#unchained path

To start, I’m now about 3/4ths of the way through Khârn: Eater of Worlds, and it’s going pretty good so far! Lots of murder, which is par for the course for a World Eaters book. I like how the book expounds upon the Legion and its structuring quite a bit, as it’s one of the only Heresy-era novels where we get to see the Legion without Khârn or Angron. I like the Caedere a lot, I like how Dreagher is a normal person, and I like the human apothecary, Skoral, and her cool ceramite arm. I’m excited to see how it ends, but that’s enough book club.

A living myth known by countless infernal titles across the stars—the Apostate Scion, Betrayer of Valefar, Exile of the 8th, Deserter Lord—yet who himself claims none, Lord Akselos is a nigh-untouchable killer whose very name heralds the singlehanded slaughtering of entire worlds.

This is the Deserter Lord Akselos. Akselos was introduced to the blog a handful of posts ago when I first built him, but since then, I’ve not only fleshed out much of his backstory, but I’ve also given him a coat of paint and a nice base to go with it.

Billowing black cloak and beckoning hand for Khorne worshipping purposes, and definitely not because he is a bitter and melodramatic individual

I’m really happy with this mini. It may not be my best paint job, but I think it’s a solid kitbash, and all together, I think that he looks super cool. I am definitely satisfied with how he turned out. The painting isn’t super advanced but it’s cohesive and pleasing to the eye. This model also gave me a few challenges, primarily painting white. I’ve only used Wraithbone so I was a bit horrified using Corax White, but I think it turned out pretty okay.

Another challenge was figuring out how I’d base him. Because I want most of my World Eaters army to be visually similar, I figured that whatever base Akselos got would be the same base that I’d give my other World Eaters, so I had to decide on what would best fit both him and the rest of the army. I decided on some black, sort of mountainous rubble-rock with inlaid skulls (for Khorne, of course). I’m going to go over this and place some little patches of Valhallan White to break up the grey and I’m going to splatter the blood paint on the white snow, but this’ll definitely do for now.

Of his many names, Akselos is known most bitterly as Oathbreaker by the Ultramarines 8th Company, or at least by those few that remain in the 8th who still remember him.

I tried to keep the visual theme of asymmetry pretty strong throughout this model. Akselos’ soul is deeply conflicted, and has been for some centuries now. Currently, he is torn between two existences: that of the renegade Ultramarine, desperate for vengeance, and that of the Saint of Khorne, struggling to ascend attachment.

His right arm is made of Ultramarine bits. The Macraggean pauldron and Tacticus arm are all that remain of his old armor. Akselos wears this defiled heraldry as both a constant memento of his shame and a constant reminder of his hatred.

His left arm consists of Eightbound bits, who are the most daemonic units in the World Eaters roster. It’s visibly more corrupted than the rest of his body. After losing his human arm in a particularly desperate battle, the Ruinous Powers gifted Akselos with this charcoal black replacement. He pays for the gift by frequently nourishing it with the blood of the slain.

This won’t be Akselos’ actual squad, his escort squad will be a bunch of similarly white-headed Berzerkers built with Legionairy bodies to represent that they’re more renegade than WE

Akselos isn’t alone, though! I’ve officially “finished” my first squad of World Eaters. Again, the bases aren’t quite done. I’m going to add bloodstained Valhallan Snow to essentially all of these. I may also do place transfers here and there, and I’m definitely going to highlight Wally and Akselos, but the models and bases are done to a reasonable standard and I’m satisfied with calling them finished.

Shoutout to Wally he’s a day one

Here’s the squad leader, Kardon the Eternal, otherwise known as Wally the World Eater. Kardon is a veteran of unknowable age. Some claim that he fought for Khârn after Terra, some that he’s a hero from the Great Crusade, but all agree that he has been alive for millennia with the sole purpose of claiming skulls for Khorne. I think he’s a neat little homage kitbash and a solid paint job. Kardon looks purposely kinda simple so that he can either fit with a larger squad of 10 Berzerkers or lead a smaller squad of 5.

