Zebraoutrider is Reborn…

With the cultists I wanted a splurge of colour reminiscent of parrots or parakeets that would link them to the god of change and those Tzeentch vibrant tones.

So, we start with a spray of PlastiKote black and then batch painting colours across the whole squad including the chaos spawn. Skin tones first with Kislev Flesh and Reikland Fleshshade wash. The Feathers were painted white and washed with Carroburg Crimson, Casandora Yellow and Thraka Green to match with the colour pattern of the Anoited One’s bird-like head. Clothing was dry brushed with Wraithbone and weapons with Chainmail and Retributor Gold with a wash of Nuln Oil. I tended to slightly blend the washes on tacky wet layers.

Bases were adorned with Barbed Bracken foliage that I’d pre-painted on the sprue and flocked with the same green grass as the Chaos Space Marines to tie them all together as one big patrol.

The Dark Crows are cultists from Kenov III who encountered Chaplain Zarrik Ma and Chronicler Marvelinko Su on their arrival through a warp portal and were tainted by the Lord of Change when they mistook the marines as gods sent by their bird-like deity Corvus Corax. The Symbol of the Crow’s Devine master appears to be the insignia of the Reborn. Although the cultists’s minds have been changed, only their leader Symon has felt the extremes of mutation by evolving into a spawn of Tzeentch. Their new leader Hekka believes Symon’s metamorphosis is a blessing that they all will undergo if they support their new warrior masters.

I wanted the construction of the Crows to continue with my kit-bashing theme of this project and so these miniatures were created by combining the Warcry fantasy Corvus Cabal miniatures with weapons from the Necromunda Escher Upgrade set and liquid green stuff. The Escher weapons have feathers attached to them and that helped with fitting into the bird imagery of the Dark Crows. In fact it was quite fun building the minis then deliberately cutting their arms off to fit the range of weapons available and bring the Cultist Kill Team into the 40K universe.

The chaos spawn was made using the bits from the kit but with a specific focus on including a bird like head and as many feathery and spiky limbs as possible. He/she/it is mounted on a Scibor 40mm round lipped base with some green stuff and further mounted onto a 50mm round base. 

So, The Reborn Kill Team is complete for the moment. I’ll probably add some Chaos Cultists to accompany the crew as it grows in its adventures in the death world jungles of Kenov III as they search for the forbidden Ark of Calixis which can open a portal through the warp to bring their ‘Reborn’ brothers home to seek vengeance on those who sent them to their doom…

Again, thanks to this great and friendly community for getting me back into the groove and finding joy in modelling and painting.

Bases were coated with Dark Angels Green and adorned with GW alien foliage and then flocked with a home-made brew and PVA glue. 

Next up better photos of the completed Kill Team.

I wanted something special and different for the sixth member of the Kill Team – The Icon Bearer and sifting through my pile of shame I had undercoated a GW Warcry Ogroid Thaumaturge. This is a fantasy miniature but a follower of Tzeentch so to make it a Warhammer 40K character I did the simplest of kit bashing by replacing the left hand with a mutated Gal Vorbak claw with merged bolt pistol and coated it with Abaddon Black. It works simply but effectively and represents how this marine has warped into something larger than he originally was and with his skin merging with his armour. Hopefully the paint scheme will tie him into the crew.

For my ‘seventh’ miniature (see the CoG Weekender @brennon challenge to paint 7 minis in 7 days) I’ve added a servo skull as the juxtaposition to the hulking Icon Bearer. The servo skull was undercoated with Abaddon Black and drybrushed using Retributor Gold with highlights of Blazing Orange, Wraithbone and a wash if Carroburg Crimson.

Another productive evening batch painting these famous five. Armour trim was painted with a layer of Abaddon Black and then washed with Nihilakh Oxide to give a verdigris. The shoulder pads and exposed armour plates were then dry brushed again with a highlight of Retributor Armour and edges With Abaddon Black. The spot colours of Blazing Orange and Wraithbone were used for skulls, eyes, horns and trophies.

The Anointed One’s bird head was dry brushed With Wraithbone then washed With Carroburg Crimson, Casandora Yellow and Thraka Green to provide a multicoloured effect akin with Tzeentch colour schemes.

Exposed skin was dry brushed with Kislev Flesh and washed with Carroburg Crimson, blended with Casandora Yellow and spot highlighted with Wraithbone.

In the bottom of one of my bits box, I found the body of a Forge World Word Bearer Gal Vorbak  which I can marry up to GW Space Wolves power axe, a Space Marine combi-bolter-flamer, the head of a Veteran Space Marine minus the top crown and numerous chains from the Chaos Marauders kit. Mounted on a 40mm base with green stuff and coated with both a black undercoat and a white dry brush layer to make the next gold layer a wee bit brighter. This chap is quite a large marine, suitably warped and he can become the Kill Team’s Chosen One to lead the others on missions.

The second gunner uses the new CSM Havoc Aspiring Champion model with a simple head swap for the horned head from the OOP Chaos Mutations Sprue and a trimmed down tentacle arm replacing his right hand. I’ve always been a fan of the meltagun in close combat, so this chap will want to get up close and use his Tzeentch mark of chaos advantage when firing at close range. Note, you do really need to drill out the end of the Meltagun barrel. 

