The Jaskorh Bat’lethii
The heavy blade parted the thick plate armour as easily as a sheet of parchment. The flesh and bone inside might as well have been water. The Jaskorh Bat’lethii methodically cut down the humans like weeds, the magnificent Bat’leth blades which gave them their names swinging in great arches around the heavily armour Dwarfs. Guntharr alone was allowed to show his face again, and his scarred features displaying madness and joy in equal measure.
“Who dares to stand before the Tower of Jaskorh?”, he shouted as he bisected another manling from hair to groin. “You?” Another one dead. “You?” The next one. The men the Bat’lethii were fighting held the manlings center, and he could see that the other regiments looked to them for guidance. While those could be dealt with by the remaining Infernal Guard, these ones were his to slay. The Bat’lethii were always found where the fighting was thickest. Killing the most powerful foe was their duty. For Guntharr it was a prerogative. These ones were supposed to be the manling’s elite. So far, Guntharr was not impressed.
To his left, he saw Akzhor pierced by an equally large blade. Finally a worthy opponent! The Greatsword’s champion pulled his blade from Akzhor’s body, but before he could strike again, Guntharr was upon him. Both Men and Dwarfs gave them room. The manling said something in their crude language but Guntharr paid him no heed and attacled. They traded a few blows, far faster than their large weapons should have allowed. This one at least knew which end of his blade was the sharp one. It didn’t do him much good. Guntharr fluently switched between grips on his Bat’Leth, turning any reverse stroke into the next attack. Before long, the human couldn’t keep up and an opening presented itself. Blood gushed forwards in a thick stream from the stump where moments before the human’s left leg was. He cried like an infant as he dropped to the ground, immediately followed by Guntharr’s blade.
With their champion dead, the Greatswords’ spirit was finally broken and they turned to flee the battlefield. None made it past three steps. When the lesser humans saw their best fighters humiliated and cut down, the little trust they had in their own skill was equally destroyed and panic swept through their ranks like ripples on a lake. Many ended up in chains, more would fertilize the barren soil with their blood. Only a handful escaped to tell the story of the Tower of Jaskorh.
At last, I’ve arrived.
For years I had plans to convert the last 21 of my Infernal Guard into a unit with Great Weapons. And for years, I wanted to use the awesome glaive weapons of the Wood Elf Wildwood Rangers. Finally I stopped worrying about how I would screw his up and just did it.
The Infernal Guard models aren’t exactly perfect for conversions. The shoulders are attached to the torso with the arms separate from the elbow. That’s already a bad start. First I did a prototype, where I used one of the glaives and the hands/shaft from a Hammerer to create the first straight-forward weapon. I used Blu Tack to temporarily attach it to one of the Infernal Guard. I was pretty happy about it! It’s truly massive, though, and the position of the arms would mean that it stretches way beyond the actual Dwarf model. Cool as a concept, but maybe not the best idea afterall.
Still, encouraging first results. And speaking of encouragement, the positive feedback from the CDO community in the discord was truly overwhelming and made me so happy! This thing was in my head for so long and I wasn’t sure if it would come out well enough. It’s an Elgi weapon after all! I went to bed happy and had an epiphany - switch the blade around! The next day, a second prototype was done. It had something, everything looked much stockier and Dwarfish, but the blade just didn’t look right. For the third prototype I put both hands outside the blade. It looked a little weird too, but this was pretty close to what I had in mind. And it finally dawned on me that I was chasing something like a Klingon Bat’leth!
I primed and painted all prototypes to get a better feeling. Finally I decided to go with the third option, as I liked the overall look the most, plus it would just be the most unique thing in the end.
With the decision made, it was time for the actual work. The weapons were quickly assembled, but the Infernal Guard torsos still needed some work. The arms would have to be filled at the elbows to have them more at an angle. This proved more difficult then I hoped after the Blu Tack. I couldn’t get the angle I wanted, both because it looks weird enough already (as you can see that the arms are bent in an unnatural way) but also because the beard would get in the way. And even if I finally found the courage to actually do the work, I was still trying to do as little permanent modifications to the Infernal Guard models as possible.
Thanks to the move to 25mm bases for TOW, they rank up. I am very glad that I didn’t go with the original weapon concept, because those would not have been possiblt to rank up. Overall I am super happy with how they turned out, even if I’d wish they would hold their weapons more … vertically. The champion also needs more work, as I’m not happy with his left arm. Also his weapon needs more attention. Still, I finally have Infernal Guard with Great Weapons!