This is his squad of 5! Not much to say about the rest of these bozos, except that the first guy had a bit of a “stepped on” incident and I lost the haft of his axe, so he wields a little chain hatchet now. I like to think that the axe actually started as a two-handed Eviscerator, and over time, this guy has slowly whittled it down into a baby axe by hitting shit with it way too hard.

From left to right: Kardon the Eternal, Lord Akselos, and some unnamed guy with a big ass axe

Starting with the most boring stuff, my World Eaters character goon squad is all primed and ready to be painted. Once I’m done assembling this army I’m gonna paint these three guys first because they’re the coolest, by far. I’m still mad proud of Akselos’ model and I’m super excited to see how he’ll look on the tabletop when he’s all shiny and colorful.

Epic unusable Chaos model, thank you GW

Speaking of painting World Eaters, here’s a CSM Legionarie that I whipped up a while back as a color test for my World Eaters army. The whole goal with my Khorne fellas is to keep them as default as possible, so the color scheme is very simple and coherent.

On this particular mini, I wanted to maximize my usage of Mephiston Red, which is exemplified most particularly on the rocket launcher, which I’d usually paint with Abaddon Black. I think that it being red, though, gives it a sort of retro feel, which I quite like. This may be one of the better single minis I’ve made, as well. No highlights or anything, but some decent, clean coloring, and a lot of Agrax Earthshade.

I have, however, been doing some highlighting on Lieutenant Sadrian’s model. I’ve also been cleaning him up periodically, coloring over little mistakes and trying to make his model really pop. He’s almost definitely the centerpiece of my Thunderbearers army now.

Check out how regal and leaderly he looks amongst his men. What a tactician!

Sadrian is one of the few models that I haven’t repainted in Skavenblight Dinge, alongside Big Harold, the Venerable Dreadnought that I’ve had since I started the hobby. They’ve both more than earned their stripes on the tabletop, having been in nearly every game I’ve played in the last two or so years, and I figured their paint jobs were pretty serviceable, so a repaint would be unnecessary.

While Sadrian is an elite taxtician that routinely exercises unmatched intellect and complex battlefield knowledge, he is also a by-the-books, reliable warrior and a ruthless marksman, hence the simplicity of the inscription upon his trusty bolt rifle

But to make him stand out more as an HQ, I added some minor highlights to his armor, particularly on his arms and helmet. I also highlighted much of his gun and did some detailing on the purity seals and red tassels. I’m very satisfied with the inscription on his gun. It’s crazy to me that I was able to write a word that small and, uh, have it be actually legible.

Every single painted Astartes model that I own. For context I have nearly 3k points of these fuckers and only 10 finished minis

I’ve painted a good handful of Thunderbearers Intercessors since my last post. Nearly a full 10-man squad, now. Sadrian definitely stands out, and I think that, when contrasted with the leagues of men that he commands, eyes are naturally drawn to him. I’ll never get over how satisfying seeing a cohesively painted army is to my weird brain.

I am so fucking in love with this model and I do not know why, although I figure it’s got something to do with its appearance in Dawn of War

In other news, I’ve got one of these disgusting classic Daemon Princes coming in the mail. GW recently did a made-to-order run of this model, and I’ve been trying to hunt an inexpensive one down for actual months. He’ll be a staple of my WE army whenever I get my hands on him, although I am kind of terrified as painting it.

I’ve been a bit of a Khorne guy for a while now, what with all the daemons, so I naturally couldn’t help myself when the new World Eaters codex dropped. I got to work, threw together a little 1000pts list, and spent way too much money on plastic.

Nearly all my Khorne models arrayed atop me fridge

I now very well may own more Khorne models than Imperium models. Above is displayed the Khorne Combat Patrol, as well as six Eightbound, a handful of Berzerkers, a gaggle of Jakhals, and a couple Masters of Executions. I do wish there were a lot more Berzerkers than there are, though. I’m trying my best to build these World Eaters as stock as possible, but I did have a few conversions that I wanted to finish before I got comfortable.

This model will become a relic of the past when his datasheet is replaced by a Sage of Slaughter or a Lord on foot

Firstly, I felt it would be inappropriate to have a Master of Executions who wasn’t sporting proper World Eaters colors. So, as per the codex’s recommendation, I did a little conversion by replacing this model’s weird bald head with a suitably Khornate helm. He’s purposely quite basic, and I tried to keep this guy as close to the codex’s example model as possible.

