Rich Dando is the Warhammer Community team’s moustachioed Content & Data Coordinator. A relatively quiet and unassuming character (well, except for the moustache), few realise that bubbling just beneath his seemingly placid (some would say ‘cherubic’) exterior lies a secret yearning… a hunger of sorts… an appetite for DESTRUCTION!
Rich: It seems a lifetime ago – the Summer of 1998 – that one fateful day, a much smaller Rich (with a slightly less elaborate facial hair arrangement) was bravely conquering the world-that-was, one participation game at a time. He used his beloved artillery army of Nuln upon the hallowed ground of Games Workshop Lincoln.
Suddenly, something caught his eye – and certain world domination was temporarily put on hold. It was a boxed set unlike any he’d seen before, holding not one, but TWO giants! Imagine how cool it would be to field TWO giants! Imagine the destruction… Imagine the mayhem! The fiendish idea burrowed itself deep into a dark and dusty corner of his brain – an idea that would take decades to reach fruition…
Over the next twenty-something years, I converted all manner of oddities, and cultivated a fine moustache in the hope that it would distract from my distinctly mediocre converting prowess, and uncannily dire dice-rolling skills.
Cut to 2019, and – one hazy Tuesday, somewhere between my second and third pot of coffee (that might explain the haziness, but I digress), I stumbled down a sublime rabbit hole of Warhammer Age of Sigmar lore. I was intoxicated by the imagery, the scale, and the relatively blank canvas the setting offered. Then I uncovered a warscroll battalion called Sons of Behemat – an army composed entirely of gargants. Somewhere in the back of my brain, that fiendish idea reared its head once more.
It was an army of gargants. I only needed five. This would be a nice, simple project, right? It couldn’t possibly get out of hand, or silly in any way.
So, as a gift to my younger self and a conversion challenge to my current self, I began work on five gargants. The idea was that I would convert each – re-posing them, customising their weapons, and accessorising each member of the tribe to be unique. However, when I showed pictures of my creations to a friend, they had one they weren’t using, which they passed to me. And so the tribe grew beyond my original expectations.
I now had a bit of a predicament. The warscroll battalion called for gargants in groups of five. I had six, so naturally, logic dictated that I needed to round up to ten. Somehow I wound up with eleven. You can see where this is going.
I soon gained a reputation as ‘the gargant guy’. To date, I’ve had six friends donate unused and unloved gargants to the tribe. I’ve taken them in, given them a home and dutifully chopped them to pieces, howling in maniacal laughter.
Meet the Tribe
I’ll start with some of the early inductees to the tribe. I wanted to emphasise their origins in Ghur, festooning them in monster parts – a Stardrake head, Bastiladon skins, and skulls aplenty thanks to some choice pieces from the Ghorgon kit! Of course, I had to pay homage to one of the old Giants of Albion models which first inspired this project by including a model throwing a giant lump of masonry.
More ‘elders’ (aka my earlier conversions), this time with a few more subtle accessories. I’m particularly fond of the pendants which I half-inched from the Rockgut Troggoths kit and reworked to fit the gargants.
The gargant on the left is the one I’m most proud of. He includes the head from one of the older Warhammer Giant kits (from all the way back in the year 2000!) and it fits really rather well – most people don’t realise that it’s a conversion at all. I’ve grouped these three together, as they share a common theme: each has a little human ‘friend’ – or should that be snack?
Naturally, I couldn’t just stop at just nine painted gargants, could I? So, I rounded the tribe up to a nice even ten with a Bonegrinder from Forge World, who I call ‘Ronald.’ Ronald is a lovely chap.
And that, dear reader, is the tale of my Sons of Behemat tribe – a nice, even, ten gargants. Ten and absolutely no more. Though the project did somewhat exceed my initial plans, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the amount I’ve learned throughout the process. Some of the conversion skills and painting tricks that I’ve picked up along the way will prove incredibly useful for future projects.
A Small Confession
Okay, I’ve not been quite honest. What you see above isn’t actually the whole of the tribe. You see, I’m hovering somewhere around the 50 gargant mark at this point, with the others in various states of assembly, conversion, and painting. Here are a few work-in-progress inductees who will find their way onto my painting table shortly.
Below are a few of my most recent conversions, and some that I’m most proud of. The pointing hand may seem like a small detail, but it took me half a dozen attempts to get right, and I’m really proud of the finished piece. The hornblower is an idea that I’ve had since the Beasts of Chaos Endless Spells were released and again, it took me many, many attempts to get the pose just right. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but he’s getting there. The bearded chap and pointing gargant both have snacks in tow, pilfered mercilessly from the Mourngul and Rockgut Troggoth kits.
Wait – There’s More!
What started as a simple, low model count force of just five gargants has developed into something of a beast – but I’m not done yet. Not by a long shot. Here’s a sneaky look at just a few of the components I have lined up for some future additions to the tribe.
It probably goes without saying that I’m more than a little excited about the forthcoming Battletome: Sons of Behemat. The chance to lose myself in more immersive lore, to learn about the backstory and structure of the gargant tribes of the Mortal Realms and discover their culture… it’s pure idea food for future conversions!
As for the new mega-gargant revealed at last weekend’s preview… You can be sure that I’ll be adding more than a few of those imposing behemoths to the tribe. Maybe I’ll pop back and provide an update on the tribe’s progress once they’ve been added.
Thanks, Rich! If you want to read more about the Sons of Behemat, take a look at this article which will give you an overview of exactly what we know so far about these colossi – and study the first pictures of the new mega-gargant models from our most recent online preview!