'Core Unit

Fielding Warriors of Chaos is rather like leading the Labour Party. There's always problems with the leadership.



Not in terms of quality (also rather like the Labour Party), rather more in terms of being spoiled for choice. And given that they're all quite expensive, it's very easy to do exactly what I'm doing for this year's 'Boot and splurge all your points on some ghastly monstrosity that's going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting to justify its points value.

This year, the Chaos Lord on Manticore is my guy. Fast and mincey for combat, resilient for everything else. With no model on hand and a budget of zero, however, I was looking at either somebody else entirely or borrowing one from Kas. Which counts as cheating, in terms of 'counts as' armies, in my book at least. Besides, if I was borrowing from our host, there would be other, bigger and uglier picks I'd go with first.

So I built my own. The mount was the easiest, as I already had it painted up - the Mantic Lammasu, usually ridden by a Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer. Never used it, and it's been eyeing my resentfully from the recesses of the cupboard as a result. Swiftly plucking the rider from its unglued socket, I then botched together a replacement.

The torso is a Marauder, the head the Marauder Horseman champion. A Chaos Knight arm, an elderly Chaos Warrior original box set left arm with a shield that I think comes from a skeleton footsoldier of some edition or other. The gut and thighs are a Putrid Blightking, the legs are those of an Empire Knight from Battlemasters, which I'm glad was eventually useful for something after all these years. Bit of green stuff for the cloak (and also because you ought to use green stuff somewhere or other for a real conversion), and job's a good 'un.

Paint Scheme (nothing very surprising here, but just in case):

• Flesh - Ratskin Flesh, Reikland Flesh Wash, Kislev Flesh highlight
• Armour - Chaos Black, Leadbelcher edging
• Leathery Straps - Skrag Brown, Agrax Wash, Deathclaw Brown trim, Tyrant Skull drybrush
• Gold Trim - Balthazar Gold, Agrax gloss, Auric Armour, Sigmarite drybrush
• Halberd Blade - XV88, Nuln Oil, Ushabti Bone, Pallid Wychflesh trim, White Scar finish
• Cloak - Eshin Grey, Nuln Oil, Shadow Grey finish

Given that I've finished with almost a week to go, I could go and start a rushed last minute project. Or I could rest, get some tactical thinking and planning time in, learn some rules, you know, the normal nerdy prep. Guess which one I'll do?