Black Crusade 2012: Chaos Sorcerer

When I was asked to be a part of this years Wargaming charity project, The Black Crusade 2012, I saw it as an opportunity to do something nice and also to try something that’s been in the back of my mind for a while now, a Chaos Sorcerer on flying disc.

While there’s technically no need to make this project a truescale model, I simply feel compelled to do so, and as it is a single character figure I feel I can write it off as part of the characters fluff (being gigantic even amongst his fellow Chaos Space Marines). Anyhow…

To begin with I knew I wanted to base the model off of the Chaos Terminator Lord/Sorcerer plastic kit. After acquiring one of those I dug around in my bits box for a components to try out and a bit of inspiration. When I do this I usually have a collection of parts that I’ll try to dry fit first.

So far I have the the basic legs and torso assembled and a collection of parts.

For the head of the conversion I originally found out this severed head from my bits box. I cut away all the hair to leave the head with a rather odd expression on it. Still not sure about this yet. I might make the head swappable but my instinct is telling me to go with my second idea…

I put together the very Tzeentchian styled staff with the standard staff from the kit and some big horns from a Tzeentch standard top. I really like the curve of these horns and remembered a similar thing on one specific Chaos Space Marine helm. I really like the idea of design elements being repeated throughout a model, so I’m pretty certain this is the helm I’ll go with.

The Disk of Tzeentch I’m intending to sculpt myself. As you can see I’ve attached the model to a plasticard disc. I’ll be sculpting the creature itself over the top of this. If this doesn’t work out as I hope I’ll acquire and convert an existing disc model.

This project has a time limit based on it, so I want to have the conversion finished before the end of the month and then I’ll have a few days to get the paint job finished.

Updated: July 8th 2012

As is customary for me, I’ve taken far too long over the sculpting process of this mini, and have only a few days left to finish painting it. Luckily I know how I intend to paint the model so there’s no decision work (or indecision work 🙂 ) to get in the way.

So when I started this project I had this vague idea of making the  disc like the one the Herald of Tzeentch model but with lots of long elongated limbs coming out of it. After a couple of false starts I decided to ditch the organic looking disc and go for something with a “constructed” look. At first I tried using plasticard to create layered geometric shapes but I found I couldn’t cut precisely and sharply enough to get a good finish.

My next move was to use a large button (filed down the back to be flat) that was just the right size (35mm diameter) and sculpted a Tzeentchian like symbol on it. As I sculpted it it sort of developed of it’s own accord into a weird fish like icon. After I finished this icon it occurred to me that I could mirror it on the other side and make it like a bizzare Yin/Yang symbol. The casting of the original was pretty straightforward using Blu-Stuff.

Next step was to add a lot more detail to the rim. The spikes are from the trophy racks of Chaos Terminators.

The final touch is a number of Green Stuff tentacles added to the bottom of  the disc, just so it has some element of an organic look to it. Admittedly the bottom of the disc could be done better but it really won’t be seen, and with a deadline approaching I’ve left it simple.

The Sorcerer himself is pretty straightforward. The mutated arm is from a plastic Pink Horror model, with the upper arm bulked out a little to make it fit the model better. Finally the model in pinned to a Secret Weapon Miniatures bone field base. I went with a 25mm as that’s the legal base for this load out (power armour and disc).

I now have 2 days to paint this fella, but I think I can do that. The scheme I’m going for is a Black Legion Sorcerer who’s dedicated himself to Tzeentch, so black, gold trim, white head and pads with a strong blue for the arms and details.

I might angle the disc a bit more to one side, and I still have the temptation to magnetize the sorcerer to the disc so that I can provide him with a 40mm optional base, that way he can be fielded without the disc (in counts as Terminator Armour).