still just doesn't have the look of an anvil. Sure, it's a large chunk of metal, but there's not a single flat surface to be found. An anvil is used as a surface for red hot steel to be drawn-out and shaped. Shaping the steel requires a flat surface so the smith's hammer can do it's work. So, are they any possible areas on the Skullgrinders anvil that could be used? Well, the sides of the anvil are decorated with symbols of Khorne so they're out. The bottom has one end of the chain build in so that's out too. The only other place it could be is the top, but there's a giant frikken spike sticking out of the top. There's not a single spot where any kind of effective smithing could be done. The anvil is bad enough, and if the bad design of the anvil wasn't enough the hammer attached to the belt of the official Skullgrinder has a raised symbol of Khorne on it's striking face surrounded by spikes. It's even more important that the hammer have a flat striking surface than it is on an anvil.

Obviously this is kind of nickpicky. We're talking about semi-daemonic blacksmiths who forge intrinsically evil and bloodthirsty daemon weapons for an army of rage-fueled cannibals. I am fully aware of how ridiculous my gripes may be to some people. My other hobby is blacksmithing, and the lack of thought put into the official model bothers me. Because of this oversight, I chose to finish my own Skullgrinder conversion to address my gripes with what is otherwise a fantastic model. The first step was to fashion something that actually looked like an anvil to attach to the end of the chain on my model.

I took two of the large gargoyle heads from the Chaos Rhino sprue to use as a base. I filled the bottom gap between the gargoyles with a piece of plasticard to provide the chain a solid attachment point, and a flat surface for the anvil to rest upon. I imagine that when the anvil being used for smithing, the pedestal the anvil rests on has a gap where the chain may hang down so that it doesn't prevent the anvil from remaining flat. I then took another piece of plasticard and cut one end of it into a narrow point. This point formed to upper surface of the anvil's horn. Once the upper surface had been glued to the gargoyles, I used greenstuff to fill in the gaps in the body of the anvil. I then used a diamond file to shape the top of the horn into it's typical rounded shape. Whew! Once I had the basic anatomy of a London style anvil established, I took two small Khorne symbols from the wonderful Chaos Forsaken kit and added one to each side of the anvil. Paired with the gargoyle heads the end result is a distinctively Chaos flavored anvil ready to be added to my Skullgrinder.

The next part that I felt was absolutely necessary to correct on the official model was the hammer hanging from it's belt. This piece took a lot less work. I took one of the hammers from the Chaos Forsaken kit (I cannot express how incredible this kit is, and how heartbroken I was when I found out that it's now discontinued. *tears*) I removed the head of the hammer and attached it to the handle from one of the small hand axes included in the Warthmongers kit. This last choice was simply because I needed a handle that didn't have a hand already built into the piece, and I really didn't want to spend the time to scratch build a handle. The hammer's head did have a spike in it's face so I cut it away and smoothed out the hammer's face to give it a good striking surface for smithing.

Now that I've completed the converted model, I'm going to be playing around with the official model to see what I can do to fix the problems I have with it. I'm going to avoid doing a complete swap out of the official model's “anvil” because I actually do like the general feel of it. Instead, I'm challenging myself to salvage the base piece, and turn it into something that makes more sense while preserving the feel of the original. Wish me luck!

[Rogue Explorator]

Your Skullgrinder looks great and I am sure having a second one won't hurt.

 

I think your critique of the Official model, for all of its "in-your-face-heavy-metal" awesome, is Spot on, though I think I have to add even more to it. I think my biggest problem with the official model is that the Smith doesn't look obviously enough like a smith and, even worse, the anvil isn't obviously enough like an anvil.

When I have a daemon magic smith swinging an cursed anvil in my army, I'd want someone who hasn't read or heard its background looking at it to go "Woah, is that guy swinging a gods-forsaken anvil !?!"

I don't want to have to explain it.

[uselesswizard]

Making a Name for Himself

I think that this particular model had more thought and consideration for story put into it than any of the previous Leaders I've converted. The position that an Aspiring Deathbringer finds themselves fascinates me. In my mind's eye, they have risen above the rabble surrounding them to the point that Khorne is actively taking an interest in their progress. With this in mind I wanted this project to show how that attention might be expressed in their physical form. There is an extant miniature for this Battlescroll, but it was made way back in the day well before I ever started to look at building a Chaos force for Fantasy, let alone Age of Sigmar. To be honest, I do not think it has aged well at all. It lacks just about everything that makes the newer Age of Sigmar models pop, and if definitely doesn't communicate the transformation from an Aspirant to an Exalted Deathbriner.

