It's my third year here, and frankly I'm loving it. OWAC has been a fantastic excuse to paint models I've had since my childhood, or just wanted since my childhood, and I've really enjoyed watching everyone else's project come together too. This year I'm returning to Chaos Space Marines, with a new force which stand on it's own or complement my 2023 army. Expect
more of the things that I do - kitbashes, eye-watering Red Period paintjobs, and finding joy in fusing new and old.
First up, the general and his cackling chief advisor. I took two incomplete Abaddons from my bits box, mashed together the best parts of each, and replaced the missing parts with appropriate plastics. An even bigger sword than usual came from some old Greater Daemon, the claws of the Talon were heated and bent for a little extra drama, and a plastic spacer helped to repose the head. The sorcerer gained some wibbly bits (technical term) from a plastic Burning Chariot to replace his flying base.
Some champions that I plan to fit in as time and theme allow - Kharn the Betrayer (again, missing parts replaced with plastic) will be appearing as an anonymous hero. There's a very standard standard bearer, and a terminator champion that came into being because I stumbled across the classic terminator daemon sword.
A squad of Chaos Marines tooled-up for close quarters, led by a Realms champion who beautifully straddled the line between sci-fi and fantasy.
Ten Khorne Berserkers, bringing together 1990's and 2000's models with a smattering of resin, AoS parts, and whatever else seemed to fit. Khorne cares not from from where the bitz flow!
Nine Thousand Sons and another sorcerer, again a joyful jumble of the last 30 years of Chaos.
This Land Raider is a brand-new model from the Horus Heresy range, chosen for how well it echos the original raider. I've seen some gorgeous 90's style loyalist paintjobs on these, but not a Chaos one yet.
I painted the metal dreadnought in 2023, and this time I wanted to continue my trend of incorporating a Space Crusade model. After all, as the old Epic kit showed, it's a recognized pattern! The weapons were a bit of a challenge, since the Space Crusade defaults didn't match the 2nd edition codex at all. My solution was fairly simple - the lascannon from the SC expansion is enormous, easily big enough to count as twin-linked, while the Blood Angels librarian dreadnought provided a close-combat arm which fitted the static weapon hardpoint better than a typical fist. I replaced the force-lance with a Daemon Prince axe, although I may swap that for a hammer later.
Talking of Daemon Princes, I'm planning to fit this one in as a wildcard - I always liked this design, and it was nice to see it made available again last year. The 2nd Ed codex allows for a prince, although amusingly it's heavily discouraged. Still well worth painting I think.
And here's the whole force, ready for the adventure. Provisional army list is as follows:
Chaos Lord in terminator armour - 128pts
Chaos Master Sorcerer - 151pts
Chaos Sorcerer - 52pts
2x Mighty Champions - 116pts
Army Icon Bearer - 55pts
9 Chaos Marines with aspiring champion - 255pts
9 Khorne Berserkers with aspiring champion - 345pts
9 Thousand Sons - 270pts
Chaos Land Raider - 220pts
Chaos Dreadnought - 135pts
Daemon Prince ???pts (it's complicated)
One final piece of business is the tribute model that I've painted for the contest organizers, and I've chosen a Heavy Weapon Renegade. This will be mailed in January.
