Sunday 18 February 2018

The 8 horsemen of the Apocalypse - Chaos renegade riders


OK, let's start with the appropriate soundtrack shall we ? The 8 Horsemen of the Apocalypse deserve as much. ^^


Ok now, following my plans to have a sizeable chaos renegade army for Rogue Trader this year, I've taken some old models from the shelves. WHen I say old, I don't only mean the model themselves are old but the conversion are too !

Most of the group was converted a while back during summer holidays. The idea then was to build riders as different from one another as possible, using different heads, bodies and making sure there were as few doubles as possible.



To add a little weight to the unit and make it an 8 man unit to please the Lord of Blood and broken skulls I added that guy as well :


Now I can be honest with you folks and admit I never quite enjoyed the angry hippo look of the original Juggernaught. The 2nd ed one was way scarier but waaaaay too static. I actually think the metal and plastic versions that came after are just perfect representations of the concept but that's not the subject here.
Since I didn't want a angry static hippo but more of a dynamic angry rhino instead, I cut the (very small and silly) feet away and used a different head. Luckily enough, I had a pair of metal marine biker legs and a damaged chaos knight body to make a brand new rider !


Painting wise, I tried to keep my reds rich and warm but not too bright. The black armour was done using my usual recipe to achieve a worn out look with added rust and weathering. The aim here was to use a more painterly style rather than look for smooth blended stuff. I want the armour to show it's 10 millenia old.

To tie the riders together, not only were the riders painted the exact same way but I also use a very limited palette on the hounds with similar collars for all and a few colours for the rest.


To make up for numbers, I had used damaged bits such as this palanquin rider I cut n parts about 20 years ago now. I know it looks a bit silly to make him a centaur like that but I thought it was in the spirit of the old fashion so was pretty happy with it.  


Now here's probably one of my favourite riders, I thought it looked cool to have both the hound and rider being cyclops and they convey a real sense of malevolence. The head is pretty much a small fimir head actually and if I were to make small fimir, I'd probably try to use such a head to convert orcs or the likes.


Now anyone who's actively tried to collect chaos renegades and especially riders will know the following one is an absolute bastard to find ! I don't know why but I know 4 people (myself included) who struggled on this particular one. 


Now of course, those old renegades do show signs of age, in the models and the designs as well, I do find though that they still look cool and menacing with dark paintjobs and weird hound with skull face of course.


You'll have to believe me when I say those old riders aren't exactly easy to make look dynamic but with the right pose and mount, they can actually look pretty convincing :


Last and definitely least, here's the desperate attempt to salvage that other palanquin rider (with shuriken catapult (just how RT is that heh ?). He looks silly I know but if you consider this as a hommage to the works of gods like Pete Brown and the likes then you can accept that kind of stupidity and embrace it !


These guys have been incredibly fun to paint. I think most painters will agree riders usually are quite energy taxing and can take a huge toll on our mojo and that's probably why I've kept clear of them for a couple of years. But when I started working on them, I knew where I was going and things just went by themselves which was very nice.
Despite being very tempted to finish binging Black Mirror I actually preferred getting behind the desk. The low standard I had set for them must have helped as well but they are definitely a very great item to have ticked in my list.
I have plans to paint a few more things before the end of tis very short month and that might be tricky to achieve but so far deadlines have worked in the last couple of months so let's try to keep things this way !

Of course we needed another 4 horsemen to have our 8 so here are my favourite :



Oh and in case you're wondering, those kind weigh around 460 points give or take from The lost and the damned book so in a couple of months I've managed to paint something close to 1000pts for this army (can't even believe I'm talking about an army) !

Have a good time all !

47 comments:

  1. Absolutely a glorious work to Khorne!!!!! I love everything about these, especially the little details. The orange furnace fires at the joints really caught my eye. Way to push it to 12. 😉

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    1. Cheers mec, I'm really glad you like those !

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  2. Sooo gooood. I think this is my favorite thing you have done so far.

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  3. Just incredible. The conversions are believable and dynamic - no mean feat given the source models. The details really sell the concept - it was so worthwhile sculpting the saddles and reins (leashes?). The painting is great, I love the fleshy pink contrast to the rich red and dusty black. Forget about homage to Khorne, I'll be worshipping you!