I painted the Gunner with a black undercoat (Citadel Abaddon Black) and started the drybrushing layering of the main armour colour (Retributor Armour). To tone down the gold, I washed the whole model with Carroburg Crimson. This made the armour more brass-like in colour to keep in line with the description in the CSM Codex. Once dry, I re-highlighted subtlety with another layer of Retributor Armour through drybrushing.

I repeated the process through batch painting the other four miniatures to provide a consistent colour scheme. The only departure was to paint the Anointed One’s main armour Lothern blue with a dark wash of Drakenhof Nightshade to hark back to his previous life as a Librarian before he was ‘reborn.’

Next up will be ‘rusting’ the armour and working on the faces, shoulder pads and smaller details…

I really want to put my own stamp on interpreting ‘The Reborn’ and as such I’m going to use parts from the Chaos Space Marine Havocs set and a Space Marine Librarian (which actually constituted my prize for winning the OTT/BOW Best Idea category in the 2022 Spring Clean Challenge – so it again seems apt to use this stuff in this project?).

But I also want to ferret around in my blooming extensive bits boxes to add that interesting part which will make the model unique.

In this project, I’m going to try and present the models as they are built all the way through to completion and hopefully remember to specify the parts and paints that I use. If you follow any of my other projects, you will know I paint in a gothic, dirty and interpretative style to reflect the Grim Dark of the Warhammer worlds and so favour blending, dry-brushing and wash techniques rather than airbrush.

Make up of an initial Kill Team:

Chosen One (Leader)

Anointed One (Tzeentch psychic)

Heavy Gunner (Chaingun)

Gunner (Meltagun or Flamer)

Butcher

Icon Bearer (Tzeentch)

So here we have, from Left to Right, the Butcher, the Heavy Gunner and the Anointed One. For the Butcher I’ve used the CSM Executioner kit but swapped heads with the Tzeentch Aspiring champion head from the now OOP CSM kit and backpack from the original CSM Possessed plastic kit (OOP). The Heavy Gunner comes from the new Havocs set, but again with a simple head swap for the insect head from the original CSM Possessed plastic kit (OOP). The Anointed One uses the current Space Marine Librarian Kit but with a backpack and a left hand claw from the original, plastic CSM Possessed kit and a metal bird head from the Tomb Kings Carrion model -long OOP. I want to align these guys to Tzeentch as this seems appropriate for the concept of rebirth and change.

The first three are made, so let’s look at creating a potential the Leader and another gunner next…

2022 was my annus horribilis with the passing of my father. He was 84 (so a good innings) but it was sudden and it fell to me to find him. Thanks to this community, I’ve bounced back from my doldrums (shoutout to @scribbs for his kind words which will mean more to me than he’ll ever realise.) It seems apt then to gain a sense of rebirth as I close one life’s chapter and begin a new one – and where better than exploring ‘The Reborn’ for Warhammer 40K through my love of kit bashing and painting. A legion born from the chaos of life…

Background to ‘The Reborn’

So, what do we know about ‘The Reborn’? Frankly, not much!

Looking at the Warhammer 40K WIKI we can learn the following: (https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/The_Reborn)

“The Reborn are a warband of Chaos Space Marines of unknown origin and allegiance. They have been observed using very ancient, almost antiquated, patterns of weaponry.

Imperial forces first encountered The Reborn over a thousand Terran years ago in 795.M40.”

“The Reborn wear heavily corroded orange-brass power armour with rusted joints and black trim. The Reborn’s badge is a black, unidentified skeletal bird on a corroded orange-brass background.”

“Notable Campaign:

Death of Cygnax (557.M41) – By the middle of the 41st Millennium, the heavily militarised Hive World of Cygnax, located in the star system that bore its name, was the most populated sphere in the northern Maelstrom Zone. Having long been a lynchpin of Imperial control of the region, Cygnax was a key world, forming a bulwark against aggressors and serving as a safe port for Imperial merchant and naval vessels. In the year 557.M41 disaster struck with the suddenness of an onrushing storm as Cygnax succumbed to corruption from within and attack from without. The planet rapidly fell into bloody civil war between its Imperial garrison and Death Cult nihilists, backed by the intervention of the dread Chaos Space Marine warband known as The Reborn. Despite the intervention of the Mantis WarriorsChapter, which itself had made a home in the nearby Endymion Cluster, the death toll rose exponentially into the millions. The Death Cultists managed to gain access to part of the world’s missile defence network, and in a suicidal rage unleashed a rain of atomic and plasma warheads upon the doomed world, shattering its hive cities and disrupting the planet’s orbit for several Terran years. The resulting permanent nuclear winter, radioactive fallout and tectonic upheavals annihilated all life on Cygnax. With the fall of this key world, Imperial control of the northern Maelstrom Zone swiftly crumbled. Without Cygnax, combined with other losses in the region over the previous few centuries, vital Imperial military supply chains stretching as far as Bakka and Terra itself were threatened, forcing the Adeptus Terra to act.”

They are mentioned in the Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pg. 21 and in Imperial Armour Volume Nine – The Badab War, Part One, pg. 18

So… I think I’ve got a bit of leeway to mix Chaos Space Marine parts from various kits and the ‘feel’ of the warband (or my interpretation) lends itself to even introducing chaos mutations from possessed marines to truly embrace the spirit of being reborn?

Next up… selecting the models.