Ahzek Ahriman - Ultimate Archivist

Abracadabra! Azhek Ahriman, First Captain and Chief Librarian of the XV Legion

The last member of the XV Legion from GW's "Burning of Prospero" box set is Ahzek Ahriman, First Captain, Chief Librarian and all-around spooky dude from the Thousand Sons. Last to cross the finish line on my painting desk, but not least!

A very powerful psyker and warrior, Ahriman is one of the most senior officers in the XV Legion - a repository or knowledge and history, as well as a powerful warrior. I see the Thousand Sons as basically archivists with power armour and big guns.  As such, he is the ultimate archivist! He is also at the forefront of the rather dark fate suffered by the Thousand Sons as they succumb to the risks that come from trying to master the powers of the warp... 

Check out the "groundwork" that Ahriman is using to brace himself...

You could paint the "terrain" to be from any Legion, I suppose, but only one Legion will fit the theme from "Burning of Prospero"...

This is a multi-part plastic model from GW.  It is a fantastic sculpt, but the small little bead-like threads on his cool staff are sure to break at some point, so I continue to be firm in my belief that there are no plastic figures which wouldn't be better as metal figures...

A brilliant sculpting job...the post, the animation, it's so well done.  You can feel him gathering the power to unleash some manner of terrible power from the warp...

Grumbling aside, as I said, the sculptors here did a really, really awesome job on Ahriman.  This looks SO much cooler than his (in my subjective opinion) lame and overwrought 40k equivalent (check it out to get an idea of how things turn out for the Thousand Sons). The pose is just great...you can feel him summoning some manner of dire power to land doom upon his enemies! They even provide a little piece of terrain for him to stand on the base...the wreckage of a Mark III power-armoured marine!

Ahriman poses with some other command models from his Legion

This was a real challenge to paint - in a good way!  There is a ton of detail on the figure that will really engage you to push your brush skills.  I tried my best with the chain of glyphs hanging in front of the tabard on his armour...I really wanted to make them appear to be glowing, as the studio painters at GW manage to do...but alas, I'm not a studio painter. I'm still really pleased with the figure overall, however, and I look forward to using this bad-ass in a game some time.

The XV Legion assembles...

The Host of Prospero so far...20 veteran tactical marines, five Tartaros pattern terminators, and one extremely-bad-ass archivist...

With Ahriman painted, the Thousand Sons contingent from my "Burning of Prospero" box set is now finished.  Not only can they defend their home on the GW board game, but this group could also provide the very bare bones of a Thousand Sons force in a game of 30k.  Archivists with big guns and armour! Pretty cool stuff...might have to add some more units to this bunch...