Kanak Hell Spawn Veterans

To go with the Chimera 'Hell Spawn', I built up a squad of veterans for my Skulltakers! Much like the other Kanak units, these are a mix of Chaos Marauders and Catachans. But these guys have a twist!

The twist is I am using some Blightwheel heads with masks. They are quite what I imagine a Bloodpact trooper would look like. I preferred these over the Secret Weapon heads with masks due to the overall sculpt. The Blightwheel sprues also came with horns with which to glue to the helmets. I didn't even bother as they are so tiny, a small bump or snag will pop them off. I tried to drill a small hole to countersink them into to make the bond stronger, but just couldn't find the right diameter drill bit. It was either too small or too big. I quit while I was ahead. I think they look fine nonetheless. I used most of the shoulder pads I had to give them the extra armor look if I want them to be Granadiers with carapace armor.

The squad itself is armed with two melta guns and a demolition charge, whom is a metal figure with a head swap. I must say, I am really impressed with the Imperial shoulder pads from the Baneblade sprue. Those pads, just seemed to fit the look perfectly. You can see them mainly on one of the melta gunners and the banner bearer.

The sergeant received the huge skull shoulder pads. They fit the role nicely. To show their subtle change to Chaos, all the visible Imperial Eagles were removed or filed down. The Sergeant could be said to have an 8-point star on his back, or it could just be a huge target symbol...

All of the troopers have tattoos of flames on their wrists. I also tried to incorporate the symbol from the rune on the banner onto their arms. The banner 

The only thing I did differently for these guys was to try and use oil washes and other tank specific weathering techniques on their shoulder pads and helmets. The results were mixed. As they are so small, the weathering gives the appearance of a camo pattern.

Blight Wheel Staghounds

Troopers shouldn't just walk up the field to get into contact. They need to have some kind of transport. Fortunately, Blight Wheel makes these vehicles called Staghounds. They are a 4 or 6 wheeled vehicle, your choice, with an entry point on the rear of the truck. They look awesome and are a great replacement for the Taurox. 

A word of caution on construction, the side skirts are very fragile and are only held in spot by a line of glue. They would best be served by using a small plastic strut, or three, underneath to give them some support. Hindsight being 20/20, I didn't do that. Also, the kit is all resin and the tires were a tight fit. So tight that the the resin cracked where it fit over the large pin on the undercarriage. They have updated the kit since then, I'm not sure wha has changed if anything. I used a large brass rod as a pin/axle to hold them in place. 

Blight Wheel has further updated the kit with new weapon options. The Staghounds now come with missile launchers, a new cannon, and new wheels for the 'Hound. 

 

Much like their troops, these are really easy to paint! A grey scheme, some slight color modulation by lightening the grey on the panels. Added the decals and painted the details. Sealed it with a gloss coat and applied the oil washes. Another great set of figures to add to my collection. I ended up with three of them!

Other Choices

I wanted to show off some guys I picked up from Blight Wheel Miniatures some time back. I believe Blight Wheel is out of France. Anyway, they make some great third party Astra Militarum figures. These guys are not a 'cheaper' alternative to the GW figures. But they are a 'standout' alternative to GW and FW. They are detailed resin pieces allowing for some really nice detail.

Admittedly, they were a bit finicky to construct. I ended up putting a pin all the way across from shoulder to shoulder for the arms to stay. Not very difficult overall, but somewhat time consuming. I will say, once they are glued, they won't come off, unless you are really pissed at them.

This ranges is Blight Wheel's Britanic Hell'ington figures. Very dark looking guys, and quite similar to Forge World Death Korps of Krieg, as in trench warfare style. The best part is, they are extremely easy to paint. All you have to worry about is the armor, the clothing, guns, and maybe some straps and what not, no skin involved. So if you are one of the guys that hate painting flesh, these guys are for you. They are not as hyper intricate as the Forge World pieces, but they still have some features.

Beginning with a black primer, I painted the clothing Steel Legion Drab added some decals, and gave it all a thorough dry brush with Baneblade Brown. Next step was a wash of Agrax Earthshade on the clothing only. By just applying the wash to the clothing, you get a dirtier appearance. This was followed by another dry brush of Baneblade over the entirety of the model, then a lighter dry brush of Kommando Khaki on top of that. I added one more wash of Agrax over the whole model, and a last dry brush of Baneblade, and that was all I needed.

To add extra bits, I painted on some armor nicks, stippled some Steel Legion and Baneblade onto the armor for effect and they were done. A very effective paint job that can work great with Cadians or Kreig. 

Really quite simple to paint up and get done fast. I may incorporate them into the Kanaks as a Veteran squad possibly with shotguns. I know shotguns suck, but they look cool and fit the models.