Realm of Chaos Style Grand Alliance Chaos Army

[MyGeekyPersona]

Hi All,

I'm a big fan of the old realm of chaos books, and I've been slowly building an army heavily inspired by imagery and army lists that were published way back then.

This was originally going to be a warriors of chaos army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but with the advent of AoS I can more easily incorporate daemons etc too.

Rather than give a long introduction to my aims for this army I'm going to write a little more with each post so as not to bore you all.

So first up a kit bashed MoS chaos warrior with halberd and shield. I'm not 100% on my choice of head yet so it's just affixed with Blu-Tack for now.

Criticisms and comments welcome.

MGP

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[MyGeekyPersona]

I'm really glad that GW released the Stormcast Eternals. Not because I want to make an army of them, but because I'd been searching for some good quality 28 mm heroic scale foot knights for conversion work for an age.

Here's the first of my Liberator to chaos warrior conversions - hand weapon and shield, undivided.

I had thought that he was complete, but looking at the photo, I need to add something between the right shoulder pad and the breast plate - probably a little chain mail.

The plan is to eventually have 10 sword and board, undivided chaos warriors, each a different model. They'll be painted classic black and metallic and should tie in visually with Varanguard.

Comments welcome.

MGP

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[Shane]

That knight is looking good. The more dynamic pose brings it to life; the rank and file models are a little flat.

[Dangermouse425]

On 15/05/2016 at 5:52 PM, MyGeekyPersona said:

Hi All,

I'm a big fan of the old realm of chaos books, and I've been slowly building an army heavily inspired by imagery and army lists that were published way back then.

This was originally going to be a warriors of chaos army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but with the advent of AoS I can more easily incorporate daemons etc too.

Rather than give a long introduction to my aims for this army I'm going to write a little more with each post so as not to bore you all.

So first up a kit bashed MoS chaos warrior with halberd and shield. I'm not 100% on my choice of head yet so it's just affixed with Blu-Tack for now.

Criticisms and comments welcome.

MGP

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What size brass rod did you use for the haft?

Cool conversion by the way, looks ace.

[MyGeekyPersona]

@Dangermouse425 Thanks for the positive comment. The brass rod is 3/64 inch - I find that it works quite well for heroic 28 mm. 

3/64 inch is a bit less than 1.2 mm, so I use a 1.2 mm drill bit. 

Hope that that helps. 

MGP

[UrbanJesus]

That chaos warrior looks rad, only think that stands out to me is the scale mail on the tabard, it looks a bit too neat and orderly for a chaos warrior. Maybe try and switch it up for some chainmail or something?

[Dez]

Great looking conversions so far!

[MyGeekyPersona]

Here's a photo of my first game legal unit - 14 marauders with the mark of Nurgle.

I want my chaos force to look like a collection of individual war bands for the most part. Hence, this unit is a mixture of different minis to give it the feel of a rabble rather than a well-drilled military unit.

I'm planning 7 more models for this unit, but first I'll work on getting some of my other units up to a game legal size.

For those of you who play in tournaments - is this unit sufficiently WYSIWYG for gaming purposes?

I'll post some detail pics in the next few days.

Comments welcome.

MGP

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[MyGeekyPersona]

Here's a photo of just the diseased flagellants in the "marauder" unit.

A series of fairly easy conversions / kit bashes from the Empire flagellant kit.

What does everyone think? Do they look OK side by side with the classic realm of chaos metals?

MGP

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[Stevewren]

Terrific work so far. I've never seen the Realm of Choas book, but if looks cool. Keep posting picturss

[MyGeekyPersona]

That chaos warrior looks rad, only think that stands out to me is the scale mail on the tabard, it looks a bit too neat and orderly for a chaos warrior. Maybe try and switch it up for some chainmail or something?

@UrbanJesus - thanks for the feedback. I take your point about scale mail - not traditionally very chaos. However, scale mail will feature heavily on my Tzeentch models, and occasionally on my Slaanesh models, so I'm hopeful that it'll look OK on the odd chaos undivided miniature too.

For Khorne and Nurgle marked warriors though you're spot on. It is relatively straight forward to remove the tabard on the Stormcast Liberators, but it's a bit more time-consuming to remove the pteruges. It is worth the effort though - I'm quite happy with how this w.i.p. Khorne chosen is coming along.

MGP

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[MyGeekyPersona]

Terrific work so far. I've never seen the Realm of Choas book, but if looks cool. Keep posting picturss

@Stevewren - Thanks. The two realm of chaos books are well worth a look if you can get a hold of them - great reference tomes for anyone building a chaos army.

Here's a close up of the undead "counts as mark of Nurgle marauders" - in the old fluff anyone who died of Nurgle's rot became a servant of Nurgle for a year and a day. Undead chaos champions were a character option too for any of the four gods.

Comments welcome - especially people's thoughts on me using these in game - am I stretching WYSIWYG too far?.

MGP

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[pez5767]

On 5/23/2016 at 10:23 AM, MyGeekyPersona said:

Here's the first of my Liberator to chaos warrior conversions - hand weapon and shield, undivided.

Everything about this is good.  Must resist the urge to steal this idea and build another army... so, awesome.... 

[MyGeekyPersona]

@pez5767 Thanks. Maybe I can tempt you start a new army with this -

Second completed conversion / kitbash based on the excellent Stormcast Liberator kit - a mark of Khorne chosen.

