The new Battalion and Slot approach has somewhat damped my collecting enthusiasm. Even accounting for lost units due to the Edition change, all my collections still seem ludicrously large and unwieldy now, even the newer Free Dwarfs. Still, a new Edition means there are some new ideas and units to explore, and we'll try to make some smart purchases and additions. Up now is a Hellequin Blood Masque for the very recently revamped Forces of the Abyss!
 |
| The Hellequin, from the front. |
The model is Lord Hawthorne, from the defunct Runewars game. I still very much enjoy their models, and if you can find them for cheap, they can provide some great looking units. I used models from the range for all of the Abyssal Horsemen units (here and here), and was kicking myself a bit for not saving one to run as a hero previously. Thankfully I found this box at a reasonable price, and was able to pick it up and paint it up over a few days.
These minis from this range can come in some odd pieces, making assembly easy, but conversions more difficult. His legs were part of the horse sculpt, with the human torso and head as one bit, and each arm as bits three and four. I liked the look of the model (reminds me a bit of Archaon, which I admittedly still need to pull the trigger and hobby up at some point...), so I kept everything but the head, as it was distinctly human. I swapped that out for one of my favorite Warriors of Chaos helmets, and I really like how this simple conversion turned out.
 |
| One side. |
Painting-wise this was nothing too crazy, though I did give the horse glowing eyes... which was apparently not done on the Abyssal Horsemen units like I had thought. I was thinking of the Revenant Cavalry. So, I'll need to either backtrack and tidy this model up, or go touch up the full units sometime in the future. We'll see where I land.re
If memory serves, the Blood-Masques showed up first in Vanguard Box for Kings of War. They looked impressive, but it was an awkward buy for me, and I never picked it up. The Horsemen were very attractive back in the day, with a nice mix of CS1 and TC1, plus Regeneration and Fury, making them fine at grinding, if you weren't able to break the opposing unit on the first charge. The Hellequin heroes were around, but were expensive, and never quite fit into any of my build ideas.
 |
| And the other side. |
Now in 4E, and with the Fracture update, these heroes look more interesting. They are relatively cheap, quick, are an individual but are not Yielding, have a mix of CS and TC still, and probably most importantly, now swap a single regiment of Abyssal Horsemen from Specialist to Core.
The Abyssal Core are the biggest stumbling block for me with the army in 4E. The new Hellequin swap, in addition to Bas'su'su (whom we already liked!) now swapping a Gargoyle Troop into Core should provide some really unique build options for the army. I'm excited to have this Champion done, and with Fracture out now, we'll see if we can't get some Abyssal games in soon!