Read more…I knew that I didn't want to use the current model, so I started to dig through the ol' bitz bin. I had a left over Blood Warrior model from the Storm of Sigmar that I could use as the base. I had already clipped off the beard for another project (to be revealed later *wink*). This left a large space on the chest that was missing detail, but I have plans within plans to take care of that little blemish. As of this post, that particular plan it hasn't been completed, but it shall see the light of day soon.

The Bloodwarrior was armed with an Axe and Gorefist both of which had to go. The axe was not quite brutal enough for someone who has started down the path of the Deathbringer, and I knew that I would have to switch out the Gorefist for something that looked like a Wrath-hammer. The Wrathmonger kit is hands down one of the best kits for brutal looking, Chaos infused weapons so back to the bitz bin I went. I chose the axe that had a mouth growing down the center of the blade because I felt that embodied his thirst for blood and conquest. I love the idea of the axe literally biting into the neck of a worthy foe. I didn't want to do a ton of work to make the weapon swap, so I cut off the origional Bloodwarrior axe head down by the hand. I took the Warmonger axe and cut it away from most of the original handle. After test fitting the new axe head onto the hand, I used a small amount of plastic solvent to join the two.

Next was the Wrath-hammer, and man it was a challenge to find the appropriate bit. The first step was to remove the Gorefist and find a replacement that had a closed fist which was also positioned at the angle I wanted. It took some serious searching, but I finally found the right arm from the Charioteer from the Slaves of Darkness Chariot. The hand was positioned to hold the reigns of the Chariot and with a little bit of shaving it fit perfectly. The Wrath-hammer itself was a much bigger pain. I tried several different options, but none of them hung down from the hand correctly. Finally, I grabbed a single fail from the Chaos Mauraders kit and cut away the handle. It took a bit of bending, but I was eventually able to get it to hang down in a way that made sense.

The final piece was a little easier to bring to completion, namely the head. When I scavenged the beard for the other project the head was no longer attached to the rest of the model. This left a nice flat area where the original head would have been. I didn't want to use one of the heads from the Wrathmongers even though without an built in neck one of them would be simple to add. I ended up grabbing one of the heads from the Chaos Forsaken kit instead. The partial mutation of the mouth added to the visual story of this particular character showing how the gifts of Khorne are slowly becoming more evident in the very body of one of his up and comers. The crest was made out of two of the Khorne symbols from the Chaos Rhino kit glued back to back. The center of the symbols were cut away and the whole thing was carefully placed over the helmet and secured with plastic solvent. I added some additional decoration to the crest to give it a little more detail.

Once I put the finishing touches on his chest, I think that this will be one of the best projects I've completed. Not because of any of the technical challenges, but because of the amount of thought I had to put into each element of the miniature. I hope that you found this to be as interested as I did.

[uselesswizard]

Another Priest of Khorne

After purchasing Goretide I found myself with an additional Khorne Slaughterpriest. I had already started work on the first, and with my general distaste for duplicate models I knew that this one had to undergo the (hobby) knife to have a place at my table. I apologize for the lack of in-progress pictures, I had already finished the conversion before starting the blog.

Here's the finished product:

Read more…

The main challenge was to take the base model and alter it's visual profile enough to allow it to stand out from the official model, but make sure that it was still recognizably a Slaughterpriest.

The first step was to change up the axe so that it wasn't held across the chest anymore. I removed the lower section of the weapon that had the second hand on it and test fit the upper hand portion so that it was holding the axe perpendicular to the ground, and thankfully fit perfectly.

This left the axe far too short to be a Slaughterpriest's axe. The fluff describes their axes as being taller than a man. I took a section off of an extra Blood Warrior standard and pinned it to the bottom of the axe to extend the haft down to the ground. This makes it look like the Slaughterpriest is resting the end on the ground.

Seeing that the end of the axe was significantly different from the official model, I decided to change the head of the axe as well. I took the axe head from the Chaos Chariot Lord and pinned it in place of the origional axe. This extended the entire axe to aove the Slaughterpriest's head. A truly imposing weapon of war.

