Some time, many moons ago, I picked up Gorechosen from GW, a gladiatorial boardgame that is actually quite fun. The miniatures in it were ‘donated’ to an Age of Sigmar Blades of Khorne army, and then sold with the rest of the Bloodbound, but the boardgame remained on my shelf. I had been meaning to paint up the four gladiators again at some point, but other projects always seemed more pressing and who has time to dedicate to a project that is not part of a core army?

Enter Slapchop painting. Once I had got the hang of it (and it is not difficult), small numbers of models like the four Gorechosen gladiators become a cinch to do, and can be done alongside larger projects without taking too much away from them. While painting up the Bloodbound team for Blood Bowl, I popped these four in as well.

As well as being able to play Gorechosen once again, I have always had a soft spot for these four models. They were released very early in the Age of Sigmar cycle but stand up incredibly well today, a few years later.

The Slaughterpriest works well in Age of Sigmar armies but, as a model, is also very imposing. Standing clearly taller than the others, it has a great pose, and frighteningly big axe, and looks like he can take the head off anyone who gets close.

The Skullgrinder is a fun model, a weaponsmith who has learned to hit things with anvils rather than the other way around. The skin came up really well with the Slapchop method (it is simply Guilliman Flesh over the highlight drybrushing), though for the flames I had to default to the old White Scar/Cassandora Yellow approach.

The Aspiring Deathbringer is one of my favourite GW models of all time, and I think this is the third time I have painted one! He may be seen as a lower rank than the others among the Gorechosen, but that just means he has everything to play for…

The armour is simply a Slapchopped Blood Angels Red Contrast, and it has come up very, very well on these models, looking like it has been ‘properly’ shaded and highlighted, and yet it remains a one-pass application.

Finally, the Exalted Deathbringer, another favoured model of mine. For the big axe, I did the old Basilicum Grey with a touch of Stormhost Silver highlighting to get the ‘metalness’ of it across while remaining true to the lightning fast Slapchop method, and everything on this model seems to have come across very nicely.

With these models done, I am now a smidge behind in my plan to annihilate my Pile of Shame by the New Year, so I need to get my nose to the grindstone. On the painting table right now I have four tanks, two for 40k and two for the Heresy. If all goes well, you will see all four by this time next week!