Icon Bearer and More Hybrids

 

Cult Icon Bearer

Well after quite some consideration I finished this Icon Bearer. I really wanted this guy to be cool, and it took me some time and a couple aborted attempts until I settled on some imagery and a paint job I was happy with. It seemed almost sacrilegious to snip off this fellow's weapon in order to convert it to a banner pole, being one of the classic Jes Goodwin Realm of Chaos Champions but in the end I think it was worth it. I suffer from great pangs of guilt cutting up old models. These days I don't generally do much converting (although I have massacred my fair share of precious figures that would be worth a mint on ebay these days), apart from the value and rarity of certain models, I have come to see them as small works of art and I enjoy letting the sculptor's vision speak for itself.

I wasn't sure at first if this guy was going to represent a mutant or a Genestealer Hybrid, and I suppose it doesn't really matter he could be either, but I think he fits in well with the hybrids with his bulbous, ugly, hairless head, hunched over posture, and clawed toes poking out from beneath his robes. Though four legs is an unusual mutation for a hybrid. I only realised when painting him that after removing his halberd I had left him with only a sex-toy in his left hand for defence! All the chaos champions from this release are very deserving of their well loved status, and this Slaanesh Champion is no exception, practically painting itself and amusingly covered in bizarre, surreal details such as the ornate armour, S&M accessories, mutations, and little bell on his halberd. I reckon he'd also make a suitable standard bearer for a Warhammer Fantasy chaos warband, and may use him as such.

The image from the banner (with a few embellishments) came from this picture by French comic-book artist Phillipe Druillet:

If you are unfamiliar with Druillet and are an "Oldhammer" fan you owe it to yourself to check out some of his art. It really is astounding and obviously (as well as the other Heavy Metal artists of the 1970s) a significant influence on the design aesthetic of Rogue Trader and Warhammer. Below are a couple other images that didn't quite make the cut for the icon, but are very evocative of a rogue trader-alien-genestealer-chaos cult vibe, and I will try to use them on something else.

Hybrids

I also painted up a few more hybrids since my last post. The ribbed Hybrid armour is the element that really makes these figures for me, reminding me of the Harkonnen costumes from David Lynch's Dune.

Plastic Hybrids

These guys are a lot chunkier than the metal hybrids making them good 'heavies', so this lot are equipped with a conversion beamer, missile launcher, and autocannon. While the plastic hybrids from the Space Hulk Genestealer expansion are crude and get a bit of flack, I quite like them and they are fun to paint. Amusingly they really look like 28mm models of cheesy 'men in suit' movie monster costumes. However the plastic weapons they came with are fantastic! Some of my favourite weapon designs. Known as the 'Chaos Weapons Sprue', these creatively styled heavy weapons are covered in gothic details. The few I have I jealously horde.

Group Shot