Yellow Brick Foes

In all of our Skype battles, I'll bet that Chaos Warriors get proxied more than any other unit. Well - no more!

Let's take at look at these models that I'm sure you've never seen before!*

*on rounds

These bad boys were part of the Start Collecting! Slaves to Darkness set (I love a Start Collecting! box ... maybe it's the punctuation). Standard fare - Warriors, Knights, Sorcerer, Chariot - but all very useful to fill in the gaps in my eclectic Chaos army and, of course, cheap as chips.

And the added advantage for the painter with a tournament deadline to meet: they're not especially challenging to paint. The newer sculpts do tend to come laden with details, so to return to a classic like this felt like a palette cleanser.

The only part that I had to vaguely stay awake for were the cloaks and shields. I decided to make these non-aligned Chaos Warriors, so they can stay versatile. But having rejected the box-art white, a lot of the other colours (red, green, blue/purple, pink) seem to be spoken for. Earthy browns was one option, but after all those Ironjawz, I wanted something with colour, and that left yellow.

I did have a mad idea that I should reflect each warrior's fall to the Ruinous Powers and freehand different washed-out heraldry to make this truly a unit of chaotic individuals, rather than give them a standard uniform. However, I had three evenings to get these tabletop-ready, and it turns out that reality trumps chaos.

• Armour: Black Primer, Leadbelcher drybrush, Stormhost Silver layer on amulets and helmets
• Cloaks and Shields: Celestra Grey base, Averland Sunset base, Seraphim Sepia wash, Yriel Yellow drybrush
• Boots and gloves: XV-88 base, Agrax Earthshade wash
• Horns: Zandri Dust base, Fuegan orange wash
• Buckles and weapons: Runelord Brass
• Weapon hafts: Balor Brown base, Tallern Sand base, Agrax Earthshade wash
• Base: Valhallen Blizzard, Blood for the Blood God

As it turned out, I quite like the yellow against the dark armour: yellow and black being nature (and industry's) colours of warning and danger.

I'm happy to welcome them into my Chaos flock, although the itch now feels scratched and I can't see myself thirsting to paint any more in a hurry.

But like the Gor before them, it's nice to have a bash at some classic Chaos without having to invest in a massive amount of them (or having to rank them up on 25mm squares)

Compared to some of their more recent compatriots (Blood Warriors, anyone?), their pose is quite static, but it's suitably iconic to have them march forward slowly, inexorably - just like their appearance in this most awesome of trailers:

(side note: what are the odds this warrior priest was snatched up to become a prototype Stormcast Eternal?)

Until next time (and we hit the tables in four days, so there will be a next time very soon)...