This left the other arm ending in a stump which simply won't do for a devoted servant of Khorne. I grabbed one of the closed fists from the Wrathmonger kit and slapped it on. The fist looks a little small, but I think that's more of a trick of the eye because the arm has a huge shackle/bracelet just where the hand meets the rest of the arm. I sized up the hand next to the hand that is holding the axe and they're actually pretty close.

The last bit I needed to change was the head. I couldn't bring myself to use the same head, so I started to dig through the ol' bitz bin again. I shied away from the Wrathmonger kit as I've been using that kit for a ton of stuff already. I also knew that I wanted to use a helmeted head for this guy, but I didn't want to use another bunny eared helmet. Once again the Forsaken kit came to the rescue. There are a few pieces in that kit that I simply cannot stand, but I like to keep around to see if I can ever find a way to use them in an interesting way. This was not one of those ways, but I did manage to use some of a part that I hate. So that's nice.

Anyhoo, I cut the helmet away from the mutated neck and carved it down so that it would fit the neck of the Slaughterpriest. There was a large gap left under the helmet that would need to be filled somehow. Remember the Aspiring Deathbringer and the beard that I had removed from the original model? Yup! This is the project I used it on. It took a bit of carving and reshaping to fit correctly, but I think the end result works really well.

Overall, I think the finished model is similar enough to the original that it will be easily recognized as a Slaughterpriest, but it's visually different enough to stand on it's own. I hope you enjoyed this addition to my little project. Stay tuned for more!

[uselesswizard]

I picked up a copy of Gorechosen as soon as it came out. The primary reason I'd been looking forward to this game are the miniatures that come with it. I'm currently focusing on either converting or purchasing each of the Bloodbound Leaders. The miniatures in Gorechoosen fill three of the ten Leader spots I need to fill for the Bonelords. Not only is the game a fantastic deal for the models, all the reviews of the actual game I've read have been really positive. The box itself is covered in beautiful artwork, and the artwork on the game pieces are equal in quality. The colors are incredibly vibrant and the pieces have a nice semi-gloss finish to them. The double-sided game board has two different arenas each with completely different art that includes a different set of impassible terrain.

Read more…

Once I sit down and play the game I'll be adding another far more detailed post about my thoughts on the actual game play.

Including the leaders that came with Gorechosen I now have:

A Mighty Lord of Khorne on foot with his Fleshhound (sans Fleshhound in this picture, sorry!)

Two different Bloodsecrators, one Official and one Converted.
 

 
Two different Bloodstokers, one Official and one Converted.

Both official versions of the Slaughterpriest plus one Converted.

Two Skullgrinders, one Official and one Converted.

An Exalted Deathbringer with Ruinous Axe and Skullgouger and a Converted Exalted Deathbringer with Impaling Spear.

An Aspiring Deathbringer with a Goreaxe and a Skullhammer and a Converted Aspiring Deathbringer with Bloodaxe and Wrath-hammer.

The next step is going to be an Exalted Deathbringer with the Bloodbite Axe and a Runemarked Shield. There is an existing model for this particular Exalted Deathbringer, but it's an online exclusive from the Games Workshop store and it's Finecast *shudder*. Converting is my favorite part of the hobby and half the reason I chose to convert the Leaders I didn't own already, so converting this model is the most likely course of action I'll be taking.

That still leaves the following Leaders to build or acquire:

Mighty Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut.
Skarr Bloodwrath.
Valkia the Bloody.
The Mighty Lord of Khorne has an existing model which is, surprise, an online exclusive from Games Workshop cast in only the finest of Finecast. That being said I already have an idea of what I'm going to do for this particular model. I'm still in the process of gathering the parts I need for what I want to do. That places him on the back burner for now.

Skarr Bloodwrath is included in the new Khorne Bloodbound Slaughterstorm box Games Workshop has re-released for the holidays. I'm planning on saving my ducats to grab it from my Friendly Local Game Store in the net month. I'm pretty sure I could use some of the legs and torsos from the Wrathmonger kit to whip up a nice looking converted version. We'll have to see what takes my fancy later on.

