I've seen everything from ultra rare miniature collections to readily available items. I don't have big enough balls or wallet to tackle something like The Lichmaster or McDeath or Judge Dredd sets but I felt like I wasn't a part of the club unless I took on the pursuit of some collection. I gave it some thought. First it has to be something that will motivate me, a set or range that I honestly want to have. I meditated on it for hours...yea right! Narrowing it down was actually a pretty easy decision. I love the Realm Of Chaos miniatures from the 80's.
  |
Come on, just look a them, what Oldhammer enthusiast doesn't like these mins! So it had to be something from the early ROC range. Being an old football player, the followers of the Blood God have always held a place of fondness in my heart; you know violence, blood, and skulls! Selecting Khorne as the target group was the next logical step. The biggest decision was what exactly to collect. I flipped through old catalogues and came across this page which on the Stuff of Legends is from the 1991 Red Catalogue 2.
I believe that this is the first listing, or at least one of the first, for a collection of Champions of Khorne. It fit my needs in terms of providing an objective, being reasonably available and sized, and I was comfortable with the financial investment it would take.
After establishing the quest, I got started on it. My first step was to go through the collection and see what I already had. I was actually very presently surprised. Having been a fan of Khorne since the release of ROC I have purchased several of the miniatures over the ensuing decades. In fact I discovered that I already had 8 of the 12 miniatures!
The Hateful Eight.
Wow, only 4 miniatures to go. "This will be a piece of cake!" I said to myself as I sat down to log on to eBay and see what I could find. 3 of the missing figures all have "tech" chaos gifts. Quick background note for those unaware, since Khorne isn't fond of magic he grants his followers gifts of technology instead, hence the chainfist, power fist, power mace fist, and bolter pistol. I was missing figures 5 (Bladed Mace, Horns and Tech Weapon), figure 6 (Mace, Chainfist, Mankin and Mechanical Leg), and figure 10 (Sword, Head of a Bloodletter and Tech Weapon).
Hard to find, who knew?
The 4th missing musketeer is figure 1 (Armed with Sword and Attributed with Horns). Technically I actually have him, or better put a part of him. I sliced his body in half to use in the conversion below.
 |  |
I was surprised at how uncommon these particular miniatures are or at least how scarce they are on eBay. I should qualify that, scarce at the price that I was willing to pay. While I had resigned myself to make an investment in this collection I still wasn't going to pay the outrageous prices that sometimes occur on eBay. I exercised some patience and over the last 6 months I managed to pick up the 3 tech guys. I'm still debating on if I should consider the converted guy or pick up a whole version.
I'm also going to do take this opportunity to do some paint and color tests. Over the last year or so I've manged to get several copies of my favorite chaos warrior figures from the Marauder line. Its a bit odd actually, this guy used to make the occasional appearance on eBay but recently he has been readily available which has afforded me the opportunity to pick up a few more copies. My game plan is to try some different base/undercoat color tests for the red areas on these figures to compare the results.
Clearly I have a problem when it comes to this one!
As you can see each has a different base coat and my intent is to also play around with some yellow and brown bases as well. Now all that is left is to start slapping on some paint!
