On The Painting Desk: The Levellers- Chaos Guard for Kill Team

Going into the Siege Perilous with the True Crit Gaming Guild I wanted a chaos force.  Ever since the very old Eye of Terror campaign I have wanted a Traitor Guard for the tabletop.  The Vraksian Militia from Forgeworld was eye-opening and super-exciting when that came out.  Despite my desire, I never fully got to a place where I could create the army I had wanted.  Therefore, when the Blooded came out for Kill Team I was excited.  

However, I decided not to go with the standard Games Workshop version.  I had been eyeing up the Only-Games website to pick up some Wargames Atlantic digital figures.  I was interested in checking out their printed Gladiators and a few other odds and ends.  I had never really gotten 3D printed models from a supplier.  I had only printed my own. 

While on the website, I was drawn to a creator called Station Forge who made a wide variety of grimdark models.  One of their sets was called Corrupted Guard, and they were set-up in order to make a Blooded Kill Team.  I went ahead and ordered them and the Gladiators.  The time of shipping did take a bit, but I did not really realize they were coming from the EU when I first ordered them.  They had to come across the pond!     

They came all wrapped up nicely in some bubble wrap in relatively small boxes.  When I unwrapped them, I only had one chainsword that was broken.  However, there was still flash/supports that I had to remove from the printing process.  Perhaps a touch worse than the amount of Flash you have to remove from metal models.  

I took a look at the rules for the Kill Team and started to separate my minis into what was going with what, and what I was going to bring to the party.  For the most part, the set I ordered had everything I needed.  I would have preferred 3 more small bases though so I could have swapped in more Traitors to replace the Orgryn/Enforcers.  I had plenty of parts and bodies to do it, but 4 bases shy.  

The minis glued together fine with Gorilla Glue.  I then got to work priming them.  In retrospect, I should have washed them first just to be sure I got any resin materials off, but the Grey Seer Prime seemed to work just fine.  I then did my standard approach of washing them in a dark grey, and then drybrushed them white. When I was done, they were ready to be speedpainted.

Primed! 

These guys speedpainted relatively fast.  My biggest issue was that I had not planned out their paint scheme before I started so there was a lot of looking at the model, looking at the paint, and then trying to determine what parts were going to be painted.  For the most part, the detail was pretty good, with the Ogryn having the shallowest detail in some areas.  However, it didn't really hinder me on the model.  I used a couple of left-over Vet Guard parts such as the Medical bag for my Chaos Medic, a Vox for my Comms man, and a flamer Tank to make my Brimstone Grenadier look a bit more explosive.  The other downside was that the only support weapons were Plasma Guns, I would have loved a couple of other options, even as a separate purchasable option.  I like Melta-guns in Kill Team to erase annoying Space Marines.  The Trench Cleaner is armed with a shotgun, but the kit only had las-guns but the shield tells you who the guys is.  I also love the shield, so used the second one on the Chaos Thug model who looks much tougher than the stat-line probably warrants with that huge hammer!    

I decided that the primary color of my Levellers was going to be Crusader Skin for the coats.  This gave them a somewhat drab overall look.  I then accented it with Slaughter Red, Palid Bone, and Malignant Green.  Since I used skin tones for the coat, I simple gave their primed faces a skin tone wash which made them look very unhealthy!  This gave them a suitably Chaotic look.  I toyed around with giving them the same colors as my Vet Guard like they had fallen from the same unit, but ultimately decided to make them distinct.  Afterall, the Levellers were most likely former PDF troopers and not Imperial Guard!    

For finishing touches I washed them all with a light tone brown based wash to gribble them up a bit and fill in any gaps.  I painted their bases Hardened Leather and trimmed the bases Citadel Chaos Black.  As usual nothing fancy on the bases.  Finally, I waited until a nice day and gave them a Matte Spray as a final touch.  

So from left to right we have the Brimstone Grenadier, the Flenser, the Butcher, the Trench Sweeper, the Medic, a Specialist with Plasma, another Plasma specialist, the Thug, the Ogryn, the Comms guy, the sniper, the Champion, a traitor, and finally the Enforcer. 

The Levellers are members of the Cult of the Emperor's Hand that have had their simple faith corrupted.  They are mostly farm hands, indentured servants, workers, and traitor PDF troopers from the outskirts of Absaroka.  They are dedicated to tearing down the Imperial society and "levelling" it so that all are equal in the eyes of the Emperor.  They have a special hatred for the Great Houses and their lap-dogs and are eager to swarm into Warzone Epsilon, Delta, and Sigma of Powellington.  Of course, their zeal, violence, and bloodlust against their former rulers has allowed the Levellers to easily be unwittingly turned to the services of the Chaos Gods.    

Final Thoughts

Overall, I am very pleased with how these guys turned out.  I think the "Flesh Coats" makes them look very Chaos-y.  I especially enjoy the Sniper, Flenser, Butcher, and the Brimstone Grenadier.  I was happy with the price and final result, even if it took a bit to get them and finish cleaning them up.  I would consider getting more pre-printed 3D models in the future as they painted up just as easily as Wizkids plastics and better than some formulations of Reaper Bones. 

Never fear, I still have a 8 Gladiators to paint up, a couple Reaper minis for Of Gods and Mortals, and a whole Heroquest box to paint.  I am not close to being dead yet.  However, it did make me consider finishing off my Chaos Kill Team with a box of Chaos Legionaries and/or some Beastmen?     

Until next time! 

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