The Red Knight - Citadel Chaos Warrior (1989)

 

Evil Warriors are an archetype of Fantasy. Like Dragons, or Dwarves, or Magicians, or Barbarians. Every single setting will have a Evil Warriors clad in fancy armour with dreadful helms covering their faces: call them Ringwraiths, or Drakkarim, they are all the same. Darth Vader is one of them, as is Verminaard, as is the Death Dealer from Frazetta. His many brothers decorate the covers of every album from Manowar.

Warhammer, as usual, made use of the archetype declining it into the general setting as the Chaos Warrior, surely one of the most enticing elements of the setting, something which would survive into the 40K offshoot as the Chaos Space Marine.

Today we look at one of many, dated 1989, displayed in the 1991 Red Catalogue as "Axe - 073103/42". The figure is "designed by the Citadel Design Team with Jes Goodwin".

The figure, acquired from eBay, had seen better days and many details were damaged by stripping. I decided to paint it with the colours of Khorne, and give the armour a dull red hue, like that of blood, contrasting with the metal of weapons and the Chaos star.

You can see the painting here, but I can't possibly show you how fun it was to paint this miniature. It really is, and there's a lot of potential for variations and personal touches. I decided to keep it simple, though, and not even find a shield for him (not yet).

The Red Knight roams the wild areas of the Border Prices, with his following of warriors. They are happy to fight for whoever pays them, but lacking commissions they eagerly attack caravans and villages. It is said that the Red Knight never removed his helm, because his face is that of bloodlust and would kill anybody who see him. It is also said that his company of soldiers changed many times: his followers don't last long, and in many a battle he was the only survivor, and yet the winner. The Red Knight is wanted in many princedoms for mass murders and the Inquisition is also looking for him. Yet, his fame is such that no law enforcer still found the guts to go after him, and if he did he certainly didn't come back to tell about it.