Valkia the Bloody is also a online exclusive Finecast model. To be honest, I've never heard anything good about this model, even when she was available in metal. Apparently the scale is completely off from most of the Games Workshop line of Chaos models. Even before the release of the Age of Sigmar and it's larger scale. That leaves me with one option, conversions! I could use a Daemonette for the base model. That would require me to source a set of appropriate wings, a spear, a daemonic shield, humanoid hands, alter the position of the legs and feet, and perform some extensive sculpting to give more of Khorneate feel to the armor. Alternatively, I could use one of the Dark Eldar Scourges. In particular this one.

The pose is similar, it already has wings, the hands are already humanoid, the feet are avian-ish, and it's already carrying a spear! I would just need to alter the back of the torso so it's less technological, add an appropriate shield, and some up with a head. There would still be some sculpting involved to give the armor more of a Khorneate feel, but it wouldn't require as much work.

Thanks so much for taking the time to check up on the progress! 

[Double Misfire]

The conversions in this thread gave me a bonelord. Nice work.

[Morghot]

Outstanding i LOVE your conversion, really love them, congrats! 

[uselesswizard]

Author's Note: I'm trying out a new layout for these massive blocks of text I tend to write. Though it kills my English Major heart, I'm breaking the text up into smaller chunks, and spacing them out so they have “whitespace” between them. This is suppose to make it easier to read on a phone. It also makes the entire post a little less intimidating at first sight.

I'm also going to begin splitting up the posts into more than one part so that each part is not as long of a read. Ill try posting twice as often to make sure I'm putting out the same amount of content though.

Let me know if you find it easier to read, if there's a difference in your experience, or if it makes your eyes want to begin weeping and gnashing their teeth, tear their clothes, and cover themselves in ashes.

***

A Horde of Blood, Part 1

Over the past few days I assembled a bunch of my Bloodreavers. This brings me to a total of 80 assembled Bloodreavers, 40 from the two starter sets, and 40 of the multi-part minis.

I haven't done any conversions on the 40 armed with Reaver Blades. They're just the guys out of the starter kit so I didn't really feel the need to get pictures of them yet. Once I start to convert some of them to get rid of duplicates I'll start showing them off.

Meanwhile, here are two pictures showing the 40 armed with Meatripper Axes. Each one is totally different from his hordemates.

I assembled this new group with the Meatripper Axes instead of the Reaver Blades because I felt it would be a good idea to have both options for list building to allow for the most flexibility.

The Meatripper Axes can definitely blast through heavier armor with their Rend -1, so I can use them for more elite armies, and the Reaver Blades allow for a lot more wounds to be dealt out for armies with large numbers of troops. At least that's what's going on in my head. I've not done the math to figure out which ones are actually going to be more effective the majority of the time. To be honest I'm not even going to bother doing the mathhammer because I'd rather just feel it out on the tabletop.

In related news, building the Bloodreavers was a total blast. The first thing that I noticed after removing the parts from their sprues was that these are not multi-pose models, unlike most of the models produced prior to Age of Sigmar. In the same way that Games Workshop's newer plastic clam pack Leader and HQ minis can only be assembled one way, each part of these minis fit on to rest of the mini in only one way.

Normally non-multi-pose minis would mean that duplicates are quick to show when building large units of models. However, Games Workshop built these kits with so many different torso, leg, arm, and head combinations that I was able to produce 40 completely unique Bloodreavers without a single duplicate.

I simply cannot get over how much skill and care went into this kit on the part of the sculptors. I know that a lot of the sculpting is done by CAD software which has allowed for far more flexibility in the design of miniatures, but the attention to detail that this kit must have required is amazing.

[Kaleb Daark]

such lovely conversions. I'm particularly impressed by the bloodreavers, they've all got a real individual character, and your characters are superbly subtle but the effect is just awesome.

[Woolfen]

Literally all of this stuff is so good! Particularly love the converted Slaughterpriest with the helm and the axe/ halberd. Have you done much since? I need to see some more conversions aha

[Killax]

Great work and very inspirational!

[Stealth_Hobo]

Those are some sweet conversions. Like you, I didn't want to go red with my Khorne army and originally I was going for the bone armor, too, but went with rusty iron look instead. So I'm really interested to see how your finished model will look like. Keep up the good work!

[Guest]

Great conversions. I do love a bit of bone armour too, and your execution of it is stunning.

