December Vote Results and Final WIPs

Hello!

Final updates are here but let's check out the poll results first. The Balrog nabbed the top spot pretty convincingly with the Verminlord coming a distant second. I'll definitely add them into the January queue and I'll include an original character in there as well. Third place, I don't know all the votes for these suggestions seem pretty lukewarm at best so I'll think about what to do there.

But let's turn to the final Grimdark updates for this month. I'm only showing the alternate versions on patreon. Complete set will be shown through email. As one of the Big Three, Logan Grimnar deserves a whole onslaught of poses! So the Great Wolf is going have ones for chopping, smashing, shooting to rip and tear through pretty much anything he comes across. Special howl pose that will make the Great Enemy cower and the Inquisition run for the hills. Fenrys Hjolda, brothers! 🔥

And as promised, the Great Wolf will participate in the annual tradition of transforming into Grimdark Santa! Legend has it that during Sanguinala, Grimdark Santa rides Stormrider to all the loyal worlds of the Imperium. Guided by Emperor blessed 'reindeer', Grimdark Santa flies to each Hive City and air drops bolters and chainswords to all the good little kids in the Imperium. What a great guy! 😄👍

Oh, and I also snuck in one more pose for the Void Dragon. Felt like it looked too static in the last WIP so I added one more.

And without further ado, let's turn to this month's bonus character.

As I mentioned last month, the Gaunt's Ghosts series is one of the oldest and most prestigious that BL has. I really can't do the series justice with a quick summary so I'll just a give brief overview about it for newcomers. Ibram Gaunt is a commissar tasked with raising a regiment on the world of Tanith. But while he was on the planet, a huge Chaos invasion rolled in and threatened to outright destroy the entire Imperial forces stationed there. Forced to make a tough choice, Gaunt evacuated the planet with as much manpower as he could muster, leaving the world to overrun by the Archenemy.

From the planets survivors, he formed the Tanith First and Only, named as such because only one regiment would ever be raised from it. Gaunt promised the survivors that if they followed him and served the Emperor, they would be rewarded with a new planet to colonize and settle on. And from that premise, one of the most legendary group of misfits and Imperial Guard characters would be born.

Gaunt's Ghosts really does have an amazing cast of characters. You have crazy characters and characters that want to kill Gaunt. Some are heroic characters, some truly despicable characters and many who fall somewhere in between.

As for Gaunt himself, well let me put it this way. There are a lot of commissars running around in the Grimdark universe but very few I'd say are three dimensional characters. Cain is a fan favourite but you respect him in the same way you'd respect Blackadder's wit and laugh at him when all the hijinks blow up in his face. Yarrick is legendary but his myth can only be observed from a distance and I'm not really sure what the hell the writers are doing with him lately, it looks very indecisive from my perspective. Chalk it up to too many cooks in the kitchen. 😅

Anyways, Gaunt is probably the only commissar that has a career progression which unfolds fairly realistically in 40K with all the obstacles, political intrigue, setbacks, victories and day to day challenges a commissar faces. He's not overpowered, has actually been dragged through the coals quite often (his eyes were ripped out during an extensive Chaos torture session. Gaunt needed bionic replacements hence the intimidating green glowing eyes) and there is an argument to made that he's not necessarily a good commissar. His execution rate is way below average but then again his soldiers will follow him into Chaos corrupted worlds without question so morale is not an issue.

The Imperial Guard fear and respect the sash and what it represents but very few soldiers care about the person wearing it. So if you want to read an epic series about a commissar that you can actually look up to unironically, go with Gaunt. He is in many ways, "The One and Only" if you get what I'm saying. 😉 So I've tried to do him just with a bunch of poses that fit his bearing. Full set will be shown through email.

Wow, that's another Grimdark month and another year! 😲 Just wanted to say I'm incredibly thankful to the amazing community for all the help and support which allows me to keep making cool stuff. I can only hope to keep creating things that the community will enjoy. Thanks everyone for another great year, you are all the best! 🤗

Full release items will be posted in January and will include all the WIP content this month. But until then, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays! 🥳