Assembling and converting Bloodreavers

Introduction

Kicking off the month of Khorne, the first item on my plate was to assemble 20 Bloodreavers. I bought the sprues some time ago, so I did not remember exactly what was on them. I did not initially think of heavy conversions... but then I ran into some issues. First of all, Bloodreavers can be fielded in squads of 10, each with champion, icon bearer and musician. Khorne loves min squads, so that's what I wanted to go with. The starter set only includes one of each... so item 1, make a second set of custom characters. But then I discovered that my sprues are missing some bits, namely: the champion right arm and the hornblower's horn. So item 2, make everything that's missing. And lastly, after reading the Battletome, Bloodreavers have 2 weapon options, and obviously the starter set comes with the worse option (one handed axe and shortsword). So item 3... make them look the part of having the other option (two handed axe). Here we go.

Preparation

Beforehand, I cut off everything from the sprues and I cleaned all mouldlines. I also looked for the assembly instructions online. The next part should be one big uninterrupted process, so do everything needed in advance.

Prepare the work area

I selected all manner of stuff likely to fit: leftovers from the Chaos Warriors, Chaos Marauders and Chaos Knights bits (that I bought as such from eBay), orc bits (which I don't think are even GW) and Blood Warriors bits (which these sprues actually had on). I laid out everything in front of me.

Tools prepared for this first part: sprue cutter, hobby knife, plastic glue.

Conversions!

For the most part, I glued together the non-converted parts without taking photos. 

Also note that green stuff work came after, as the conversion process was lengthy enough for one hobby session.

The incomplete champion

The guy was missing his right arm. I prepared this heavy Blood Warrior axe. I cut both joints flat with the hobby knife.

Dry fit, then apply plastic glue. Looks fantastic from the front!

There was a gap in the back.

Which I later filled with green stuff.

Custom champion

The sprues contained a Blood Warrior head, which was Khorne-y enough to make a champion. I selected the best body to fit the head on, and cut the neck joints flat. It became too short to fit properly... so I had to put in some green stuff.

A second layer of green stuff (for easier modeling) covered up the neck properly.  At this point I also attached this cape - because nothing says "champion" better than useless apparel impossible to fight in :D

Custom hornblower

I used the actual hornblower's body for this. With the right hand holding the horn missing, I got creative using this horn from the Chaos Warriors set. 

I chopped off the arm right where the glove ends... I also chopped off the tiny arm bit from the horn arm.

I assembled it using green stuff. It was the first and only such "easy" arm joint which I made like this. I learned how to get away with plastic glue only.

Custom icon

I forgot to take pictures in progress. This is the champion's duplicate body. Instead of the right arm holding the knife, I mounted a Marauders icon bearer arm. After cutting the joints flat, the arm was almost a perfect fit.

I applied some green stuff in the front to cover the gap.

Drummer

This was the first really crazy conversion I did. This guy is as monopose as can be... but I chopped off his right arm and glued in a drummer arm from the Marauders kit.

The shoulder armor needed trimming to fit.

And some green stuff afterwards to cover the gap.

Various axe-holding arms

With the command models done, and the creative juices flowing, I got on to the rest of the guys. I assembled some of them without modifications, but I did not let any two be exactly the same. A couple of knives here and there in the unit are fine, as long as most of them wield only axes. I did not imagine going from one-handed grips to two-handed ones, especially not with these monopose arms. Instead, I went for dual-wielding axemen.

Chopped off and smoothed at the elbow, this guy got a Blood Warrior arm, similarly prepared.

I cut off the knife, and glued an orc axe in its place.

Chopped off a hand at the wrist. Replace with Chaos Warrior hand.

Marauders axe.

Chaos Warrior axe, from the elbow.

Axe handle from the Marauders (some leftover bit, I think) and axehead from old Chaos Knights. I was sad that I could not fit on some Chaos Knight arms, but the hands were way too bulky compared to these guys. So at the very least I got in an axehead!

Another double take: chopped hand off at the wrist, glued on a Marauder hand, and glued on an orc axe.

Reused the champion's alternate upper body for the axe.

The last Blood Warrior arm left a huge gap. First piece of green stuff mostly filled the hole, while the second was applied with sculpting in mind.

I tried to smooth it out as best as I could, so it would meld with the muscles of the torso.

Marauder axe.

Chaos Warrior arm from the elbow. As a final thought, I also added some spikes and skulls to some round helms, such as this guy.

Bases

A separate work item, on which I labored in parallel, were the bases. I really liked the sculpted bases on the Chaos Warriors - I think I might just use them as standard for all mortal servants of the Chaos Gods. Here, I tried to recreate them by hand.

First glue flat pieces of cork on the bases. I used UHU glue here.

Chop them down to size, using my finger/nails for a natural look. I applied two thin layers of watered down PVA glue as a sealant.

Pin the boys!

Look for suitable bases for each guy, drill a hole in the base...

Add plenty of skulls in the cracks.

I did not glue them on at this point, as I want to paint the minis and bases separately.