GW Alternative: Affordable Nurgle, Khorne Bikers/ Jetbike from Puppetswar

TJ here to talk about some minis that interested me for two reasons: Price and potential. These Doom Bikers from Puppetswar, a company my friends and I have had some great experiences with, not only blow away the old GW bike sculpts (for Chaos players in this case in particular), but also come in cheaper than the GW plastic bikes. They also have a jet bike! Let's take a look at the bikes, their options and talk price point.

So the bikes come with some options to change the overall look of the bike. The first option above is the bare bike with no shield.

Here is what the bikes look like with the shield, which looks like a set of daemonic jaws.

 

Of course you can mix it up, which I am apt to do whenever I get my hands on these.

 

 Ok, so on the profile shot, we can see that the bike is pretty much the same as the GW bike in terms of shape. It loses the exhaust style of the GW version, but also gains the chain, complete with flesh twisted up inside. I am not completely sold on the actual biker as a whole, but considering the bike (and the rider legs and arms) are the main features I am looking for, the kit still works fine for me, but dollars are the ultimate factor when we really start getting pragmatic.

 The bikes are sold as singles or in packs of 5. A single bike will cost you about $13 American, but a pack of 5 will cost $50. When you consider that GW charges $40 for three of its aging bike kit (Chaos and Loyalist), you are actually looking at saving money by picking up these Doom Bikers.

Here is a kicker. On these models, the arms and torso have spaces molded into them for you to insert magnets so you can make bikers with more options with way less time involved in drilling for magnets. The bike itself is also more solid and will take less gap filling that the half-half GW design. I am not saying this design is perfect, in fact it is a little plain, but for the price, the options and the convenience, you are going to have a hard time turning these down. Now at first glance, these are obviously great for Nurgle bikers, but I also think the biting jaw would look great for a World Eater bike as well, especially if you painted in the planet part below or even did a little green stuff work. That isn't much effort for a rather sick, unique Khorne Daemonkin biker. You could really step it up if budget isn't an issue by combining FW conversion kits for the riders too.

The jetbike is more like a straight Nurgle model in my opinion, but I think you could take it in other directions. The jetbike features what has become a rather standard  jetbike chassis for the gothic sci-fi genre with the inclusion of the giant toothy maw and fleshy sculpting in areas to let us know that it is indeed a Daemonic vehicle.

Here we can see that some flesh has been woven into the underside of the design, which should look very nice painted up. The cracked finish on the outer surfaces should lend itself to some nice detailing as well.

 

Here you can see the belly and the weapon mount of the model, which is about $18.50 American, which isn't a bad rate for Jetbikes, especially if you plan to make this your Chaos Lord or Sorc model.

 

Again, you get all of the magnet gaps for making this model more unique and again, but especially for this kit, I would use some character bits, FW conversion kits or even the WHFB Chaos Knights bits to juice up the rider (I am not a huge fan of the rider for using them in 40k, but then again they are for another game).

Overall, I think the price and the models speak for themselves. I don't think these are for everyone, but for those who like them or who can see a little work going a long way with the models, then this is an easy pick up from a company with a good reputation. Here is a link where you can find these models.

In any event, with Chaos bikers maintaining a spot in lists and Daemonkin introducing some new reasons to run them, maybe you have just found your Nurgle or maybe Khorne bikers. Maybe you, like me, would run them in your DIY Chaos Legion. I would love to hear what you think of these models, whether or not you would grab them, how you would improve them and any painted examples or experience you may have with these models! Let's hear all about it.