Back to the Slaanesh contingent of my army now. I need three armoured Slaanesh icon bearers; two for chaos warrior units, and one for a unit of Slaanesh chosen. First up a simple kitbash based on the "old" Dark Eldar Archon -

I'm happy enough with this, but I don't think that it entirely fits what I wanted to achieve with this hobby project - the model doesn't have the feel of the old Realm of Chaos style in my opinion.

So, it's time for a more involved conversion. I'm going to use the versatile SC Liberator kit again as the basis of the second icon bearer. First, work out a pose -

Then incorporate some Slaanesh Realm of Chaos elements; faces on armour, Slaanesh iconography on armour plates and banded mail -

What does everyone think? I reckon that I can't go too far wrong taking inspiration from some Jes Goodwin classics!

MGP

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[Soulsmith]

These are fantastic. The stormcast armour is the perfect classical look for a Slaanesh basis. I imagine you will see this copied online!

[Henry]

Great idea! Look forward to following this project, I've been having similar musings

 

[MyGeekyPersona]

Hi Hobbyists,

Time for a long overdue update.

Firstly, thank you for the positive comments.

Since my last post I've completed / collected enough Khorne Chosen to make a game legal unit.

1) Unit champion based on the Chaos Lord clam pack. Largely inspired by Mengel Miniatures own clever conversion.

2) An icon bearer based on the starter set blood secrator - I'm particularly pleased with this one.

3) A skull drummer - I'm less pleased with this, but I find musicians hard to compose. Although I do think that he's suitably "Realm of Chaos" styled. Sorry for the blurry photo.

4) Finally, here's a group shot with an old classic.

Of course, as this is a Realm of Chaos styled army, the unit should be 8 strong. I'm currently working / bidding on the final 3 models.....

Criticisms and comments welcome.

MGP

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[RuneBrush]

Hats off to you - I'm really impressed with those conversions.  Pretty much getting to the point of starting to do some for my Bloodbound too so nice bit of inspiration.  Much prefer the more armoured Bloodsecrator too

[Ademo]

Really great work here, you've really captured the flavour of the book yet put your own twist on them! Excellent - keep it coming and bring on the paint!

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[alasdair]

Following this thread with interest. Love the old realm of chaos stuff, and there are some inspired conversions here. Keep it up!

[elfhead]

Looks like a fun project, lots of great conversions. The skull drummer is actually my absolute favorite! Really love his big horns and especially the bloodthirster legs under the armoured body. 

[MyGeekyPersona]

@elfhead @alasdair @Ademo @RuneBrush - thanks for the positive comments - I appreciate the feedback.

Time for an update - the first 10 of a unit of halberd and shield chaos warriors with the mark of Slaanesh.

I've been working on these guys for over a year, so I thought that it was time to properly finish 10 of them to give me enough for a game legal unit. The plan is to field these in a unit of 18 (or 20 for when strictly adhering to the GHB).

Here's one of my favourites in detail - this one is based on the free WD liberator.

He doesn't really fit my Realm of Chaos theme, but I like how he adds a variety of height to the unit.

Most of these minis were originally for WFB 8th, so their poses are quite limited to allow them to rank up. I don't mind having some static models in the unit, but I'll be trying some more dynamic conversions in the next 8 (10) - can anyone suggest a dynamic halberd/spear armed GW mini that I can use as a basis for a conversion?

I'm hoping to pick up the pace on this army a little; I'm excited to see that there'll be a monthly AoS night close to my house in Newcastle, so I need to get a playable force at least assembled!

Thanks for looking.

MGP

[alasdair]

I like the look of the armoured guy a lot. I think it fits the theme definitely. 

For dynamic spear models, how about something like Valkia the Bloody? I also thought of a few 40k DE models like Lelith Hesperax or the Succubus. You could also try something like the deathbringer with spear for a change of look, you'd have to do a lot to it to make it fit the theme however.

[MyGeekyPersona]

@alasdair thanks for the suggestions. I've had some similar thoughts - I bought an old metal 3rd ed 40K Lelith Hesperax to convert up as well as a Jain Zar. I've already used the new plastic succubus, but I'm trying to track down the one before that in metal, or finecast. I hadn't thought about Valkia, but I had bought a box of dark eldar scourges - great minds think alike.

I hadn't thought about using a deathbringer though - I'll have a good look at the sprue next time I'm in a GW store.

I've done precious little hobby since my last update, but here's a work in progress of a Slaanesh chosen musician that I posted on Twitter a while back, but not here.



I took my inspiration from the old Jes Goodwin classic (pictured). I intend to base a few conversions on old models and art - that should ensure that I stick to my planned Realm of Chaos theme and continue to push myself to improve my converting and sculpting.

This amazing drawing from the lost and the damned is going to be the inspiration for my next conversion. There's a company planning to release a miniature based on this pic, but I want to have something of my own that I can use in a GW store / Warhammer world. Plus I like the challenge!



Comments welcome.

MGP


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[elfhead]

I think it is really cool to see how you are inspired by the lost and the damned book. your unit of Nurgle followers looks great, and I think it's enough WYSIWYG. you could use the paint job to make sure the look as one unit.

the Slaanesh snake body conversion looks great. really like the head you used. maybe you could sculpt a lace collar like the model it is inspired on? I did a conversion based on the Sslyth model a while back, although it still needs paint... 

looking forward to seeing more conversions!