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Has there ever been a better glow up than the Warhammer 40k Demon Primark figures?

Fulgrim, circa 1992 and 2024 repectively.

Angron, 1992 and 2022

Magnus the red (I guess he was called that for his red hair originally.) 1992 and 2014.

Mortarion 1992 and 2017

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The symbol of Khorne, formed from the flesh of daemons and mutants (Ian Miller, Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness preview, White Dwarf 105, September 1988)

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by Konstantin Void

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daemons of nurgle

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In my series of games in a box this time it's the turn of "space crusade" also known in Europe with the name of "starquest". I painted the pieces as suggested on the MB and GW box. The door is yellow like the outline of the doors on the board. I hope it gives you a feel of this epic game!

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It comes as no surprise to anyone that I love the old black and white ink style of early 2000’s GW. Here’s a little nurgle fan piece emulating that approach in all its grimdark glory!

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Before oil wash on top, after oil wash on bottom. Probably going to gloss varnish everything before painting the base.

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WE USHER IN THE NEW YEAR AS THE YEAR OF CHAOS

LET THE GALAXY BURN

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Chaos Hordes Box Art by Geoff Taylor

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Burn the heretic!

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"I have slaughtered armies of Elves, broken the backs of Dragons and eaten the hearts of Sea Leviathans! Fill the moat with the corpses of your comrades. Trample on their broken carcasses to reach the ramparts. Bring down the walls with the weight of the dead."

-Arbaal the Undefeated

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Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned (1990) is the second, much delayed companion to Slaves to Darkness. It takes the same overstuffed, gruesomely illustrated approach to the two remaining ruinous powers of Chaos: Nurgle and Tzeentch. That thoroughly horrific cover is by Les Edwards, because of course it is. You might think the roster of interior artists slightly diminished thanks to the lack of work by Russ Nicholson and Ian Miller. That is not the case. While I do miss their distinctive styles and what they could have lent to the book, I think this volume is more visually impressive on the whole, a really overwhelmingly grim achievement.

A couple things of interest here beyond the awesome art and the details on the two more interesting Powers (if you didn’t know, this is the definitive, objective ranking: the best is Tzeentch, followed by Nurgle, then Slaanesh, then that ding-dong edgelord Khorn). First is in-universe. I think it is actually no longer the case, but at this point in time, the ruinous powers were thought constructs assembled out of the residual desires of human souls that pass through Chaos; this lends them a surprising complexity. They are entities made up of extremes, dominated by negative impulses, but with positives shining through occasionally, like the way Nurgle comes off as caring, or Khorne honorable, or Tzeentch inquisitive. It makes the allure of Chaos, so often characterized by horror and mutation, somewhat more understandable.

Second, these are recent reprints of the books, available only at Warhammer World in Nottingham. I had originals at one point, but honestly the binding are so fragile (and they command such steep prices) that it made much more sense to have a friend in Nottingham pick up a set and mail them to me (many thanks, Ruth!). If you want these books, I highly suggest making your own Nottingham friends.

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In 1988, Games Workshop released Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness, the first of two exhaustive sourcebooks on Chaos. It’s an all-purpose sourcebook for two of the four ruinous powers: Khorne and Slaanesh. There are army lists for Warhammer Fantasy Battles and information one demons that is useful for GMs of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is that it serves as the introduction of Chaos into the 40,000 universe, revealing that warpspace, the dimension used for fast interstellar travel, is in fact, the Realm of Chaos — the same hostile reality the Empire of the Old World struggled to banish from our own in 40K is regularly exploited as a highway system.

In the worlds of the Warhammer universe, Chaos is the ultimate opponent. In Warhammer Fantasy, I feel like Chaos represents the human impulses that undermine civil society (the veneer of which in Old World is incredibly thin). Whatever the faults of the Empire, it is preferable to the violent dissolution of Chaos, which takes the role of a Dark Power pretty typical of fantasy lit. In 40k, though, things aren’t so simple. The Empire is a fascist monolith and Chaos, repugnant though it may seem, is the antidote for that oppressively ordered “civilization.” Sort of. This conception of the late ’80s is way more interesting and complex than I ever really gave Warhammer credit for (and I think has been consistently eroded away in the name of uncomplicated commerce in the years since).

Anyway, what amazing books. Just jammed with stuff. Lists, mutation rules, all the traitor legions associated with Slaanesh and Khorne. Above all, though, the art. So much, so gnarly, by a GW murder’s row: Ian Miller, Tony Ackland, Gary Chalk, Martin McKenna, John Blanche, Russ Nicholson and like a dozen more, with John Sibbick on the cover. If there was a fever-pitched height of GW aesthetic, its Realm of Chaos. (Also, bonus: the gargoyle from HeroQuest makes quite a few appearances!).