This is an update to a previous Work in Progress post as I’ve done some more work on the Prefector of the Palatine Blades and fleshed out his squad of Chosen Chaos Space Marines around him for my Emperor’s Children / Creations of Bile force.

First, some background…

Axiter longs for a return to the former glories of the Emperor’s Children Legion of old. When they cast off the Imperial yoke it should have freed them to pursue those glories for themselves but instead his brothers now pursue only their vices or the deluded whispers of those champions already too lost to the embrace of the Dark Prince.

Axiter has surrounded himself with those who share similar ideals, or at least in theory. They are the least outwardly corrupted amongst their brethren, although of course the touch of the warp is felt by all confined for so long to the prison of the Eye of Terror.

Lieutenant Commander Fabius Bile, whilst a monster, is a monster largely unchanged since the Siege of Terra and for that reason Axiter has aligned himself to the Chief Apothecary.

Of course, Axiter is as deluded as those former brothers he looks down upon. Addicted to the chemical stims provided by Fabius Bile and in constant pursuit of the glory of single combat on the battlefield, longing to prove his superiority over the champions of other Legions and races, Axiter is as corrupt as all of them. He offers up the souls of the vanquished to Slaanesh for a taste of power and to stave off some further corruption.

But whilst Axiter thinks that if they only sip from the poisoned chalice that the Dark Prince offers them in exchange for his gifts, they will not be made fully into their patron’s slaves, he and his followers are entirely in thrall to the Youngest God and amongst Slaanesh’s favourites, for what souls could be more delicious than those of the vainglorious and deluded..?

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Onto the minis themselves. First up, Chosen Champion Axiter Gine formerly a Prefector of the Palatine Blades:

The two main parts to this particular kitbash are a Horus Heresy MkIII Tactical Marine and the resin Horus Heresy Captain Lucius, The Faultless Blade. I had a vision for a fencer-like pose for a duelist (so many duellist conversion idea rattling about in my brain, just as well I play Emperor’s Children!). This particular MkIII Marine pose felt perfect, there’s a bit of a juxtaposition between the lightness of foot that comes from the overall pose and the chunkiness of the MkIII power armour and as a result this is one of my favourite conversions. I swapped the second sword that Lucius carries for an open hand, luckily there was the perfect one amongst the Horus Heresy Rhino crew bits. The head is taken from the command sprue for the Tactical Marines with the addition of a horn. Even the purist living in the Eye of Terror are likely to pick up some extra bits courtesy of the warping powers of the wound in reality and importantly, Axiter kids himself at a level of purity and self-control above that of his fellow Legionaries but the truths of the darkness in his soul are written upon his flesh despite his best efforts at self-delusion. The shoulders, sword arm and cape are all from Captain Lucius. As these weren’t meant to go together there were some quite chunky gaps to have to take care of between the shoulders and the torso, so I decided on the streamer like extensions on his cape as I think they add a bit more motion to the pose of the mini without overdoing it. I quite like the idea that when in full flow, there’d be all these extensions to his whirling form from the cape, streamers and the trinkets on ribbons on his belt. Those Slaaneshi sigils on the ribbons are clipped from the Myrmidesh Painbringers kit. Finally, because this is chaos and he is a Champion of the Dark Prince, the trophy rack is taken from the Chosen kit.

Next up is a Chosen Marine with two Accursed Weapons:

A far more straightforward kitbash by comparison to Axiter Gine. The torso is a MkVI Tactical Marine and the helm is again taken from Captain Lucius. The backpack is a Chaos Space Marine one, I think from the Chosen kit. Some studs were added to one of the greaves on the MkVI armour and then the arms are taken from the Myrmidesh Painbringers kit, well more specifically the alternative Symbaresh Twinsouls build of these. I liked the way the pose looked with a real balance of threat and malice and the twin weapons feel like a good pairing of shorter blades. Wasn’t happy with the helm on its own so I added the crest, clipped from a Slickblade Seeker rider another kit from the Age of Sigmar Hedonites of Slaanesh range.

Then we have a Chosen Marine with Power Fist:

I liked the idea that with Axiter being a Palatine Blade, even if his current squad aren’t of the same mindset, they’d be used to their leader engaging in challenges with the champions in enemy forces and that whatever passed for discipline amongst the remnants of the Emperor’s Children would likely sit with another in this squad so I pictured this guy as the one who would enforce it. Largely a MkIII Tactical Marine, the Power Fist is from the Chaos Raptors kit (right-handed close combat weapons are pretty rare for Chaos outside of the Raptors!) the left arm carrying the helm is taken from the Command Squad Horus Heresy kit. I added a chain across the torso to mirror the ones on the resin shoulder pad taken from the Esoterist Consul. The head is from the Chaos Legionaries Kill Team sprues, I believe normally reserved for the heavy melee weapon wielder.

