The Christmas Gift – Part 1

A challenge has been laid down by Varchilde, each member of our 40k chat group (there are four of us who regularly take part) are to take a model from their pile of shame, build it and paint it as a present to a member of the group. All in time for Christmas.

There is no set requirement as to what the model should be, a single tactical marine or Ork boy would be acceptable. But it would be preferable if the model could fit in with the receiver’s army or collection.

Varchilde has chosen (or randomised) who each member of the group should gift their model to.

For this challenge, I have been awarded Dave.

The armies that I know Dave has are:

• Adeptus Mechanics
• Creations of Bile
• Emperor’s Spears

But I’ve a feeling that he also has:

• Black Legion
• Inquisition

So, what could I possibly choose for him? My first thought was to make an objective marker, perhaps for his Creations of Bile as that’s the army he’s currently working on and playing with. I could then get away with just painting up a wounded Omega Guardian marine, that Bile is wanting to harvest for his nefarious ends.

The trouble with Space Marines is that there are usually the correct number in a box for a legal sized squad, so I would be losing out on a full strength squad of Omega Guardians. Another problem, would be whether I could convincing model one to look like he’s unconscious and wounded.

My Second thought, would be to make an Inquisitor as they will happy fall into any Imperial army. I also have plenty of Stormcast Eternals going spare, that I wouldn’t have the Space Marine problem above. I’ve put this option as Plan B.

My final idea, and my preferred one is to make a model that can be used in a game as part of Dave’s Creations of Bile force. If I make that model a character, it wouldn’t matter too much if they stood out as they wouldn’t have to fit in with the rest of a squad.

Looking at the models that I have available, I’ve come up with the idea of converting a spare Age of Sigmar Blood Warrior into a Chaos Space Marine. If I kit him out right, he could be used as a Chaos Lord or an Exhaulted Champion.

Planning the model

My initial thought, was to stick a Chaos Space Marine backpack to the Blood Warrior, change his weapons and be done. This is essentially what I will do, but I’m going to need to take the changes further.

First of all, I need to dial back the Khorne. With the big Khorne helmet, this guy isn’t going to fit in with the Slanneshy look of the rest of Dave’s army. I could leave it as is and make him Black Legion, but I really want to try and fit him in with Dave’s Purple and Silver colour scheme.

Secondly, the boots. Chaos Space Marines are not known for their fancy footwear, and the leather boots of a Blood Warrior don’t really fit the look. I could get away with it as Khorne Bezerkers tend to have leather gloves, but if I could smooth out some of the leather folds, maybe I can make it look more like armour.

Building the model

After raiding my bits box, here are all the peices I think that I will need:

And after a little choppy-choppy, here’s how the parts ended up:

And here is the final model once he was all assembled:

He’s now de-Khorned and looking good, but unfortunately I couldn’t do too much about the boots. We’ll have to see if I can hide them within the paint job.