The Red Crusade (Or: Cheex's Khornucopia)

[Cheex]

The beast roared something most would find incomprehensible.
 
"Yes, yes, I see it!" Ezrei Korva spat under her breath. Gods, she hated that bleating idiot.
 
Two more cruisers had translated above them, still too far to see with the naked eye. But then, she wasn't using her naked eye; the ship's refractors showed their crimson forms quite clearly as they broke formation to intercept her. World Eaters. Her lone cruiser would never see another day if they got any closer. Korva leaned forward in what passed for a command throne.
 
"Shields to ten percent, direct power to engines. All ahead full. They aren't going to shoot-"
 
The beastman bleated something again, and this time Korva spared a glance at it. It pointed a twisted finger at the communications array lighting up like a Terra Day tree. She briefly wondered why she had a creature you could hardly understand as a communications officer before realising they were being hailed. Her one patch of hair flicked as she nodded an affirmative. The hololith sputtered to life and a monstrous figure resolved before her before it spoke.
 
"Hello, Raven."

 

+++
 
Welcome to the Red Crusade, where I (plan to) keep track of all my various Khorne-related projects. I already have a significant Khorne army painted, and will eventually create a Hall of Honour thread to showcase them. But for now, the WIP stuff!
 
First up, the Renegades & Heretics, led by the Raven herself, Ezrei Korva.

 

An Imperial-captain-turned-scavenger, Korva has a reputation in the Imperium Nihilus for...creating her own scrap to salvage. Still, she is a reliable scrapper and a skilled captain.


 
To help enforce her authority are three...Enforcers. Wasn't quite sure where I was going with that one. Meet Scrang, Larry and Herbert. I absolutely love the Tempestus Scions kit.
 

 

And, finally, the first five Khornegors of 20 planned, count as cultists.

 

They are made with a mix of beastmen, Bloodreaver and Catachan parts.

 

 

Found some ammo magazines in my bits box, so turned a couple of the lasguns into autoguns for variety.

 

 

 

That's all for now!

[BadgersinHills]

Looking promising, I like the captain and her pose. 

[Pearson73]

Aye, that's a nice pose and some good parts on Raven.

[Doghouse]

Excellent stuff, really like what you've done with Korva.

[Dragonlover]

Which bloodreavers are they, the Shadespire ones? Loved the little fluff snippet at the start as well.

 

Don't suppose you fancy bolstering the ranks of your fellow heretics in this years ETL? Every vow counts in the war against the Imperium, the Xenos and the shadows of the past...

 

R&H Outpost link is here

 

Dragonlover

[DuskRaider]

Love the Beastmen, subscribing to this!

[Cheex]

@Ashenwyte, @Pearson73, @Doghouse and @DuskRaider - thanks for the kind words, really appreciated! I really like how Korva turned out, she went through a few iterations before I settled on this. The Escher gang is chock full of really good parts for Renegades. I'm also quite happy with the beastmen, though they do need a bit of GS work to really finish the look.

 

@Dragonlover - the Bloodreavers are from the Blood & Thunder starter set. As for ETL, I'd really rather take this at my own pace and work on things as and when I am inspired.

 

I've built the next batch of five beastmen, so more pics will be on the way shortly :)

[Cheex]

Such hate. Such pure, unrestrained hate.

Inquisitor Davd collapsed into the uncomfortable seating of his Valkyrie gunship, strapping himself in as the aircraft made its hasty liftoff from the battlefield. He kept his eyes open - even blinking brought back visions of the daemon.

He had encountered countless daemons of Khorne before. All of them were filled with rage, but none had the sheer, focused hate of this one. Its eyes had meet with his, and in an instant he knew that the daemon saw everything the Inquisitor had ever seen, experienced, or done - and it hated all of it. Davd shuddered.

His vision was finally clearing as the adrenaline filtered from his bloodstream. Sparing a glance around the cabin, Davd noted that only a handful of his retinue still survived. Gorian, a hardened veteran, sat opposite the Inquisitor, weapons discarded and head in hands. Johan, his loyal weapons specialist, was nursing a gash on his leg. Beatrice, his lobotomised scribe, seemed to be the only one unaffected by what they had seen, her quilled fingers frantically recording their near-death experience.

There - in the corner of the cabin. He almost missed her. His astropath sat in the foetal position, hood covering her face. As the Valkyrie leveled out and became more stable, Davd unstrapped himself, rose shakily to his feet and staggered to the astropath.

