Wednesday 15 September 2010

Jewel in the Chaotic Crown

So, due to absent mindedness this is part 4 of our three part feature on the Warriors of Chaos!

Actually it has turned out pretty well as the model at the centre of this feature is the jewel in the crown of this army and is one of the models that I am most proud of. The Slaanesh-mutated Chaos Giant Thunderfoot the Defiled!:


Now for those unfamiliar with the base model here it is! The model is made from most of the parts of a giant kit, several spare faces and a chaos spawn kit. The most obvious feature of the model is the two heads so we'll start there:


The head/s were made by shaving off the "inner" eighth of both heads to just ahead of the ear. The heads were then married together across the neck join with plastic glue. The join was disguised with green stuff which was sculpted to look as though the skin was under tension. I didn't take a clear picture of it but I actually shaved down and split the backbone to have a line of vertebra running to each head.

The next feature to take a look at is the weaponry and arms:


The third arm is added by thinning the join to a point and glueing it into place under the left armpit. The join is smoothed out with green stuff. I made sure to continue the tricep up from the armband and into the back muscles. Getting fantasy anatomy at least plausible is essential to allowing a suspension of disbelief and a better model. The weapons are simply the kit parts, of note is the plaster clinging to the archway. It would be easier to paint this the same grey colour as the rest of the stone but it would lack that extra detail.

As if three arms and two heads were not enough Slaanesh has seen fit to grace poor Thunderfoot the Defiled even more mutations:


The spines, are from the chaos spawn cut down and blended into the vertebrae. Again, by attaching them to the vertebra you reinforce the biology behind the beasty. I deliberately left a gap between the skin and the spine, when filled with blood mix this means that the spines look like they have burst from the skin recently. The fanged maw and eyes are also from the spawn kit. I particularly like how the blue eye looks panicked as though an element of sentience remains. Finally we come to the belly. I figured that part of the mutations wracking the giant's body would be that any victims eaten by the giant would become part of his tainted flesh, swelling his bulk and leaving just a gibbering face driven mad by it's predicament. I like imagining a whispered cacophany of voices accompanying Thunderfoot as the lips of the victims mouth their confusion and distress. Right, having convinced you all that I am lightly insane here's how it is done. Just file down a spare face from the back until you can easily glue it into place, smooth in to place with green stuff and run blood from the various openings.

Thunderfoot is one of my best models - where modelling is concerned - and there are still bits that I reckon I could do better these days!

Before we leave the Warriors of Chaos theme I thought I'd share another model with you. This was made and painted for a Games Day table a few years back. I was given it afterward and intend to make it the centerpiece of Tzeentch contingent one day.


The base of the model is an High Elf wizard with an Empire wizard head attached. With this small change and the paint scheme he becomes a Chaos Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch. This was made from two large round bases with green stuff layered over the top and carved into stones to match the Elf wizard base. A few more gravity defying stones made of green stuff finish the blending. The lightning is made from paperclips bent and glued together and then painted Ice Blue highlighting up to white. A few glowing eldritch runes finish the effect and create a unique disc for the sorcerer to travel on.


The yellow and blue paint scheme denote the Tzeentchian loyalties of the wizard. The pink fires contrast nicely with the other shades and also represent the spell pink fire of Tzeentch.


The runes appear black, but that would be too stark against the yellow and blue. Instead, they are a very dark blue - Necron Abyss and Chaos Black. This is a subtle change but important to bind the paint scheme together. The gold is darker than my usual mix to contrast against the yellow better. This uses Devlan Mud rather than Gryphonne Sepia as a wash.

Well, that really is it this time! Hope you've enjoyed it. Back to normal service next time.

Back to start

TTFN

1 comment:

  1. The giant looks great!

    Like the wizard too. How have I gone so long without having seen a Dr. Fate chaos sorcerer before? Oh Nabu, how the mighty have fallen!

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