[elfhead]

Looks like your having a blast with the conversions. The bone armour looks really well painted. I'm not normally a big fan of bone armour, as it makes the model very pale. I'm curious to see how you'll balance it out with other colors and the base.

[Redmanphill]

Thats a great idea for a painting scheme, I wish I had thought of that!

[uselesswizard]

Painting the Bonelords' Armor

I've been asked by a couple of people how I paint the bone armor of the Bonelords. This is not going to be a complete how-to on painting the Bonelords. I'm not happy with any of the ideas I have been working on, so none of them are actually done.

First, I use Vallejo Surface Primer Grey to prime the model. Once I have an even coat of primer on the model, I set it aside and allow the primer to cure. Even though the primer is dry to the touch soon after application, it's not fully cured and adhered to the plastic so I let it sit for a while. This typically doesn't extend the amount of time I'm spending on a project since I work on multiple models at a time, so it usually takes plenty of time to get back to the first model.

After the primer has dried, I add a layer of Menoth White Highlight over the entire model. This gives the base color for the bone effect. This can be done with a brush, but I use my airbrush so I can power through groups of models at a time.

Once everything is dry, I apply a heavy layer of Army Painter Soft Tone Wash from their Warpaints dropper bottle line of paints. I use my brush to make sure that no large pools of wash accumulate on the model. I don't worry about smaller pools of wash because I like the uneven result. It feels like a more natural look to me. It's amazing how much of a difference the wash makes in the overall color of the miniature. Then I let the wash dry for a good hour or so.

After the wash has dried, I drybrush over the whole model with Menoth White Highlight. When I drybrush I make sure to wipe the paint off the brush with a paper towel until no paint comes off the brush at all. This means the paint is almost completely gone and almost completely dry. The drybrush brings all of the sharp edges of the armor back to their original color so they stand out against the washed armor.

For the final drybrush I use Vallejo Model Ivory and prepare it for drybrushing in the same manner as the first layer of drybrushing. Then I apply it only to the upper most edges of the model. I also make sure to only hit the edges on the downstroke. That way the final highlight only hits the top of the edges and not the underside.

And that's it! The armor sections of the model are painted.

I especially like the very slight streaking that the drybrush creates on the armor. It gives additional texture to the armor, almost like a grain along the bone so it's not clean looking. I make sure to thoroughly dry the paint on the brush because if it's not dry enough the streaks will be thick and chalky looking.

I'll make another post covering each step of the paintjob as soon as I'm happy with the final version.

Thanks for reading!

[DynamicCalories]

Drybrushing is perfect for bone, these guys are incredible, and you also win the competition for the best named plog on the forum (I know Bonelords is supposed to be sinister but it cracks me up every time, blame the internet)

Really looking forward to seeing how you do your reds, because in prior pictures they're incandescent and I love it. I think darker skin might be best, but I am not a huge fan of uniform skin, so paler tones in there would be good too.  My favourite Kairic Acoloytes have been the ones that have had multiple skin-tones in the unit. Time consuming, but aesthetically excellent.

[Rivers3162]

Excellent minis! Love the conversions and the bone colour scheme is a nice change. 

[uselesswizard]

Systematic Painting

Currently the Bonelords contain close to 200 models, and the majority of them are unpainted. My current plan for getting as many painting as possible is methodical by design, but it could very well get a little confusing as I go. 

Currently my proposed painting system for the Bonelords looks like this: 

1. Set up batches of models in groups of ten. Set all but one batch to the side and place the current batch on my desk. Depending on the total number of models I'm working on during this session the amount of time this takes fluctuates. 

2. Prime each model with my airbrush. This typically only takes me a couple of minutes to do because while I'm waiting for one to dry I move to the next. Using the airbrush gives me a lot of control over where the primer goes and how much ends up on the model so I don't fill in any of the detail. 

3. I mix up my basecoat and thin it down so that it will flow through my airbrush correctly. I've used pure water in the past and it works well, but using too much water causes the acrylic medium of the paint to separate from the pigment. I've started using Vallejo Airbrush Medium lately, and because it's an acrylic medium I don't have to worry about the paint separating when I thin it out. The mixing only takes a couple of minutes. 