Wally hasn’t gone anywhere, but he did find a sick cloak

This Berzerker Champion is my take on a more “lore-friendly” revival of the classic Wally the World Eater model, whose real name is Kardon, according to the 4th Edition Core Rulebook. His name is Kardon the Eternal, and he’s an ancient World Eaters Veteran from before even Angron’s time. He’s a good stand-in for a Lord, Berzerker Champion, or a simple lowly Berzerker, which makes splitting the 10-man kit very easy. His body is from the new Heresy MKVI kit and his cape is from some sort of Thousand Sons kit that I can’t remember. The rest of him is Khorne Berzerker bits, including his helm, which was sourced from the classic Berzerkers. I’ve played this guy in one game so far, and he got a single kill: the Nightbringer. Good work so far, Wally!

The ravenously worshipful killers of the Unchained Path

The third and final converted model is a Chaos Lord that moonlights as a Master of Executions. This dude is by far my most inspired kitbash, and will probably be the most abnormal World Eaters model in my collection for a while. I also got a good solid bit of lore written for him, as I kinda plan to run him in a Crusade of the future.

The Deserter King, made of various bits I had lying around, including a Chosen torso and legs, various World Eaters bits, and a few Primaris bits like the cape and right arm

This is Lord Akselos, known widely as the Deserter King, but also as the Apostate Scion, the Betrayer of Valefar, and the Exile of the 8th. Before his fall to Chaos, Akselos was Ultramarines Sergeant of the Chapter’s 8th Company. He was trustworthy, loyal, and—to himself, at least—exemplary. Ultramarines Command seemed to agree for the most part, but evidently believed that he belonged as a rank and file line officer. As such, despite his steadily growing record and reliable mission performance, Akselos was never recommended for any kind of promotion, nor was he ever elevated to the status of Veteran. Perceiving this as a slight to him, Akselos grew frustrated, planting the seeds of disillusionment with the Chapter.

Eventually, someone in the Chapter’s upper echelons took a chance on Akselos, placing him in command of a small strike force, and sending them to subjugate a world known as Valefar. Akselos believed that his career in the Chapter hinged entirely upon his ability to prove himself a capable leader on Valefar, and that it would be his greatest challenge and most glorious triumph. The campaign, however, did not go as planned, and would culminate in an infamous event that would eventually come to be known as the “Slaughter of Valefar,” wherein the Ultramarines would order a retreat in the face of a World Eaters ambush, superseding Akselos’ own orders and abandoning him and his squad on the surface of Valefar.

Akselos’ right arm, a constant reminder of his past, and of the ties to his old life that he must sever

During the “Slaughter of Valefar,” Akselos would experience a Khornate awakening of incredible magnitude. It was not the World Eaters that destroyed Valefar, nor was it the raving horde of Orks rampaging across its continents— it was Akselos.

The Deserter King wears his defiled and dishonorable Chapter heraldry as an insult to any Ultramarine enemies, and a constant reminder of both his past, and his current goal.

The more Khornate side of Lord Akselos, made of a kitbashed Eightbound arm and a Juggernaut Lord shoulder pad

Akselos is an aspiring Sage of Slaughter, a proto-priest of Khornate violence and nihilism. As such, he believes that by destroying the Ultramarines 8th Company and “seeing Macragge burn,” he will complete the last step on what his followers have come to call the Unchained Path: severing all of his remaining worldly ties and reaching the Sage’s ascended state of hyper-nihilist slaughter.

His warband, known collectively as the Unchained Path, is a loose conglomerate of Jakhals and Astartes that view Akselos as a prophet of Khorne, and who wish to follow him on their own Unchained Paths. Akselos, on the other hand, is an incredibly detached leader if even that; utterly self-involved, he rarely interfaces with his men beyond simply pointing them in the general direction of things to kill. The general day-to-day commanding is left in the capable hands of the opportunistic Baska the Hound, Akselos’ right-hand-man and the secondary Lord of the warband. He’ll have a model at some point, too.