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    1. Thanks a lot, I really was wondering how the goofy element would mix with the dark and evil look I wanted to give them but I'm pleased with the balance. ^^

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  4. Insane, but in a really, really good way. Soundtrack is spot-on too: the best and most important Metallica album bar none!

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    1. Thanks Gareth, the soundtrack was a no-brainer. ^^

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  5. That is the most Chaotic unit of Rogue Trader cavalry that has ever come rampaging out of the eye of Chaos. Well done that man. Well done indeed!

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    1. I went full RT/ROC on these guys I admit. There wasn't any other option but pushing them to 11. ^^

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  6. Very, very nice indeed. Back to the Tony Ackland days of my youth.

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    1. There's a fair bit of Ackland in those guys no question !

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  7. They're all just so fucking brilliant JB it's too hard to pick the best of the lot. You've managed to create something totally unique, winding the RT dial up way past 11!

    You killed it bro, absolutely killed it!

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  8. the centaur dudes looks like their mutation is terribly uncomfortable to live with, that's awesome ^^

    Great looking band man

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    1. Running can't be that pleasant for them I suspect but that makes them duely grotesque !
      Thanks mec !

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  9. I love them! Especially the two centaur Marines. That's an excellent way to salvage damaged models and the idea to have a centaur with different front legs from back legs was great!

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    1. Sometimes the most simple ideas work the best !
      Cheers Adndrew !

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  10. They're all just so fucking brilliant JB it's too hard to pick the best of the lot. Once again you've managed to create something totally unique. You killed it bro, absolutely killed it!

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    1. Cheers mec, I'm really glad you like them as they dwell in the kind of territory where you excel.

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  11. Wonderfully grotesque! Excellent conversion and the painting is top notch as well.

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    1. Cheers ! The painting was pretty laidback given the nature of the riders but it was fun really and that might show in the result. ^^

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  12. Fantastic. I really like the colour choices, and the models are freaky. The Juggernaut makeover is particularly successful.

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    1. Cheers ! Most of the army will go in that direction so I'm eager to make this work on bigger models such as the dreadnought !

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  13. Very impressive. I am always marvelling at creativity present in the bloggersphere. I really like how the wattles on the fleshhounds look. As one of the few colorized areas it draws the eye and looks both sickly yet living.

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    1. Thanks, my main concern with those guys was to keep the renegades willingly dark and unified but having hellish hound that would make the whole stand a bit.

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  14. Khorne done the right way ! No need to emphasize violence but nice models, conversions and mutations !
    Centaurs for the win ! :)

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    1. Cheers mec, I'm glad to see people like them for what they are !

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  15. Brilliant mate - completely insane in the best possible spirit of RoC - bravo :-)

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    1. You can't be shy about it can you ? The only way to do those guys is to fully embrace the madness. ^^
      Cheers mate.

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  16. Cracking work. Wondered why you'd been so quiet on the blog front lately – you've been busy on a cavalcade of awesome. Using black for the fur on the Fleshhounds rather than the standard red of today really adds to their menace.

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    1. Riders do take quite a toll in time however fun they might be.
      There isn't any black on any of the fur though, mostly red and greys. ^^
      Thanks man !

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  17. These are magnificent. I'd never have thought the put renegades on flesh-hounds. The jugger conversion is superb. I like the internal glow the riders have, they look like they've had their armour scorched and scoured back to the metal.

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    1. Yeah, 10 000 years don't go easy on armours. Thanks a lot, I'm glad the Fleshhound idea turned up well like that, it could only end as a victory or a farce.

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  18. that Jugger conversion is inspired!!

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  19. Man, you got me there. The imagination you poured on them is simply fantastic. You may say some of them look silly, but those are your words, I simply think they all are brilliant compositions. C'est magnifique!

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    1. Thanks man ! I think silly isn't always a bad thing and I do have a big fondness for those. I'm very rarely satisfied with what I do but I just love those. Really glad you're enjoying them as well.

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  20. Your black armour recipe works! And you did a great job blending the armour and organic bits of the miniatures!

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    1. Thanks, It does work well with those models to provide that really old and weathered look I wanted !

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  21. Great stuff. Everything comes together so well on these models, even the crazy centaurs. The colour scheme really brings out the menace of the riders. And that juggernaut conversion is superb. I think it's my favourite of your models.

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    1. Thanks, it really is a pleasure to see it actually works, I have to say I had doubts and fears about it till the end but the old era is pretty forgiving I suppose. ^^

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