I recently finished up the first squad from my Red Corsairs, and all in all, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I've placed an overall high emphasis on the fluff of the army, and as such, I tried to make each model unique, to have their own little character, or to tell their own little story. I'll start with a little info on the unit themselves, the "Crimson Blades", then move into the models themselves...
The idea behind the "Crimson Blades" came from working on this guy, my autocannon conversion. I noticed a lot of the sword iconography on him as well as the rest of the guys. After adding a bit of dripping blood to the blades at his belt, the name was born. The hope was that not only did it sound cool and menacing, but the red color would also tie the unit back to the Red Corsairs. I also had the idea that they would keep their original chapter colors, just "X-ing" out all the imperial icons. I came to the idea that their gear would be a little more battered and unkempt than usual, which would end up getting replaced in a regular Red Corsairs scheme as time went on. These ideas came from a mix of the Red Corsairs scheme of older CSM books and of the Space Wolf 13th co from the old 13th Black Crusade codex.
Up next came the sergeant, or champion in this case. My first thought was that a champion of the Crimson Blade should probably wield one! I struggled to come up with a scheme and/or technique that I liked, and after many, many layers, I settle with the one you see here! As well as the red blades motif, I also painted the feathers up as crow feathers to signify a darker a nature, and came up with a encircled "V" (for vengeance) motif, which can be seen on the skull on his chest, as well as his robe, and on a few other models, including the icon bearer. I also thought that he'd probably write on his robe as well, kind of like a wearable mission statement. I also converted him to hold a combi-flamer.
Next up is my icon bearer with a chainfist and another converted combi weapon. Since he has his hands full, I decided to represent the icon of vengeance by using a loyalist DA helmet, smashed, defiled, and mounted on a shoulder-spike! Once again I used the "V" motif as well as the red blades. I chose this time to keep the replaced parts to a minimum. I also did a bit of "gore effects" to the chainfist, the DA helmet, and the severed cultist head.
Next comes the first of the duplicate poses. The add some variation, I altered the pose, gave him a more chaos-looking helmet in Red Corsair colors, and I made his armor an absolute wreck! I created the personal story that he took a couple of rounds to the left side of his body, including his helmet, (blew off a tusk) and with 2 hits to his side actually causing penetrating hits. I gave this one a combi-plasma.
Finally, comes the other duplicate pose in its regular position. I gave him a replacement shoulder, knee, and another combi-plasma. This one took a few hits to the lower leg...
Now that these guys are complete, I've moved onto the 3 Ravenwing bikers that came with the Dark Vengeance set. The plan is to have them be dedicated to Khorne and become part of a larger biker unit in the future. One of the challenges they will present is the fact that they are already black, limiting the "Corsair colors" to just red/brass, which I guess would also emphasize the Khorne aspect as well. Since there are only 3 of them, I'm really hoping I can get them finished rather quickly if I can return to the assembly line method, which is something I'm not used to doing...
... And there you have it! Until next time remember: "the strong are strongest alone!"
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