Painting Challenge Submission #7 - Word Bearer Apostle

"Prepare to believe" - Word Bearer apostle. 28mm plastic figure from GW.

My second batch of submissions to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge included more 30k subjects (hardly a big surprise to anyone who has followed even a little bit of this blog, I expect). The first of these was just a single figure, but still important one, because as we know in the world of the Space Marines, sometimes you "gotta BELIEVE". That is what this fellow is all about - a Space Marine Chaplain, painted in the colours of the XVII Legion Astartes, the fanatical "Word Bearers". The figure is a multi-part plastic kit from GW's Horus Heresy range. 

Some symbols on his cloak for...you know...good luck!

This figure was originally released back in 2015 as part of GW's "Betrayal at Calth" box set. The set caused much excitement at the time, as it represented the first wave of plastic figures for the Horus Heresy setting, which had been previously limited to Forge World and its, er, "uneven" resin quality. 

What is Calth, and who was betrayed there? Well, that story involves the Ultramarines, so who cares? For the purposes of this blog post, it is sufficient to know the Word Bearers were the "bad guys" and that they are total nutters. This figure was intended to represent a fellow named Kurtha Sedd, a character from the Legion who emblematic of the, let's call it, "spiritual journey" the Word Bearers followed in the 30k setting. 

How does Kurtha Sedd view the world of the 31st millenium? Well, his unofficial title is "dark apostle"...so let's just say he was into strong belief and "spiritual diversity".

GW's sculptors did nice work on this figure, he has a nice sense of movement. You get the sense that pistol shot is coming at point blank range...

The thing with Kurtha Sedd and the Word Bearers is that they believe in stuff. One might surmise they are a far-future-space parody of devout religious figures from history, but this view misses the depth of possible comedy and commentary on offer. Never mind even the loudest preachers or devout religious nutters of our world, past and present. Take, rather, the secular and technocratic post-modern drivel mongers, intersectionalist fools and climate doomsters who today infest and necrotize our educational, cultural and government institutions. Put them in power armour, and give them a bolt gun. Then - THEN - you would have basis for the Word Bearers.

The Word Bearers tried to believe in The Emperor, but He told them not to for some reason. Jerk. So the Word Bearers found other vessels for belief. Some call these other vessels "demonic warp powers", but who's to say if that is true? The Word Bearers came to see Warmaster Horus would do nicely as an improvement on The Emperor. But this regime change was not an end, but a beginning - as a means to a BIGGER PICTURE. 

And they are here to help you believe too! With the right amount of faith - enhanced where necessary by gunfire, chainswords and maybe just a SLIGHT amount of blood sacrifice - you too can live a life of full potential! In, er, many dimensions! You can disrupt structural Emperor-normative discourse patterns, and DO BETTER. They believe so much they write it all down on their armour - so it is easier for you to see!

"You can read it on my armour!"

The Word Bearers are fun, and their armour and kit look cool. For all that, I'm not (yet) tipping over into collecting a force for yet another Space Marine Legion. Rather, I see this fellow as an attached specialist to the Sons of Horus. Why batter your way through enemy defences when this chap, with his expertise in variable-spiritual-dimension-geometry, can just help with a "shortcut", ensuring all concerned understand this portable-hole-through-an-adjacent-warp-dimension-that-just-appeared-out-of-nowhere will, in fact, take you behind enemy lines. You just have to believe...

This one 28mm figure was only five more points toward my total, but it was nice to get this guy painted and ready for the shelf. Stay tuned for more 30k stuff, and more submissions to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - not only from me, but from Mike, Dallas, Dave, Frederick and Byron!