Vustix Moritus & Puzar Tuphus, Nurgle Champions

Flesh is fleeting, rot is eternal

I figured I'd get my first submission in the Analogue Painting Challenge fast, as I find getting on the board early, even if for just a few points, is a big psychological boost! So I spent the last two evenings furiously working on two Chaos Champions. Yes, 2 figures in two days is a furious pace for me!

So what we have here are two classic Nurgle Champions from the old Citadel Realm of Chaos range, both released in 1990 to accompany the magnificent Realm of Chaos The Lost & the Damned. I've mentioned a few times how in my humble opinion this is apex of Warhammer Fantasy, and the style and composition of those Chaos Champions figures is unrivaled to this day. Of course, it does help they are surrounded by a healthy dose of Nostalgia awesomeness, and that every time I paint one of those Old School wonders I go back in time to the late 80s!

First up we have Vustix Moritus, Chosen of Nurgle, one of my all-time favourite Nurgle Champion. I went with a yellow ochre palette on the armour and I'm so glad I did! Nurgle is often painted in muted greens and browns, but some yellow just gives him a dash of colour while still keeping a sickly look! I loved painting him, there's no other way to say it.

And second we have Puzar Tuphus, Champion of Nurgle. I gave him a more classic brown look. He's a fun model but I'll admit he's far from being my favourite Nurgle Champion; he's a bit more subdued than what the Citadel gang of the time accustomed us to. But he did paint much faster than good ol' Vustix above, who has more details than a French Grenadier! 

My plan is to one day have a complete Nurgle unit made-up of Champions, like I did with my Khorne regiment, but it might take a while as I intend to paint each one individually. They deserve as much, poor bastards waiting for almost 30 years for someone to give them a proper paint job!

So a good 10 pts in the challenge and I'm on the board! Yeah!

Valent Uuthizar, Champion of Tzeentch

And we finish the new year celebrations with another classic, a sorcerer of Tzeentch from the Lost and the Damned days. I've had this figure for 25 years but never painted it. It used to come with a Disk and a flying stem but those were lost a long time ago. Fortunately he doesn't look out of place on his two feet.

The figure was also a test for future colour schemes for my Tzeentch forces; I find my orange recipe will need a bit more work but I'm quite happy with the turquoise and the yellow. He's another figure I intend to use in my second chaos army but who I can use in RoC warbands. I now have at least a champion for each of the chaos gods.

And here is a family portrait of the three classic Champions I recently painted. They were submitted in the Analogue Hobby Painting Challenge "Nostalgia" bonus round.

Doras Varn, Champion of Slaanesh

Another classic today! Crazy, I know. And this one might just be the most iconic of all Chaos Champions, he's like the poster child for fantastic imaginative sculpting of the 80s.

I really went with an Old Scool Slaanesh colour scheme for him. Nowadays, it seems that Slaanesh = black and pink, but it should be so much more. Slaanesh was, in the RoC days, all about pastel colours, not just pink and purple, but also garish combinations and just an abundance of tones and colours. I figured the addition of yellow on his tail and glove would really make him stand-out and it was also something I've yet to see on this particular figure. 

For now I can use him for Warband games in RoC, but of course he will eventually fit into my "crazy colourful" Chaos army. It gives you a taste of what I'm aiming for! 

Burgold Festus, Champion of Nurgle

Today, an iconic sculpt from Jes Goodwin, and possibly my favourite Nurgle champion of them all.

I used browns and sickly greens for him rather than the black and green I used with the rest of my army, but I managed to include just a touch of my "poison Green" (eyes and axe symbols) to tie him up. Those old sculpts are so much fun to paint. In fact it's one of the figures I enjoyed most painting in years. I'll have to paint the other Nurgle champions now, probably sooner than later. A unit of them? Would that be too much?

Nothing starts a new year with more style than a classic figure from the 80s, am I right?!

MM43 Chaos Champion on War Griffon

When I first read the descriptive for the latest bonus round for the Analogue Challenge, "mounts and rider" I immediately decided there would be no way I would submit a boring horse and rider! I'm knee deep in Oldhammer at the moment, so obviously It would have to be a hero mounted on some kind of exotic monster! 

I settled quickly on my choice; the "MM43 Chaos Champion on War Griffon", a classic Marauder Miniatures multi-part kit released in 1990. I was, and still am, a big fan of Marauder Miniatures, and this piece is no exception. A nice Christmas gift to myself!

 

The original WD advert

I will admit it doesn't really fit in the rest of the Realm of Chaos range, it seems almost too clean and the Griffon looks more "Empire" with the tassels and all than Chaos. But at the same time difference is what makes Chaos, and the Champion definitely looks the part! Heavy nostalgia love factor for me in this one.

It took me some time to find one at a decent price, in fact I found it barely two months ago, and the one I got was still in its original blister. And yes, I did what some may consider heresy and opened it and painted it! I'm a collector, but dammit miniatures are meant to be painted and loved and played with! The assembling went better than anticipated (heavy wings are a serious pain to glue!) although those early pieces are always tricky.

You rarely see it painted, in fact I've only seen three painted examples, and that's including the one painted in 1990 for the White Dwarf advert (see above). I painted the Champion's armour a bright colour, in this case green (I think those who follow my blog have noticed my army's green theme by now!), which is something you would often see in the golden age of Warhammer. The Griffon I painted a bright palette, too, mostly of white, green and red. I'm really happy with the way the white fur came out, I think I nailed it.

Not very evil colours, maybe, but the early Warhammer Chaos colours were all over the place and that's something I loved. It's Chaos, not undead! I'm quite happy with the way he's come up, even though I find the photography don't do justice to the red wings at all. I glued the rider in a slightly different position than he was meant to be, so he seems more in attack mode (the original position looks a bit likes he's sitting comfortably on an Elran couch, I have to admit).

I just need to find a proper name for the Champion and his mount and he's ready for combat! Suggestions?

(And happy new year to all!)