Nyeh!

 Sometimes you just have to let an idea run...

Close observers of Monkey's Space Wolves may have noticed a certain pack leader's close resemblance to 1980's musclebound oaf He-Man.

Not one to pass up a bit of nostalgia, when we fought last December, I decided that he needed a Thousand Sons antagonist who resembled the true hero of Eternia - Skeletor!

And so for the next six months, I was busy squirrelling away various models and bits until the project had grown to include a whole roster of Evil Warriors!

Tzeletor!

First up is the man himself. The Master of Possession is a great basis for the kit, with the robes/armour combination and that dynamic pose.

I replaced the ram's head helmet with the hooded skull from the Primaris Chaplain, then replaced the top of the staff with a ram's skull (from the Gor kit, I believe) and switched the left hand for a Rubric casting hand. I also replaced the flaming backpack for a standard chaos one, since the flames would draw the eye away.

I'm really chuffed how he ended up. My intention was not to duplicate the cartoon characters (there's a pretty good Kickstarter that's already offering that), but to transpose them into the 40k universe and see how they come out.

Brazen Beast-Man!

The most loyal (if not the brightest) of subordinates was the next up. I've had the bestial head spare from my Puppetswar set of Space Wolves and was saving him for just the right project.

The base was Obsidius Mallex from Blackstone Fortress, with his arms replaced by a couple of Warp Talon's lightning claws - not a straightforward swap, but a bit of sawing got it done!

Exalted Tri-Klops

Tri-Klops was a childhood favourite of mine, so I was really keen not to stuff up the conversion. An easy-to-build Reiver body, with a Chaos Space Marine chestplate. Some Raptor arms and a mix of primaris and chaos shoulderpads, with a standard space marine backpack.

The head was my proudest achievement - a bare Intercessor head, with a slice of that plastic tubing that protects brushes shoved on top, and three holes drilled for the eye sockets. He's now my favourite model in the gang!

Trap-Jaw was always going to have that jagged ork jaw as part of his make-up, behind an Aggressor's head. He's based on the Havoc champion, with the Chaos Space Marine's power axe and Intercessor pistol (being a Warpsmith, he has a lot of weapons to account for!).

His weapon arm was a Tech-Priest Dominus' eradication ray, plus a Chaos flamer, with some extra bits slapped on. The mechatendrils are the weapon feeds from Aggressors, with Apothecary bits on the end.

Mer-Master of Executions

Mer-Man was a tricky one to envisage, until I decided to accentuate the sea-creature theme and go with GutRot Spume. I added a Plague Marine backpack and Chaos pistol (although you can't see it from this angle - he has considerable girth). The head was also swapped for a Plague Marine, and I left off the breathing tube, so his expression is more 'fish-faced'.

It still wasn't working for me, until I realised I could swap the axe for a Nurgle-themed sea trident - perfect! Getting hold of that particular bit was not easy (I'll show you my Start Collecting: Maggotkin box some time), but you can't put a price on mindless obsession.

Clawful Possessed

For some extra muscle, Clawful was a natural pick for a Greater Possessed. Since the actual Greater Possessed model is pretty close anyway, I made some extra effort to make it different. The small claw is from one of the Greater Possessed, while the legs are from the other Greater Possessed model. 

The front torso and backpack are from a Chaos Space Marine, and the ridonkulous claw is from the Chaos Spawn. Clawful's 'underbite' face was perfect for a Kroot with the hair trimmed off - easiest kitbash and painting of the lot! 

Evil Lynquisitor

Last, but no means least, is Evil Lyn herself! I'll be running this model as a Sorcerer in-game, though my narrative (as if anything about this crew needs to make sense!) is that she's a Phaenonite Inquisitor. So I was looking for a female in power armour that wasn't a Sister of Battle.

Age of Sigmar came to the rescue - this is Xandria Azurebolt, an exclusive Knight Incantor model from the Mortal Realms magazine. Her cowled head was perfect for Evil Lyn, although I had to switch her helmet plume for the distinctive crest (which fortunately matches the ones from a Stormcast Eternal helmet). After that, switching her staff for a chaos icon, and add in a spellbook for extra witchcraft.

And that's the whole crew! I could go on into the second tier of villains, but I've exhausted my nostalgia now. There's no corresponding rank-and-file troopers (the Evil Horde robots were very dull), so this will remain a command group for my Chaos Space Marines.

I've been averaging getting one painted per week (hence I've been quiet on the blog updates lately), and they've been lovely to do. Lots of bright, cartoon colours and packed with character.

Now that I can't use Supreme Command Detachments to stuff an army with HQs, I'll have to run this army as a triple-patrol, so I'm paying 4CP for the novelty, plus whatever extra relics I'm going to stuff them with (how can I not give Tri-Klops the Eye of Night?) - all the same, I can't wait to get them on the table!