Warhammer and creative minds go together like bolt pistols and chainswords, and if you’re anything like us, you’re always coming up with new ideas for who your leaders and sergeants are when they do something particularly cool on the tabletop.
So imagine our enthusiasm when the Crucible of Champions book came along with full custom character rules! We had a quick play with them when we talked about how they work yesterday, but the need to convert our own champions was irrepressible. Here’s what we came up with.
Graeme
My first project of 2026 is a Necrons army, so when I got my hands on Crucible of Champions, I eagerly checked what I could add to my undying legion, and the idea of a noble who’s fallen to the Flayer’s curse immediately grabbed me – helped by the fact that I recently read Nate Crowley’s The Twice-Dead King novels, which prominently feature Flayed Ones.
I grabbed a spare Overlord from the Combat Patrol set and a box of Flayed Ones, and started cutting and gluing. The actual kitbash was really simple – I chose a pair of arms that worked with the torso to make their pose look regal and terrifying, and swapped the head for one from the Flayed Ones sprue. I also cut away part of the Overlord’s decorative tassels to add a severed arm, and found another flayed skin piece from a Flesh-eater Courts kit to add to their back as a sort of demi-cloak. Royalty should always be stylish, after all. And thus was born Ashnasir the Excoriator.
The datasheet creation was even simpler, thanks to the singular focus of the miniature. They’re a Dynastic Conqueror with the Flayer Curse Specialism, Flayer claws, and the United In Destruction ability, because the idea of Flayed Ones gaining Lethal Hits on their claws tickles me – much like those claws will tickle the flesh of their enemies, albeit briefly before they start slicing. I’ve not taken them to the battlefield yet – largely because I need to paint some Flayed Ones for them to lead – but I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.
Rob
I may have gone a bit giddy when I first looked over the Crucible book, and since I have a sizable stash of spare parts within arm’s reach, it was difficult to stop at just one or two custom guys.
I’ve always wanted another Leader for my T’au Pathfinder squads, as Darkstrider can’t be everywhere at once, so finding out I could modify the Shas’nel archetype with the Veteran Scout specialism to make this happen was an instant winner. The model itself was a fairly simple kitbash of Darkstrider and some leftover Pathfinder parts, though I stuck a wedge of cork on the base to straighten out the legs’ posture since Darkstrider is leaning much further forward than I wanted.
Even better, I can give him a rail rifle to contribute to the squad’s damage – and what damage. The Shas’nel archetype shares the Cadre Fireblade’s classic Volley Fire ability to add an extra shot to the unit’s ranged attacks, and Sub-commander Sharpspear applies it to rail rifles in the Pathfinder squad too. Double the firepower! The T’au agenda cannot be denied.
After getting him together, I couldn’t help but try to make some of the more unorthodox options. The Techmarine in Phobos armour was a pretty painless conversion that worked out nicely, while the Sentinel needed a bit more cutting and sawing to get the hatch panel to pop open.* The officer giving orders from above was made out of the Baneblade tank commander’s parts, tilted forwards so he looks like he’s leaning over the vehicle.
I had the most fun with Overlord Vesztakh, the Thronebound King, who I enjoyed making so much I even started painting him. I made him by using the Triarchal Overseer archetype and furnished it with an Overlord’s classic voidscythe and My Will Be Done ability so he’s more of a noble than an enforcer. The idea is that he’s so unbelievably arrogant that he refuses to step on ground touched by the common rabble, and so goes everywhere atop his Triarch Stalker instead.**
Andy
One of my favourite parts of Warhammer is creating characters and lore for my armies, so the moment I saw these rules I was hooked. My first creation is a Champion of the Chapter to lead my Deathwing Terminator Assault Squad.
The body is actually a bunch of different Terminator parts spliced together: the back and cape comes from the Leviathan Terminator Captain, while the legs and tabard are from the regular Terminator Captain. The chest plate is from the Dark Angels upgrade sprue, and the head is left over from a Saturnine Terminator.
I wanted to make my character really stand out from the rest of my Terminators, and chose to give him a lion pelt like the models of Lion El’Jonson and the Horus Heresy’s Corswain. This was taken from the Wolf Guard Terminators, with the wolf skull removed and replaced with a lion head from the Lion Chariots of Chrace. I imagine that as the Champion of the Deathwing, he was gifted this pelt by the Primarch in recognition of his martial skills.
As a Deathwing Champion, my character would wield a Halberd of Caliban, so I grabbed one from the old Deathwing Command Squad that I had in my bits box. I used the head from that, but the haft was taken from a Grey Knight Terminator to allow it to be held one-handed in a sweeping gesture.
In terms of the rules, I had to choose the Terminator Armour Specialism to give him the appropriate profile, and I opted for the Tactical Precision ability to help boost his unit as he leads them into the fray. His halberd fits perfectly as a Great weapon of the Unforgiven. There were lots of ranged weapons I could have given him, but the classic Deathwing Champion model didn’t have a gun and I preferred the model to be pointing out his next target. He’ll just have to rely on his battle brethren to take care of the shooty side of things until I can convert a Watcher in the Dark to carry a plasma talon for him (yep, plasma talons are a gun option for Dark Angels characters!).
All that remained was to give him a name from one of the old Codex: Dark Angels name generators and invent a fancy title, and I had Zerachiel, Champion of the Deathwing, the Heir of Corswain.***
More and more custom characters are cropping up in Warhammer Community Towers every day, from Genestealer Cults psykers on dirt bikes and Khornate Jakhal champions to flying Drukhari Haemonculi and Librarian Dreadnoughts from the vaults of Baal. We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with, so make sure to pre-order The Maelstrom: Lair of the Tyrant on Saturday and let your creativity flow!
* Yes, I could have just built a Scout Sentinel and left the roof out entirely, but I pictured him as more of a ‘front line brawler’ kind of guy.
** He thinks his epithet is regal, but really it’s his Crypteks mocking him for being stuck on his ‘throne’.
*** Before anyone starts thinking this is new official Warhammer lore – it’s just my army’s lore. These rules are for creating your own characters to lead your own forces, after all! Give your own champions whatever names you’d like.
