Airborne pestilence

The airborne shock troops of Hytothrax the Younger are among the more horrific of the forces fielded by the Synod of Suffering. Attacking with a swiftness at odds with Death Guard battle doctrine, great swarms of Bloat Drones and their monstrous Harvester cousins thunder down on enemy emplacements, drowning the astonished foe in a tide of hacking blades and putrefaction.

The leader of this benighted company is Hytothrax the Younger, and even by the standards of the Death Guard he is far gone to insanity. Hytothrax the Younger never knew a normal human life: he was born in the hellscape of the Plague Planet amid the lunatic tribes of that nightmare domain. Even from that early age, the boy enjoyed the inexplicable favour of Hytothrax the Elder. This is not to imply that the daemon prince’s patronage gave the youth an easier life. Indeed, the Elder seemed to enjoy inflicting all manner of appalling trials of the body and mind. By the time he was raised to the ranks of the Death Guard, the Younger was barely recognisable as a human being. Proud of his progeny, Hytothrax the Elder conferred his name upon the newly raised monster.

Hytothrax the Younger is everything which the Synod of Suffering aspires to. And yet, his rise has not been smooth. Lord Eiterfex seems barely able to tolerate his presence. Whilst he has granted the Younger plaudits and command befitting his abilities, the Synod’s dread lord is at best frostily civil. On the rare occasions when any dare to press him, Eiterfex answers that he finds the Younger reckless and ill-disciplined. None are entirely convinced. Even Kallador Doomhark does not know the truth of this.

Yet Eiterfex allows the Younger to rise and gain acclaim within the legion for his daring, bloody raids. Some wonder whether Eiterfex’s dislike may stem from a fear that he may one day be supplanted…

There’s isn’t too much conversion here, at least not that much which had been discussed. The Harvester has been discussed elsewhere. It is worth noting that the three Bloat Drones were a lot cheaper than could have been the case. I was given the multipart one for my birthday by a friend, and the other two are Dark Imperium Drones. The one with a Blight Launcher uses spares from the multipart kit. Now, you can find Ebay sellers doing DI Bloat Drones for about £12 and you can get the multipart one for £22.50 from Darksphere or a similar retailer. That’s around £46.50 for the three – much better than the comedic £90 GW asks. 

Barring the Harvester, the biggest conversion here is Hytothrax the Younger, and if I’m perfectly honest he’s not really that clever a conversion. Other have done the conversion first, so I can hardly claim to be an innovator. The majority of the model is simply a Pusgoyle Blightking kit. But instead of using the torso and weapons supplied, I sawed a Plague Marine in half and used his torso, backpack, head, shoulder pads and great plague cleaver. Worth noting is that I took the now redundant body of the Blightking and mounted it on the spare legs, creating the Taskmaster. Somewhat ironically, I finished painting him months before I finished the conversion that I actually wanted to do!