Khorne Daemon Prince (40k)

It's been a long while since I've painted anything 40k for various reasons.  Firstly, I'm really not happy with the state of the game, mostly because of the crappy book that Chaos Space Marines were dealt (all those Word Bearer CSM with Rhinos I painted won't be used now that Cultists are an option and CSM have to pay for things they used to have  for free- like a chainsword for example, and not being able to charge after disembarking from a Rhino).  Until I actually play in a tournament for 40k I'm under the impression the game is quite dull with most strategy being revolved around list construction, how many long range high strength guns you have, picking what to shoot at, and massing cheap troop choices to claim those objectives.  The game is less about positioning and tactics (being very forgiving in this department, especially if you have a 48" range gun!) and more about just rolling lots of fucking dice and killing space marines.  Close combat got nerfed hard, now when my CSM try to charge something they get shot up first and 3+ saves just dont cut it with all the AP3 or high volume of shots coming at you.  Blah!

All that being said, I felt it's time to start painting my 'new' CSM army a bit.  I started with one of the new plastic Daemon Princes that I've included in my list.  He's got the Mark of Khorne, power armor, wings, and the Axe of Blind Fury.  This gives him a whack load of attacks at Str 7 AP2 and he's quite hard to hit while flying.

The model is great.  I really like the wings and the axe is pretty cool.  The one thing I was definitely not pleased was with the heads.  They all look goofy to me; the teeth are just atrocious on every single one of them.  I had to do something about that.  I decided he needed a faceplate to cover up his lack of braces when he was a child and made him a metal 'beard' out of some chains and a skull I had lying in my bits box.  You'll never guess the piece I made the faceplate out of - it's the optional back of the cowl from the Empire Battle Wizards box set.  It just so happened it was the piece in my bits box that perfectly fit around his ugly face, and painted right would look the part too.  I sculpted some straps that are barely noticeable anyways just so if anyone cares to look for the detail they can see the mask isn't just suspended in mid air over his face.

I started painting him the usual World Eaters red scheme.  After completing the red I really took a long time getting inspired to further progress with the model.  I think the wings were intimidating me with such a large surface area needing to be highlighted up to a bone color from a dark brown.  This took quite some time and was really putting me off.  With the deadline for a competition looming, I knew I had to bite the bullet and force myself to sit down and focus.  I sporadically worked on different areas, base coating some while doing the first few layers on others and eventually I got the idea of how things were shaping up and what the final product would eventually look like.   This was the drive I needed; in one fell swoop I finished the NMM gold and the wings all at once!  I completed the black details and the steel NMM the next day.  Static grass was added.  Hopefully Kelly Kim hasn't entered anything in the same category or else I may have some stiff competition!

From the front, I really was happy with the angles and direction I chose for the light on the armor.

Again, a nice angle to check out the gold bracers. 

Probably my favorite part of this piece, the axe worked out really well for me.

The wings were a source of discomfort in my mind.  I originally wanted to add scales similar to that of the Timor dragon I painted for AGM, but decided the surface area was big - but not big enough to warrant individual scales.  I thought it may clutter the model and look too busy.