Games Workshop does some things right. Games Workshop does some things wrong. But every once in a while, Games Workshop does something amazing. The chaos space marines: possessed box is one of those times.
Featuring two sprues jam packed with creative and characterful bits, this is the quintessential box for every chaos player, no matter what army he or she plays. Even if you're not running any possessed in your army, a single box of these guys will provide kitbashing and conversion opportunities to easily customize a 2000 point force. If I was assembling a chaos space marine army from scratch, this would be the first box I buy, no two ways about it.
I found this box to be so inspiring that I bought them just for the joy of painting them. Not having a particular army to paint them up for, I decided it would be fun to paint them up for all the major chaos legions out there. And so it was that project:possessed was born.
Blood for the Blood God: World Eaters
With such a wild variety of stabby and slashy options available, picking something that was even more close combat oriented than any other option was almost impossible. In the end I settled on the limbs that looks like human hands, as the World Eaters would probably be the first to drop their weapons and tear things apart with their bare hands. The helmet is a shaved down warrior of chaos helm, which I wanted to allow the rest of the huge spikes and blades to speak for themselves. In my opinion there just isn't a face out there that is insane enough to fully convey a berserk blood rage, so rather let the mask hide the expression and leave the rest up to the viewers imagination.
Let the Universe Rot: Death Guard
I've said it before, but painting Nurgle well is very difficult. It's so easy to lay down a few highlights and shadows on a nice clean armor scheme and call it done, but weathering and especially rust are incredibly time consuming. I've seen many young chaos players at tournaments hide behind the excuse of Nurgle being the god of decay, so they wanted their soldiers to look messy and sloppy, but I don't buy it. If you're gonna roll with Papa Nurgle, you gotta be ready to spend the time. Otherwise that giant mound of sentient feces you just finished is going to look the part a little too well.
I went for a very high contrast color scheme on this model. I wanted all the details to really stand out, all the slime and grease dripping from between the armor, all the rusting, the rotting bone; I didn't want to leave anything out. I basically wanted to go for broke and have him look like he was just as likely to fall apart of his own accord before reaching the fire line. But either way, I wanted to leave the viewer with the impression of something that you really didn't want getting any closer than was absolutely necessary.
For the Ecstasy of Pain: Emperor's Children
This guy is just as creepy, but in a completely different manner. If the Death Guard is a filthy vagrant, this guy is a used car salesman. I also wanted to add in at least one of the 'armed' arms, as the Emperor's Children are the absolute peak of vanity. Of course he'd hang onto his precious sword even as his hand swelled and grew over the hilt. It's his freaking sword and he's not giving it up without a fight.
I love the face too. I saw it on the sprue and I immediately knew who was getting it. No question, a smile that big and that perverse can only be a product of too much time in the company of Slaanesh. I also spent some extra time detailing the armor with tribal and gothik inspired patterns just to push it to the outer limit that the noise marines are known for. Gaudy and yet highly focused, I kept the color palette very tight, which helped to push the look. If you know your chaos legions, you know exactly who this guy's boss is.
All is Dust: The Thousand Sons
Okay, let's just get this out of the way. Fluff wise, there's no way a rubric marine from the thousand sons can become a mutant. I've read the books and I know that Ahriman sealed them forever in their armor as nothing more than incorporeal souls that could never possibly mutate. So who is this guy? My answer is he's either A) A sorcerer that was not targeted by the Rubric, B) A new recruit (The legions are still gaining members), or C) A daemon that Tzeentch molded to resemble a space marine (All mentions of shapeshifting daemons in 40k fluff point to them being a disciple of the Raven God). So take any or all of these suggestions as canon approved possibilities.
That being said, this guy was a blast to work on. I love the idea of a marine with sorcerous magics just overflowing and running wild. To me it's the perfect representation of everything chaos stands for. I inscribed extra runes on his armor to push the Egyptian feel, and painted the actual plates nice and clean to give him the impression of a powerful but ultimately uncontrollable master of the dark arts. The head is an alternative from a model made for the Avatar's of War range. These guys are highly detailed metal models made some really talented people, and I highly encourage everyone to check them out. In this case, I had swapped the head on the original model, and what says Tzeentch more than a third eye?
For the Gods of Chaos: Word Bearers
This guy needed to be as mutated and twisted as I could get him without completely becoming a spawn. If ever there was a chaos chapter that would look so highly upon the gifts of the dark gods, it would be the Word Bearers, so I grabbed every weird, twisted looking bit I had and got to work. I painted the chest plate to make it look as though the daemon inside was being given the reins, and the ever willing host was more than happy to oblige his devilish cousin. More script work gave him the apostle vibe, and even the face just made him look ready to get in there and do something bad for the gods.
So that's the first half of the story, but the non-god specific legions still are out there, lurking around the corner. Night Lords, Black Legion, and Iron Warriors, oh my!
