Kharn the Betrayer

Kharn the Betrayer is one of those 40k characters who has done well from age. When we were first introduced to him in the early 90s, he was a butcher, pure and simple. A psychopath battering his way through anyone who got in his way with neither thought nor remorse. With the Horus Heresy novels begnning in 2006, we started to see a bit more depth to 12th Legion's most infamous son. Kharn was, bizarrely, the most restrained and controlled of the World Eaters. Indeed, he dogged attempted to instil some leadership and discipline into the savage legion, standing in for his largely disinterested gene-father. In the end, one can only assume that his endless attempts to keep the World Eaters together ultimately drove him too far and turned him into the maniac we know and... love?

I love most of the model, so I decided to paint him. There was only one problem: I really dislike his head with its silly rabbit ears and gawking features. I wanted him to look dangerous, threatening and vaguely gladitorial. So I replaced the head with a Maximus helm and a plume. The original head is interal to the body so this involved a bit of sawing and planing down.

I've never liked the idea that the World Eaters painted their armour a cartoonish red after the Horus Heresy. For a start, it seems like an odd thing for a gang of neurally sabotaged lunatics to do. For another, it seems like a strange choice for a legion whose main aim in life is to constantly whack people in the face with massive chainsaws. Having red on their armour wouldn't seem to be something they'd need to make additional effort for. Bot mostly, I just don't like it. So I painted Kharn with the pre-Heresy colour-scheme. This would help show the stains.

The model has an incredible sense of motion, and I though that I should stain him to reflect this. I used Vallejo Russian Spash Mud to give the impression that he's running at full speed, and then flicked speckles of Blood for the blood God across the model, especially to the front and right-hand side. Look at the arc Gorechild is describing: whatever enemy Kharn has just ripped down, a spray of blood is going to fall counter-clockwise across him. 

The only non-blood red I used was on the plume, and I counter-pointed this with the green of the plasma pistol. Overall I'm quite happy with him.