The Cogfort can be taken in any Warhammer Age of Sigmar army, so we challenged four hobbyists to convert this stunning miniature to match the rest of their army. Here are the results.
Emma: The idea behind Death’s Raven is that it’s an Outlaw Cogfort that was once in the service of Lethis. The Freeguilds of Lethis are accustomed to the dead, and sometimes even the Undead serve Sigmar’s will. But, what would it look like if a Cogfort and its crew went rogue and started serving a Vampire Lord?
Lethisian Cogforts are known for their dire aesthetics, looking like moving mausoleums, so I used one of the Cursed Sepulchre buildings and grafted it carefully on the front. Other touches of vampire taint are the Shyishan bat swarms – using the Soulblight Gravelords: Manifestations Sanguine Swarm – a royal banner of the vampire’s house – transplanted from the Blood Knights kit – and some weapons and heads for the crew from the Deathrattle Skeletons.* They still retain their Freeguild fatigues, almost like past memories.
Painting the Cogfort was amazing! Drybrushing the stones and wood was the best way to get a lot covered and an even texture, using Mechanicus Standard Grey up to Administratum Grey, with some stones picked out with highlights. The green roofing was stippled on with some ripped-up sponge, going up from a solid black undercoat, Lupercal Green, and blending in Sotek Green in every step.
For the purple tones associated with Lethis and the realmstone of Shyish, Naggaroth Night and Genestealer Purple never let me down, along with a few highlights of Slaanesh Grey for those really worn places. I ran some thinned Phoenician Purple in between all the stones and gaps in the wood, showing that the magic of the realm really does get everywhere. Then I added in some oxidation with thinned-down Mournfang Brown and Sotek Green, depending on what metals it was on.
Jonathan: Birthed from the fires of the Eightpoints, the Nexus Fort heralds the coming of Chaos! The bound Nexus Chaotica carves ley lines across the Mortal Realms to guide the forces of Archaon's wrath!
I created the Nexus Fort by combining two Nexus Chaotica models to create a ring and attached it to the main body of the Cogfort. I then converted the portcullis into a pulpit for my Chaos Sorcerer to stand upon. For the engine, I kept the shell but replaced the engine with a floating obelisk from the nexus kit. I wanted it to look like it’s drawing dark power and feeding the Cogfort. I tried to give the illusion that it's floating away, tethered by chains – the stone doesn't want to be subjugated and is actively trying to escape.
For the paint theme, I wanted to steer away from a grubby, dark depiction of Chaos and focus on this being more of a rare gem in Archaon's army – something resplendent and shining. To do this, I used reds and golds to portray that regal aesthetic, whilst keeping some shades of green to echo the dark magic that powers it.
Eddie: I've started work on quite an ambitious Cogfort kitbash for my army from a Ghyranite city in the Realm of Life.
Rather than walking on piston-driven feet, this Cogfort is mounted on a mighty Wardroth Beetle. The giant insect comes from the Alarielle miniature (I used Alarielle herself elsewhere to create another conversion).
I've incorporated various bits of foliage and growth across the model, including a little sprout growing out of the chimney. The extra vegetation fits really nicely with the already plant-inspired coiling ironwork on many of the wooden plates. I can't wait to paint it.
Ben: What if a Cogfort was possessed by Tzeentchian sorcery and many, many daemons? This was the kitbash question I set out to solve, and I’m pretty satisfied with the answers that the God of Change blessed me with (as much as you can trust answers from Tzeentch anyway).
Inspired by the image of the Impossible Fortress from Warhammer Fantasy, the idea of a massive tower defying physics and floating above some magical tumult appealed to me greatly! The biggest and most Tzeentchian tempest-based miniatures appear to be the Argent Shards, so mounting the entire thing on one of those seemed like a great idea.
But what to do with the other Shard? Obviously, that’s a power source whipped into existence by daemons. What of the flamer, though? Surely Tzeentch needs no pyroleum? Absolutely right, my cabalistic colleague, clearly all that’s needed is an Exalted Flamer to force their concentrated fire and ire into a tube!
Just as planned.
Thanks, folks! The new Cogfort is available to pre-order tomorrow and makes for an amazing centrepiece of any Mortal Realms force.
* You could say they’re a skeleton crew!