4. I apply the basecoat to each model individually just like I apply the primer. Again, this only takes a few minutes. Usually this color is the primary color for the model as take takes care of the majority of the basecoating work for the model. It is very effective on models that are mostly one type of material, like the armor for Blood Warriors or the skin on Bloodletters. Understandably the workload reduction isn't as effective on models that have a heavy mix of materials like the Bloodreavers and Bloodbound heroes which are close to half armor and half skin. 

5. I apply a wash to the entirety of each model making sure to focus on the armor sections. This also helps to separate details from each other to make basecoating te details in later steps easier. Allowing the wash to dry properly can take a lot of time so I typically move this batch to the side and start work on the next batch of models. 

6. Once the wash is completely dry I start drybrushing both highlight colors for the armor on the first batch of models while the wash dries on the other batches. This can take a couple of minutes per model to make sure the drybrushing is getting all of the details of the armor. 

7. Using a brush and thinned down paint I basecoat the rest of the model's details. This is the most time consuming step of the entire process as I need to apply multiple coats of thinned down paint to avoid brush strokes in the finished paintjob. While these layers are drying I finish the drybrushing on another batch of models 

8. Once all of the batches have their details basecoated I return to the first batch and start washing the details one color at a time. While one color's wash is drying I move to the next batch and wash their details with the same color. Repeat until all of the details have been washed on all batches. The washes are in different sections of the models so the drying time for each section isn't as much of a worry. 

9. When the washes are completely dry on the first batch, I start to highlight the details one color at a time. When the first batch is done I move on to the next. This step is grueling but the job is almost done. 

10. MATT VARNISH!!! 

Whew! So, that's the system that I'm planning on using, but like the saying goes, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” We'll see if this actually works out or not. 

Finding fast and more efficient methods of getting miniatures on the table is something that I'm putting a lot of thought into. I've played around with using masking tape and silly putty to cover sections that I'm not working on and then using my airbrush to basecoat the larger detail sections, but making sure the masking is applied correctly can take a while. I'm not sure it really saves me much time. I'll have to try it again and time it. 

Thanks for reading!

[DynamicCalories]

Excellent post. Makes me realise I really should have a process in mind, rather than letting one evolve over time. I have a question about your varnish. My models have largely survived very haphazard protection whilst moving house, but I think varnishing is the next step. Do you have any experience with non-airbrush varnishes? I am quite worried I am going to undo days of work with spray can varnish.

[uselesswizard]

Failure is an Option

In an effort to be more efficient during painting the Bonelords I picked up a can of Rustolum Gloss Ivory Spray Primer. My train of thought was that this would allow me to combine the steps I use to prime and basecoat the models. The time savings would only be a few minutes but that can add up over several batches, so I figured that it would be worth it.

Back when I used rattlecan primer all of the time I used a cardboard box to shield the models from wind and to have a contained area to set them up in. This let me set up around twenty smaller models so I could prime them all at once. This changed when I started using an airbrush. The spray pattern from the airbrush tends to be narrower than a rattlecan. It allows for more control but priming large groups of models is more difficult.

This time I didn't have a box large enough to use when priming the models with the spray paint so I grabbed a paint stirring stick from the Home Depot (they sell them in packs of ten for less than a dollar) and I wrapped painters tape around the stick. This let me mount four models on each side of the stick. Not as good as twenty at a time, but it was more than I've been able to prime at once with my airbrush.

It took the stick outside and shook the can for a couple of minutes. Now, the weather was fairly hot for Oregon, over 90 degrees F so that probably contributed to the result, but I tried it anyways. It was a disaster. The primer didn't attach to the model smoothly. It was as if the pigment wasn't evenly distributed in the paint medium. And the coverage was terrible. The only way that I could get good coverage on the models was to spray them several times, and that started to fill in the details of the models. At least one of the passes was too far away from the models and ended up drying part of the way to the surface leaving a slight pebbling covering parts of the models.

 
I'm fairly sure that I'll be able to strip the primer from the models, but I'm not trying that again any time soon. This time is would have paid to grab a plastic spoon or a trash model and trying the primer on that first.

On the successful side of this experiment the tape covered paint stick worked like a charm. The tape is strong enough to hold the plastic minis in place even when they're upside down. Determined to salvage something I prepped another painting stick with tape and models. This time I used my airbrush to prime the models, and it worked amazingly well for both the priming step and the basecoating steps. With a couple of paint sticks I'm going to be able to prime and basecoat entire batches of models, so that's nice.

Thanks for reading!