Chosen Marine with Combi-weapon:

A fairly straightforward kitbash this one. A MkVI torso, Chosen Chaos Space Marine arms carrying a combi-plasma from the same kit and then the helm is taken from the Horus Heresy Command Squad sprue.

Chosen Marine:

The final Chosen Marine is another MkVI Tactical Marine although I’ve mixed up the armour marks a little by giving him a MkIII helm. The plume on the helm is taken from a Hedonites kit again and I think probably a Blissbarb or Blissbarb Seeker but can’t remember for sure. Chosen Chaos Space Marine arms here (always a fan of a marine with an actual bolter – doubly so if he’s showing old school ‘True Grit’ to fire it in one hand – will always have a soft spot for Space Wolves!). His sword is from another Myrmidesh Painbringer and the little Slaaneshi sigils is taken from the Slickblade Seekers sprues as that kit is chock-a-block with lots of great trinkets and treasures for the followers of Slaanesh.

The squad together:

Feel like I should also link my previous post on mixing Horus Heresy and 40k Chaos Space Marine kits here as these are some further examples of what can be done by kitbashing a few of these together.

Finally a fluff snippet to help bring Axiter to life a little…

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The tired din of battle faded into the background, his brothers forgotten about, as Axiter Gine felt the universe come into sharp focus once more. He raised his blade in salute to the Aeldari champion.

“The youngest god hungers for your soul, alien, and I shall make a gift of it.” he called as he closed the distance between them. “Be sure to tell Slaanesh that it was Prefector Axiter Gine that dispatched you to Him.”

For its part, the Eldar warrior spat something back at him in the clipped and cold sounding drivel that passed as language between their kind. The Chief Apothecary held the Aeldari in higher regard than he did. As far as Axiter was concerned, they were a vile race, clinging on to a doomed existence rather than facing their fate with honour and good grace. When his time came, he would rather it ended quickly than be something as drawn out as the final death rattle of the Aeldari.

The distance between them became as nothing and their blades met in their first dance. The Eldar moved with an inhuman speed and grace that put his teeth on edge but, begrudgingly he couldn’t deny that it possessed some modicum of skill. A true test of his mettle perhaps? Its electric blue form-fitting armour flexed and rolled with its wearer’s movements and Axiter found himself quickly on the defensive as the keening blade it wielded slashed at him first from left, then from right. A feint to the left was redirected gracefully into a swipe from the right and, unable to get his sword across in time, Axiter instead parried the alien’s wrist with a strike from his vambrace. The alien saw the parry coming and flexed with the movement so that the impact didn’t shatter its wrist. It knew well enough the strength and power in the enhanced body of a chaos space marine. He pressed the space as the alien tried to dance away and put his strength into some ringing blows that the Eldar was forced to meet, blade to blade, with gritted teeth. Keen to disengage it dove into a pirouette, blade outstretched and Axiter was forced to give ground.

Axiter’s body and soul felt alive with the dance of blades. The Eldar gave him a mocking bow as it caught its breath. He felt anger rise like bile within him and in response, chemical stims flooded his system like ice water. Gifts from The Manflayer, in return for him lending his sword arm to the Chief Apothecary’s cause.

As he pressed the attack once more, everything else felt as if it moved a beat slower, the speed of the Aeldari champion tempered somewhat by his heightened senses. He on the other hand, felt as if he was not subject to the same laws and his sword arm felt lighter, faster, stronger. Whilst the Eldar met every lunge, swipe and strike of his sword, it was being harried into a reactive battle that did not suit it.

Axiter aimed a kick at the alien and whilst it shifted backwards to rob the blow of some momentum it couldn’t escape him fully and was thrown off balance. Axiter swept his body from the kick into a spin, his sword arm whirling with chem-hanced speed before the blade bit deep into the Xenos warrior’s flank. With a flourish he pulled his sword back, widening the cut and enjoying the stink of alien blood as it spilt heavily from the wound.

The Xenos blade fell from slackening fingers as it’s wielder fell to one knee. Using the tip of his blade, Axiter pried the Eldar’s spirit stone from its mounting on its armour. The last of its energy was expended in a terrified wail as the implication of this desecration became clear to it. He examined the stone between thumb and finger for a moment before letting it drop to the dusty ground.

“Perhaps there will be one amongst your kin that might pose me a greater challenge,” he said with a resigned sigh, before crushing the alien’s spirit stone beneath his heel.

A wave of ecstasy washed over him, marking his patron’s delight with the gift of the alien’s soul. The moment was fleeting and once more a spiritual weariness descended upon him as he scanned the battlefield looking for one amongst the foe who stood out for his war-craft.