The Usual Khorne-spects

I am getting close to the point where I can safely say I have ‘finished’ my Khorne Bloodbound. An army is never really finished, of course, and there are all sorts of bits and bobs that can be added, but soon it will be time to properly focus on other forces (Rotbringers and the Bleak Horde!). Another step towards that goal is the completion of the ‘Khorne Leadership’, a group of character models to lead the Bloodbound.

Up to now, I have been messing around more or less with just the characters from the starter set (plus the Exalted Deathbringer). These guys will provide a lot more variety as we move into the latter part of the Brimstone Peninsula campaign!

First up is the Aspiring Deathbringer and I have to say, for such a ‘minor’ character within the Bloodbound, I quite like this model. He doesn’t have the big armour of his friends, as befits his lower status, but that is quite a pile of his skulls he has accumulated!

When it comes to leading a Bloodbound force, there are supposed to be eight lieutenants – an Exalted Deathbringer and seven others, all below the Mighty Lord. However, it seems to make sense that there would be only one Skullgrinder, one Slaughterpriest, etc, so more Aspiring Deathbringers seems to be the way to go. The problem is model availability (you don’t want them all looking the same). I have been looking for more models to be Aspiring Deathbringers but this guy actually has quite a specific weapons fit in the Warscroll – axe and chain (or hammer, at a pinch). Been looking at the classic Chaos Warrior range, but have yet to find something suitable. The search continues…

This big guy is the Slaughterpriest (finally the Bloodbound get a priest and can start taking advantage of various terrain pieces!). He (literally) stands head and shoulders over the others and will be seriously pumping up the Bloodreavers – with the Bloodsecrator also around, they will be getting an insane number of attacks.

For all these models, I used the same paint scheme as most of the Bloodbound, so Khorne Red/Gehenna Gold on the armour, and the skin uses a base of Pallid Flesh. As you can clearly see with the Slaughterpriest, I have fully embraced the Mordheim Turf method of basing!

There is only one Exalted Deathbringer in a Bloodbound force – but if he dies, I have this chap as a backup! This is simply an alternative Deathbringer who does a little less damage with his axe, but his shield provides protection against spells. A bit more defensive overall, but otherwise the same. Looks quite nifty too.

Then we come to one of my favourite models of the group…

The Skullgrinder! This model has a lot of motion it in, a real ‘I’ll hit it in the face!’ feel. It also looks as though the Bloodbound believe you hit the metal with the anvil, rather than the other way round…

The last two models are not really Bloodbound as such, but they could show up from time to time, leading a warband or two. The first is Skarr Bloodwrath (not to be confused with Skarbrand, who is a lot bigger!). For this (literally indestructible) guy, I went with the same daemon red skin as the Bloodletters and Bloodthirster, and black armour. I will be doing a unit of Wrathmongers in the same scheme, to show a little distance between them and the ‘mainstream’ of the Bloodbound.

The gold uses a Balthasar Gold base rather than Gehenna Gold, which ends up looking more like brass – and I have to say, I prefer it. It is too late for the rest of the Bloodbound but if I had my time over, I would do all their gold like this (only went with Gehenna because that was used in the painting guide in the starter set).

Finally, Valkia the Bloody. You have to love this woman, a little winged package of fury who can drive her own troops nuts just by staring at them! Oh, and her shield is actually the face of a living daemon she has subjugated. She has her own fortress in the Realm of Chaos, but visits the other Realms from time to time for, well, sport, really!

This model is small, but is crammed with detail. This is another model (like the Celestant-Prime) that could have used a tad more talent than I possess to get the best results, as some of the details (the gold lining on some of the armour plates, for example) are really thin. The balance is that the number of colours used is limited – most of the armour is red (went with the brighter Mephiston Red as a base, rather than Khorne Red), a bit of gold lining, pale skin, and Bugman’s Glow on as a base on the wings. Polish off the shield, and you are done.

And it is quite a cool model.

As I said earlier, my time with Khorne is coming to an end. This weekend I am looking to finish off a unit each of Skullreapers and Wrathmongers (I’ll report back on this, but these two units look very easy to paint at first glance), along with another unit of Bloodletters – that will give me 30 of the lesser daemons, which I think is probably enough for most battles (because they are so quick to paint, I will also be adding another unit of Plaguebearers and Nurglings to the mix, rounding off the NUrgle daemons too).

After that, I will really just have Skarbrand to do, and I want to pick up a box of Mighty Skullcrushers. Oh, and I grabbed a Blood Throne earlier this week, just to give my Herald something to ride around on.

And this is all fortunate, as the space on the shelf I had dedicated to the Bloodbound is pretty much full!