White Scars Bros of the Red Horse
This post is dedicated to my father, Mark, who set me on my miniature painting journey at around the age of seven (nearly 40 years ago now).
I am back for my second official army showcase, and it is proper that we cover the White Scars for a couple of reasons! A few years ago, the White Scars became my second love (to the Dark Angels); however, they are my most played Heresy army. Secondly, the White Scars will once again ride this coming weekend at the Heresy Hammer HQ first official event!
Jaghatai Khan, Primarch of White Scars
The Warhkawk was probably my favorite ever model. I really pulled out the stops on this one.
You can tell from the title of this post that my White Scars come from my own Brotherhood of the Red Horse. I really stepped up my decal game with this army, and it also has the most lore of any of my armies, both background lore, as well as lore around its numerous engagements. I will not get too far into the weeds with that here. Perhaps that is another future post…
I started the White Scars at the end of 1st edition when they were very much a bike-focused army. I wanted to do something different, so I went infantry heavy. This was around the time that the Jaghatai Khan model was unveiled, and I really thought he was the most beautiful Primarch I had seen up to that point. I hadn’t previously given the V Legion much attention. I had read Scars and didn’t really connect with it at the time. However, a second pass, followed by Path of Heaven and any of the other lore I could get my hands on really allowed me to connect with the Sons of Chogoris.
Several lightbox pictures of my White Scars. Seeing this makes me realize how much of the army I do not have properly photographed. The army is set post-Chondax, with a pretty solid mix of Armour Marks from 2 to 6. Sadly, you can’t see that much in this selection of pictures.
In a few days, three years ago, my father took his own life. I won’t say more on the subject here. I am a relatively open book when it comes to mental health issues, but who knows who out of the 50 people or so will read this? Regardless, you can imagine that was a difficult time for me. I threw myself into my White Scars. I painted all the zig-zag patterns you can imagine. Even now, you can see that every infantryman in this army is bespoke. There are no identical models. Well, I did paint a squad of Inductii later, and they may obviously be uniform. However, that is a deliberate choice.
Anyway, this is the final reason that this army is so special to me. I always say the Dark Angels are my first love, and that is true. However, the White Scars are my favorite army, and it isn’t even close. I have a visceral connection to this army. There is a bit of my blood in each army, thanks to hobby knives. There is also a bit of sweat, as well. Nevertheless, this is the army that has the most tears in it. The White Scars will always be connected to the greatest loss of my life.
Kyzaghan Khan and Oyuun Besud “The Rock of Chogoris”, of the Brotherhood of the Red Horse
Kyzaghan Khan (name taken from the Turkic god of war, then later realized that is where Forge World got the name for the Land Speeder) is the warlord of my army. However, Oyuun Besud has a bit of a richer history. After foiling Calas Typhon numerous times, he earned his nickname from Chris.
To focus back on the army, what is the deal with the Brotherhood of the Red Horse? Well, I had started printing my own decals not too long before that. I found that the lighter the surface you printed on, the better home-printed decals show. I had mostly used all-black decals, then started to get a bit more adventurous with color on my mostly grey Alpha Legion. I knew the white of the Scars would allow a wide-open pallet! So, when it comes to looking for images to use for decals, I throw my net wide. I could not even tell you at this point what came first…the idea for a Mongolian-style horse, or the image itself. Nevertheless, I found two great images that ended up becoming the basis for the symbol for my brotherhood. I found these beautiful watercolor red horses. I have a bunch of other Asian symbols across the army as well. And before you say the symbols should only be Mongolian/Chinese, please remember that this is a fictional world in science fiction, not an Earth culture! So, I can do what the fuck I want (respectfully).
As I mentioned previously, the army was mostly infantry from the start. The idea was actually to flip the White Scars a bit on their head. When 2nd edition came out, the prevailing idea was that White Scars were bad. I felt like I could make them good with a bit of work. By the end of 2nd edition, everyone knew Sagyar Mazan was brutal, but I played that rite before people thought it was cool (then uncool). I actually had to do some self-correcting along the way because it was really powerful if you leaned all the way into it!
In the year 2022, a few other particularly good things happened. I met my friend Chris thanks to the internet and Alex of the Death and Betrayal Podcast. Incidentally, DaB was my favorite Heresy podcast back at that time. There have been many other Heresy podcasts since, but never one that quite scratched that itch. I endeavor to capture some of their magic in a different format. I should have given them more props in my earliest posts. Anyway, Chris lived across the city from me. I had never before had someone that close to play Heresy with!
The Summer of 2022 also saw the release of the 2nd edition of the Horus Heresy game. Chris and I played our last official 1st edition game together and then started learning 2nd edition from the infamous leaked rules. That Summer, my wife and I also moved into the house we purchased. I ended up with the largest separate room for my gaming and hobby room, which Chris and I put to good use!
Sadly, Chris and I got about a year or so of this before he moved back to the United States. The time after that was pretty slow for me gaming-wise. My painting even dried up for several months. There may be larger Heresy scenes in parts of Germany, but not near where I live.
Fast forward to March 2025, and I took the White Scars to my second Adepticon. Chris and I played in our second Heresy Tag Team Event, and he took a (really) brand-new War Hounds/Blackshields army. This year, I will embark on my third annual pilgrimage to basically play a one-day Tag Team Event with Chris. There is so much more in that one-week period, but if you boil it down, that is why I travel from Germany to the US each March. Of note, our first doubles event was the origin of the Good Times & War Crimes team name!
In the first photo, Chris and I are posing with the No Bueno team. They were our very first game in our first doubles event! They are awesome guys!
It is apt for the last photo to be a picture of Jaghatai Khan with his Sojutsu pattern voidbike. This was an option initially presented. I think I was one of the first people to put together a conversion. While most people opted to try to put him sitting on the bike, I made it so he could slot into this base much like he slots into his normal display base. Sadly, in 3rd edition, this is no longer an option. Many of us thought this configuration would eventually get an official release, but with the way GW has (not) been cranking out resin releases the last few years, this idea probably got 86ed. Even more sadly, I never even got to play with this. Oh well!
The White Scars won’t make that trip to the US this year. However, as mentioned at the top, they will make the hop over to the UK this weekend. I am really excited to play in a two-day Heresy Hammer event! I don’t know anyone there personally. I have talked a bit to Rob Medwell over the years, but I am hoping that I come away with a bunch of new friends!
Conclusion
Well, that wraps up the second of my army showcases! The Dark Angels one did really well relative to my other posts, so I am hoping this one also gets some love! Stay tuned as I plan to write-up my experience from this coming weekend!
In the meantime, you can check me out Instagram or Facebook!
