Fulgrim Transfigured is a Primarch reshaped by the overwhelming power of Chaos. His beautiful and terrifying new form was captured by veteran miniatures designer Sam, who was also responsible for 14 of the original Primarch miniatures, as well as the terrifying Horus Ascended. He was kind enough to explain to Warhammer Community about what went into this gorgeous centrepiece miniature.
Warhammer Community: What was the thought process when designing Fulgrim Transfigured?
Sam: After the nerves? Well, first I knew that I had to collect as much information on Fulgrim and his daemon form as possible – artwork, descriptions, Black Library stories. Every Primarch I have sculpted involves this process. They are incredibly important characters not just to the lore, but to the fans of the Horus Heresy, so you have to do them justice. Part of designing a Primarch is meeting long-standing expectations, but also pushing past them to create something really special. That’s very exciting, but also a big responsibility.
After taking all of that into consideration, everything had to begin with the pose. There were a lot of elements to work out – four arms, a serpentine tail, two massive wings, and it all had to be viable as a physical miniature. Once I had figured out a pose that had all of those aspects working in concert, it was all about filling in the details.
WarCom: What elements did you take from previous renditions of the Phoenician?
Sam: There are quite a few nods to the original Horus Heresy Fulgrim miniature such as the features on the cape, parts of the armour design, and the elaborate elements of filigree and the winged palatine aquila, which are all stretched and warped by the power of Chaos. Some things like the backpack from the artwork in Visions of Heresy had to change because there was no way of making it work in a way that fit with the wings and still feel believable.
The solution was to subsume it into his flesh and make it part of Fulgrim himself, which made him just that little bit more daemonic. One of the joys of sculpting in digital is getting to rework elements over and over, or design elements that couldn’t work in a physical sculpt. Designs evolve over time, and what I had in my mind for Fulgrim initially is not the end result – the idea grows as you work on it.
WarCom: What other details evolved during the design process?
Sam: I was able to really refine Fulgrim’s face, and I think it really captures both his beautiful and daemonic nature. I was also able to add a greater sense of motion in the hair and the parchment flowing behind from his weapons and body. Originally the tabards were going to be made of skinned faces, but it felt too unrefined for a character like Fulgrim, so the faces ended up stitched into the cloth around his waist.
While thinking of ways to reinforce his daemonic look I went back to look at the original Realm of Chaos books.* The swirling masses of eyes and teeth that make up the page furniture in those books inspired elements of the armour and the weapons too. It makes him so much darker.
Sculpting all of the individual scales on the body was extremely time-consuming but it adds a lot to the sense of motion because they’re all following the lines of movement instead of just being texture.
There's no Slaanesh symbol wholly present on the miniature, but there are little nods to it. The spiked leather glove on the weaponless hand evokes that classic Slaaneshi look, and the skin on his back is modelled on a corset too. For the weapons themselves, those twisted Realms of Chaos motifs reappear. The spear actually wasn’t part of the original design, but I tried it out and it added quite a lot to the silhouette and the sense of elegance, so we kept it in as an option.
Thank you for covering so much about the design of this gorgeous miniature, Sam. Fulgrim Transfigured is available to pre-order on Friday, and his rules are available in Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Exemplary Battles of The Age of Darkness: Volume One.
* Which are available to buy at Warhammer World in Nottingham.