The Tzaanitaur

Sadly, I missed Ex Profundis' 'The Eclipse' modelling/painting competition back in the spring, but I decided to do something for the Monster Competition.  After an extensive rooting through of my bitz and bobz, I settled upon building a Tzaanitaur to go with my Tzaangors.  Enjoy!

   

Although Minotaurs are sometimes found in the service of Tzeentch; such a beast is not by definition a Tzaanitaur.  Occasionally, a Minotaur is calved that is slight, scrawny, and poorly formed.  It is their bestial tradition to give such a calf to Tzeentch as an offering.  The deformed infant is laid upon a stone on a hill far away from their tribe and left to be picked over by the birds.  It may be that it is torn to shreds and killed at this point if it is weak or unworthy, but maybe it brays loudly enough in protest to catch Tzeentch's ear.  If it does, it will find itself swept up in a whirlwind of flesh and feathers, reshaped into its patron's image, and born again as a pawn and prophet to Tzeentch.

Despite being as savage as its Bullgor brethren, the Tzaanitaur is gifted with a bestial cunning.  It is always a step ahead of its foes due in part to its closeness to the changer of ways, but also due to its innate understanding of prophecy.  When a savage Bullgor slays an enemy, it stops to feast on the remains; but when a Tzaanitaur slays an enemy, it sifts through the remains to read the augur signs, granting it knowledge of the future.

And here he is with his buddies, some Tzaangors I converted out of plastic Gors and leftover Tzaangor Enlightened bitz.

WIP

The Tzaanitaur was converted from a Stone Troll, some Beastmen horns, and Chaos Spawn bitz (head and vestigial wings).  I did some greenstuff fur on the shoulders to make him seem beastial, and to connect the wings.

Here, he's just got some basecoats put down and the wings attached.  At this point, I still hadn't added the gemstone to the weapon.