Realm of Chaos: Warrior-Champion of Slaanesh

Back in the early 1990’s, shortly after the release of Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned, a small set of Chaos models was released. At least one for each of the four Chaos Powers, and seemingly Khorne got a few extras. These particular models aren’t seen a whole lot, as they weren’t sculpted by Jes Goodwin, but by Mark Copplestone – and so had a much shorter production life. They’re not the equal of Jes’ classic sculpts, but they do have an interesting character (there I bloody go) of their own. Objectively, they’re not amazing models compared to what has gone before or since, but I still like them.

Realm of Chaos Oldhammer Chaos Warrior Champion of Slaanesh.

Chaos Warrior-Champion of Slaanesh.

I haven’t managed to find them in Stuff of Legends nor in the old issues of White Dwarf, but I seem to recall seeing them named both as “Chaos Champions” and as “Chaos Warriors” at different times – which also happened with more than a few of Jes’ champions. They’re that “in-between” style of model that could reasonably fit into either category. These days at least, my thoughts on Chaos Warriors tend towards the more generic models as used in more recent years, so I’ll call these guys “Champions” in my own collection – especially as the more generic “foot knight”-style armoured Chaos Warriors were a thing as far back as the pre-slotta days.

Realm of Chaos Oldhammer Chaos Warrior Champion of Slaanesh.

Side view of the Fiend-headed one.

This guy is Slaanesh’s entry. He features all-original paint from the 1990’s as well. Amazingly there were no touch-ups needed whatsoever, nor any embarrassingly garish colour combinations that needed correction. All I needed to do to “renovate” him to 2016 standard was to rebase him – onto a 32mm round in this case since he overhung the 25mm square pretty badly. This way I can legit use him should I ever try Age of Sigmar as well. It doesn’t matter in Kings of War as the game uses regimental bases, so as long as the footprint is sound, this guy and whatever other heavy, psychotic bastards he hangs out with can wreak havoc just as effectively once I actually start on them properly.

Realm of Chaos Oldhammer Chaos Warrior Champion of Slaanesh.

Shield View.

I’ve added flowers to his base not because I see Slaanesh as effeminate, but as followers of Chaos that can appreciate beauty as well as debauchery – just as they were back in the RoC days. The shield is NOT freehand, I should point out. It’s a decal. It had some silvering but a coat of satin over the top fixed that up well enough.

Realm of Chaos Oldhammer Chaos Warrior Champion of Slaanesh.

A cheeky grin?

A rather “cheeky” (hur hur) shot to finish up. It’s more than a little silly, but such was life in Nottingham back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and it’s pretty well known that the studio didn’t take themselves so seriously back then, and took the piss out of everything including themselves (and they liked to sneak stuff past management) so I’m willing to give it a pass while if such a thing were released today, the implications would be a lot more disturbing.

I’ve got a Khorne Warrior-Champion from the same release who I’ll show shortly. He just needs a bit of updating, and I’ve been putting all of my energy into a big clean-up of the house and (especially) the war room, which has slowly become a dumping ground for boxes and random junk. So as soon as I can manage!

Realm of Chaos: CH5 Chaos Familiars

:And now for some more truly Oldhammer models. These Chaos Familiars date from 1986-88, and were sculpted by Jes Goodwin and Bob Naismith. I believe the two on the outer are Goodwin sculpts, and the middle one could be by either.

Warhammer Oldhammer Ch5 Chaos Familiars

CH5 Chaos Familiars: Manequin (sic), Beastling and ..unnamed?

I painted these models a very long time ago. Sometime not too long after the Space Marine Paint Set was released, based on the robes the unnamed familiar is wearing. (Shades of the Watchers in the Dark!). I painted two of them with Tzeentch in mind – being the most magically-oriented of the Chaos Powers, and a nice chance to paint something different to my usual Khorne’ dominated stuff. I’m still very happy with how they came out, especially the duo-tone on Manequin.

Warhammer Oldhammer Ch5 Chaos Familiars

Rear view of the Familiars

All they needed recently was a tiny touch-up and rebasing onto more modern bases. If you think they look a little big for familiars, it’s because I’ve used 20mm round bases that I got with some of my Red Box Games minis. Our final image provides a better sense of scale, provided by a friendly passing Oldhammer Champion of Nurgle. These guys are small! Smaller than a goblin. Like Snotling sized.

Warhammer Oldhammer Ch5 Chaos Familiars, Manequin, Beastling Chaos Champion of Nurgle with Halberd

Scale Shot!

And in a surprising bit of awesomeness, I recently found that most of these figures are still available from Games Workshop even today, as part of the limited range of Direct-only metals that they still stock. Even more amazingly, they’re available for a reasonable price. If you’re someone who likes these cool old models, I’d change the flag on the GW website to your own one, and get them while you can! If you’re into familiars like this, Heresy also makes some cool familiars that fit with the same old-school Warhammer vibe, and Andy could probably use your cash a little more than Kirby…  I’ll be buying that pack as soon as I can get some spare dosh together.