Wow, I've been gone for quite a while and haven't really made any progress in my hobby in the time gone. It's a real bummer, but life(read:work) got in the way. Sorry for that.
Anyways, Khorne Berzerkers. For those of you that know the various armies I collect, you'll know my Chaos Space Marine army of choice is Black Legion. This presents me with a bit of a conundrum when it comes to the god-specific units. I was never really satisfied with the idea presented in the codex of simply painting a shoulderpad of the originating faction's colors (i.e. a red shoulderpad for a berzerker). You can see what I've come up with for Tzeentch's Thousand Sons
here: glowing blue sorcerous runes on an otherwise Black Legion scheme. While I haven't painted up Plague Marines yet, I have done a
Nurgle Sorcerer where you can see how I'd go about it. Khorne presented a different kind of challenge where I couldn't quite figure out something that was fitting. Here's what I ended up with:
Step 1: Charadon Granite
As is typical with my Black Legion, the basecoat for their armour is done in Charadon Granite.
Step 2: Fortress Grey
Edge the armour plates in this light grey.
Step 3: Boltgun Metal
All the non-gold metal bits.
Stpe 4: Badab Black
Put it on everything. This is how I like black armour. Having a base color that isn't quite black allows for some depth that you wouldn't get by simply edging on a straigh-black armour.
Step 5: Shining Gold
For that Black Legion flair.
Step 6: Mithril Silver
Drybrushed lightly over the gold bits, this will make the gold look a bit aged and worn.
Step 7: Vermin Brown
I used this on the tassel for the chain-axe, I would also use it for anything you want to appear as leather.
Step 8: Elf Flesh
Extremely light drybrush over anything based in Vermin Brown.
Step 9: Devlan Mud
This goes over anything gold and/or brown. OK, the basics for our Black Legion scheme are down, now for the Khornate part. In the end, I went with a simple option. No runes, no markings... just blood.
Step 10: Blood Red
I got out a ratty brush and spotted blood red all over his front (very little on the back). I focused on knees, hands, axe-head, face and shoulders. I wanted a real visceral feel to this, as if they almost go out of their way to spray themselves with their opponent's blood, and never bother to wash it off.
Step 11: Scorpion Green
For the eyes.
I added a bloody hand print on his shoulderpad after watching Lord of the Rings. Sauruman's Uruk-Hai did this on their faces in white paint, and it struck me as suitably barbaric that would be embraced by followers of Khorne. Now, I chose blood rather than white, and not necessarily on his face, but the result is the same: a kind of self-applied war paint in blood is how he shows his devotion. I'm planning on placing these hand-prints in various places on the squad members. Can't have too much conformity ;)