"Kari," he croaked. She didn't reply.

As he moved closer, he could hear her muttering something. Davd cleared his throat, knelt down with cracking knees and drew her hood back over her shaven head. Her milky, sightless eyes creepily rolled towards him. She stopped her mumbling.

"Kari," he said, his voice a little stronger this time. "What did you hear?"

She paused, lips trembling. After a moment, one word formed - the same that she had been muttering moments before.

"Exsul."

+++

After an unexpected stint in hospital for the past couple of weeks, progress has been a little slow. Thankfully, I have the best wife in the world, and she brought me some toys I've been working on recently!

Please excuse the poor hospital lighting on these.

Introducing Exsul, a project I've been wanting to make since the Skarbrand kit came out. It will count as Skarbrand, and still has plenty of work to go.









Damn I love these kits. And a little bonus sneak peak:

[KrautScientist]

Fantastic work on the pirate captain! We don't get to see female servants of Khorne nearly often enough, and seeing how I am contemplating something similar for my second Armiger pilot, seeing your conversion was really helpful! That's also a great idea about using Bloodreavers to make Khornegors! Brilliant work all around!

 

The Bloodthirster are looking really promising as well. Will you be giving them the full set of armour plates, or go for more of a "Conan the Barbarian" look with them? ;)

[The Nephilim]

I love this, even if it is filthy Khorne. I'm digging your gors.

[Cheex]

"What's in it for me?"

 

Atrox smiled mirthlessly at the flickering image, its subject barely recognisable. The Blessings were thudding in the back of his head; he pushed aside their tempting release for the thousandth time that day. It was the constant, draining battle that all members of the Legio Cruentus fought and one that he lost too many good men to. One of them, the former commander of his fleet, still lay chained and limbless in the bowels of his ship - he would still be howling for one last chance to spill blood if his vocal cords hadn't stripped themselves bare already. His absence is why Atrox now sought Korva, the Raven.

 

"You leave this system with your life," he replied bluntly.

 

"Right," Korva snorted. "Your cruisers are too slow, your frigates too far back and your ranged gunners need their oculars checked. Try again. You've got thirty seconds until our warp drive is ready."

 

The hulking Astartes' smile faltered, though his eyes didn't change. He had no doubt that his fleet's uncoordinated ambush would fail - though he had hoped. Void warfare had always eluded him. His taloned power gloves twitched as he urged to demonstrate where his true strength lay, and again the Blessings clawed at his mind as though they also bore talons.

 

"Fine," he said after a moment's delay. He turned to the Possessed Astartes standing next to him. "Signal the gift."

 

The half-angel nodded.

 

Korva's hair flicked as she glanced at her own instruments, her eyes widening. Reality screamed as it birthed a new combatant. The Desolator-class battleship, the Red Crusader, dwarfed everything else in the system.

 

"Join us and it's yours."

 

+++

 

Welcome! Here are the latest additions to the Red Crusade. Introducing Durus Atrox, the resurrection of an old project I had abandoned some time ago. 

 

 

The base model is a Chaos Terminator Lord with the legs reposed. The arms are magnetised, made from Terminator arms with Warp Talon claws. His head comes from an AoS Khorne Bloodsecrator.

 

 

 

 

He is also accompanied by a handful of Terminators:

 

 

And I have put together another 10 Khornegors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just another five Khornegors to go and then I think I'll be done with beastmen for a while. It's a lot of work for such cheap models, but so satisfying when they're done!

[Gederas]

I'm surprised I didn't comment here earlier!

 

Love the R&H Commander, and also the Daemons. But those Khorgors.... Those are sweet.

 

I really like the Chaos Lord, as well as the Terminators. Also, is that champion made from Tyberos?

 

All of these give me ideas for my own World Eaters.

[hushrong]

Fantastic work! The human crew, beastmen cultists, and terminators!! I’m lovin’ it!

[Pearson73]

Great sense of motion from the Terminator Lord repose.

[Cheex]

@Hushrong & Pearson - thanks, really appreciate the kind words

 

@Gederas - yes, that is indeed Tyberios. I bought the model for the claws (which I gave to a Chaos Lord) and so had the body left over. 

 

Quick update!

 

Finished off the last 5 of the Khornegors. They were a bit of a slog to get through, but finally done!

 

 

And a shot of the whole herd:

 

 

As always, C&C is welcome.