Weekend WIP: Word Bearer Hell Knights and Cultist Conversions!

Old School here with a weekend update showcasing what Wolfson and I put together in a couple hours last night. Wolfson came down to the Carolinas for Thanksgiving and we basically got lazy, ate WAY TOO MUCH and played some games. We finally got to hobbying last night and had a lot of fun putting together my Word Bearer Apocalyptic Horsemen biker conversions and he put together some autogun cultists for me. Let's take a look at the WIPs we came up with:

I will spare you the rabble of normal cultists, suffice to say that I am very thankful that Wolfson put so many together. He also put some work into the champions, which he will likely finish tonight. I personally hate the face of the pimpcoat champion, but I refuse to waste a body when you need so many models to run cultists. Wolfson had full creative license to build these as he pleased.

The first is converted using a Mantic Zombie head and is carrying an unfinished banner. The banner will eventually look as if it is mounted with skulls and a skinned guardsman torso.

The next is this Handsome Kurt Russell look-alike. Captain Ron here escaped from New York after some Big Trouble in Little China and managed to take a few skulls to bring back to the Stargate, but what do you expect from a Soldier?  In all seriousness though, it did come out pretty well and I really didn't expect him to whip out the GS on my little old cultists!

Next up are my unfinished Word Bearer Hell Knights. These guys are meant to look like some kind of Old World nightmare. They carry a pair of bolters (well, some do, others will have special weapons and none of these models are finished), chainsword, bolt pistol, usually some sort of shield, extra shoulder guards and evil chaos paraphernalia, including a daemon horse! You can't get much more Word Bearer than that.

After having made a couple of these models two or three summers ago, I was encouraged by Wolfson to use these guys for my bikers and being a sucker for over the top Chaos, I went with it. The kits are mostly made from Chaos Knights, standard CSM parts and swords and bolt pistols from the Warptalon box.

This is actually the first rider I made a few years back.

Throughout the construction last night, I really got into the idea that they basically live in the saddle and represent the elite killers of a Black Crusade vanguard. With that in mind, I took the opportunity whenever possible to add little trophies like this shield with the severed head.

Once all of the horsemen are complete, I plan to make impurity seals of green stuff skin nailed here and there on each model.

This banner bearer with be carry the unit icon into war and if I don't use one, he will just be there to add Gothic horror to the mix. His head comes from the Forge World Khorne Berserker kit.

The banner from the knights box was an obvious choice since it was designed with the motion of the banner to match the speed of the horses. I plan to paint a World Bearers symbol on it and run scripture on the back side.

Another horseman for the mix, who could also count as an icon guy if needed.

I really can't get enough of the Chaos Knights kit. It really is great and all the baroque armor is perfect for Word Bearers.

I am currently planning the Chaos Lord on bike model. I already have some Khorne Lords on Juggernaughts, so I really am looking to do a take on Archaon the Everchosen and I will also need a sorcerer, so I am prowling the GW line for good horses or even other steeds.

This guy has one of my favorite swords from the Warptalon box and my favorite head from the Knights box!

This guy is easily my favorite of the horsemen I have made so far. I used the head from the Vampire Lord in the Terrorgiest box (I wonder what I am doing with the rest of that box, haha). He also has what I think is the best sword arm in the 40k line and some other truly Word Bearer bits. I like the threat of the sword as it is striking combined with the brutal face! They need to make more heads like this vampire one. It is perfect.

Here is a look at the model from the other side. I gave him a wrist mounted buckler for his pistol arm and when this model gets painted, it will be soaked in blood from where he has used it as a weapon.

Overall, I would say we had one productive night of building models. That always seems to be the case when I sit down to model with friends. As always, we would love to hear what you think about these models. I am also curious to see who out there hobbies with friends from time to time and I want to see how it helps you out. For me, I get instant feedback and it helps me build better models or make color choices I never thought of when I am painting. Anyway, it's always fun to hobby with friends.