Big Chaos Warriors
The idea of Chaos and Law was a feature of Michael Moorcock fantasy novels such as the Elric series with earliest beginnings in 1960s short stories. The idea was also 'borrowed' by Games Workshop for their fantasy wargames back stories. (Moorcock, by the way, hated Tolkein's work which he regarded as crypto-fascist'). The universe was kept in balance by both Law and Chaos but sometimes the balance could be unduly shifted. It wasn't as clearly a case of good versus evil although Chaos has come to be associated with evil, especially in the Warhammer universe.
Anyway, those who are used to my posts know that when I talk about Chaos or orks I am not necessarily talking about actual Games Workshop figures (or other brands like Eureka Miniatures) or even 28mm, although I do also occasionally collect these. I use assorted 45, 50, 54, 60 and 65mm figures. The great thing about fantasy is that it is natural to have a greater variation in size of figures that are different humanoid species or affected by magic. And then I have a huge assortment of monsters from myth, literature and my own invention to choose from. I also use figures from different scales together so a 28mm scale ogre or 15mm scale giant becomes a normal sized ork or Chaos warrior.
The other thing I like about it is the absolute freedom to experiment with way out colors. I do adhere to some conventions though - my orks are green skinned my goblins light green, elves are pale skinned, zombies sickly greenish and vampires deathly pale. But the clothing can be any shade, although I make my orks and goblins have some dirt colors predominating, just like with my everyday peasants. Sometimes I add red, blue, green or purple to silver to make strange metallic colors, especially for Chaos and elves.
Below at left, is my latest conversion. This was an orange plastic figure, possibly Marx, intended, I thin, to be an ancient Egyptian. The shield seemed strange for an ancient Egyptian and I had other smaller and more Egyptian looking figures for my embryonic ancient Egyptian army. I drilled into his forehead and added a horn from an undersized Tube long horn cow. I painted him in a greyish purple, which I sometimes do for Chaos figures. (This is a trait of the Warhammer Chaos sub cult of Slaanesh, god of pleasure and lust). I painted him with black eye liner and light green eyes with red irises! What fun! I also employed the Lord of the Rings Eye of Saron on the shield and chest belt. he can be used as a Chaos 'champion' (one who has been blessed by Chaos gods with a special trait, in this case great size, strength and a horn on his head or he could be used as a demon. I deliberately neglected to paint his sandals; who needs sandals when blesses by a Chaos god? Figure 2 was featured in an earlier post and is made from a wrestler figure but he has retained human skin color. The next three are fantasy knights that came in a cool made in China set, Supreme, I think, which also included winged armored horses. the weapons were bendy so i replaced them; this is when all those over sized and unhistorical weapons come in handy. I think the sword came in a Pocahontas set but I did trim down the huge hand guard. I used back and metallic color scheme for them. One of them will eventually have a flag.
I draw on the traditions of Michael Moorcock, Warhammer and Tolkein, stir them up and pour on to the wargame table.
Below is a contrast with some 50 and 54mm figures. The blue skinned figure is a converted fantasy figure. The red armored one was from a Hercules set and is painted as a vampire count warrior. The one with skull shield is a repainted made in Macau Dungeons and Dragons figure. I don't know the origin of the ghost holding his head but it was a green plastic figure.
A good novel based on Chaos heroes is the Warhammer one, Sigvald.the Magniicent. Also a great series is the Elric series by Michael Moorcock.
Anyway, those who are used to my posts know that when I talk about Chaos or orks I am not necessarily talking about actual Games Workshop figures (or other brands like Eureka Miniatures) or even 28mm, although I do also occasionally collect these. I use assorted 45, 50, 54, 60 and 65mm figures. The great thing about fantasy is that it is natural to have a greater variation in size of figures that are different humanoid species or affected by magic. And then I have a huge assortment of monsters from myth, literature and my own invention to choose from. I also use figures from different scales together so a 28mm scale ogre or 15mm scale giant becomes a normal sized ork or Chaos warrior.
The other thing I like about it is the absolute freedom to experiment with way out colors. I do adhere to some conventions though - my orks are green skinned my goblins light green, elves are pale skinned, zombies sickly greenish and vampires deathly pale. But the clothing can be any shade, although I make my orks and goblins have some dirt colors predominating, just like with my everyday peasants. Sometimes I add red, blue, green or purple to silver to make strange metallic colors, especially for Chaos and elves.
Below at left, is my latest conversion. This was an orange plastic figure, possibly Marx, intended, I thin, to be an ancient Egyptian. The shield seemed strange for an ancient Egyptian and I had other smaller and more Egyptian looking figures for my embryonic ancient Egyptian army. I drilled into his forehead and added a horn from an undersized Tube long horn cow. I painted him in a greyish purple, which I sometimes do for Chaos figures. (This is a trait of the Warhammer Chaos sub cult of Slaanesh, god of pleasure and lust). I painted him with black eye liner and light green eyes with red irises! What fun! I also employed the Lord of the Rings Eye of Saron on the shield and chest belt. he can be used as a Chaos 'champion' (one who has been blessed by Chaos gods with a special trait, in this case great size, strength and a horn on his head or he could be used as a demon. I deliberately neglected to paint his sandals; who needs sandals when blesses by a Chaos god? Figure 2 was featured in an earlier post and is made from a wrestler figure but he has retained human skin color. The next three are fantasy knights that came in a cool made in China set, Supreme, I think, which also included winged armored horses. the weapons were bendy so i replaced them; this is when all those over sized and unhistorical weapons come in handy. I think the sword came in a Pocahontas set but I did trim down the huge hand guard. I used back and metallic color scheme for them. One of them will eventually have a flag.
I draw on the traditions of Michael Moorcock, Warhammer and Tolkein, stir them up and pour on to the wargame table.
A good novel based on Chaos heroes is the Warhammer one, Sigvald.the Magniicent. Also a great series is the Elric series by Michael Moorcock.
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