Heresy & Heroes

Dios Toros – Slaaneshi Imperial Knight

Bursting forth from the warp, I am very proud to present to you Dios Toros, the Slaanesh Imperial Knight. I’m very proud of this one. It represents a long period of hobby time and, despite the fact that it makes your eyes bleed , it’s probably the greatest homage I could pay to John Blanche and the Eavy Metal team of my youth who always went a little colour-crazy when it came to Slaanesh and, particularly, the Emperor’s Children. Now, where do I start…

One particular nod to Blanche is the Knight’s shield which bears a monochrome representation of Slaanesh her/himself, as taken from one of the great man’s early illustrations from the Realm of Chaos books (i think – going back a bit). I wanted to conjure up a little bit of Dorian Gray’s portrait – a haunting, slightly faded visage that’s more than a little ghostly.

The other illustration is on the flag between the Knight’s legs. I’ve showed this off before but these images were taken with a better camera so I thought I’d show it off again. Both illustrations were the most taxing and the most nerve-racking. I’m pleased with the results on both and while I’ll always be able to spot the little mistakes and issues, they were never going to be perfect so I’m chuffed that I did this well.

Now, I couldn’t just use one of the weapons that came in the kit, could I? Of course not. So, I robbed one of the monster assault cannons from the Forgefiend kit and used it instead of the battle cannon. I also added some ammo to one of the slits in the works.

On this shoulder, there’s the classic eight point star and a few occult runes on one half, while on the rear, there is a red leather look. I used gloss on the red and that has caused the detail to be lost a little in the photo. I built up the scales with green stuff before undercoating. I really like the effect and am quite tempted to use it again in this army if I get the chance. Nothing says decadent like red leather.

The other arm features a set of tentacles, again taken from the Forgefiend kit. There are also meat hooks and the fleshy, demonic maw from whence the tendrils spring. Very time consuming, but lots of fun, and it was nice doing the conversion work.

This shoulder features more symbols and probably the bit that I’m most disappointed with. It was supposed to be skin stitched together. It kind of looks like it and this photo doesn’t flatter. But it’s ok – not my best work, but thankfully, there’s plenty that distracts from it.

On its roof, there is an homage to the monster’s past. The richer, more regal hue of purple has a scuffed and distorted ‘III’ on the top of this Knight pays homage to the Emperor’s Children’s distant history. Also, there’s a bloody handprint on the inside of the glass. The daemon that bound itself to the machine obviously didn’t take too kindly to the pilot…

And there is the fanged grin, the horned helm and the demonic eyes staring out from the viewing slit. A grim and fitting face for this behemoth. And its name, in low gothic, Dios Toros, or ‘God of Bulls’ harking back to the old Keeper of Secrets models, and the appetites and aggression of the male bovine. Hopefully it’s all representative of a very Slaaneshi knight-mare.

So there you have it. The biggest model I’ve ever tackled, the brightest I’ve ever painted and lots of fun. I hope you like it. I’m just happy that it’s all done and I can start thinking about smaller models again. But those will come soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy a few more snaps. Onwards!

The model was painted using a wide variety of brushes, was undercoated black, and Citadel Paints were used throughout.