Army of the Month: Kris Kapsner

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For January’s Army of the Month, I was lucky enough to meet with of none other then the Captain of Courtesy and the Master of the Lake himself, Kris Kapsner, and his amazing Herd/Elf/what ever else he can fit in army!

Kris’s army dates back to 2003, when Kris was first playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle. He played Warriors of Chaos; however, his local game store was selling all it’s old metal Beastmen models, on sale, in order to make space for the upcoming new Beastmen army release. Kris immediately bought them, brought them home, and began his love affair with Minotaur, something that continues on to this day; and is apparent thru the numerous Minotaur used throughout this awesome army.

During this early period of the army, Kris played a purely Minotaur army, and even converted up his own leader, “Blackthorn.” Back in those days, there was a Beastmen item called the Hellfire Axe, which was incredibly expensive, but also very cool, naturally Kris thought this would be the perfect weapon for Blackthorn. He then created a custom shield, out of a skeleton and greenstuff (his first experience using greenstuff!), created a mohawk with a brush bristle, gave Blackthorn black skin tones, and thus the leader, that has led Kris’s army, either directly or indirectly, was created.

Kris’s army was played through various iterations of WFB, sometimes as Warriors of Chaos, sometimes as Beastmen. One of the things Kris enjoyed most about his army, was writing fluff; new stories for most events creating a unique flavor and energy to his army project. As time went on, Kris departed more and more from the traditional WFB Beastmen background, and began to see his forces more as creatures of the forest and guardians of natures. When making the transition over to Kings of War, Kris was ecstatic, the Herd was exactly what he had always imagined for his army.

Kris was particularly inspired by a piece of artwork, in The Herd section, which showed Herd warriors on a cliff, looking down into a forest, with treemen looming alongside them. This, along with the ally rules for KoW, galvanized him to immediately add treemen and elf elements into his army.

In addition to treemen, Kris added a horde of Drakon Riders, which were created from a trio of dragon models. Kris really wanted these allied components to look like an extension of his existing Herd army, so he used similar colors and the same basing techniques, tying these new units directly into Blackthorn’s horde. He didn’t stray from inserting some new colors thru the elf models sprinkled on the bases, but this purposeful attempt to make one unified army, both in its fluff and its look, created a project that could follow along numerous paths, while still maintaining one central whole.

One thing extremely easy to miss from Kris’s army, is just how many conversions are sprinkled in literally every unit, adding dynamism, as well as flavor to each unit. I am certain that this extra flavor and passion has been essential to keeping Kris coming back to this army over 10 years later!

One of the conversions most commented on at events, is his amazing stampede, using minotaur centaurs, and a massive gorgon wielding a chariot as its weapon!

Kris said that pretty much every single unit in his army has something converted. This could be weapon swaps, reposing, head swaps, or more intricate work such as on his Stampede’s pictured above. Kris said he would rather spend years working on a project to make it something his own, rather then something right out of the box.

For this army, Kris began to learn how to use his airbrush, using it to do his basecoats, and even some of his highlights; however, he still fell back on traditional paint highlighting for the more detailed work. His awesome Mammoth has some examples of his airbrush work, showing how great of an end product can be achieved with careful application of techniques and tools, especially on the larger models that Kris favors.

One thing I am personally always interested in, when talking to army creators, is which part of the project gave them the most trouble, or was their least favorite. Answers always range all over the place, but often create a window into their process when creating the army.

For Kris, he said his biggest challenge is painting regular infantry models, he much prefers painting large infantry, big monsters, and other similar projects. This is apparent in his army, which has a LOT of large infantry, monsters, chariots, ect. but few blocks of infantry.

To close out my interview with Kris, I asked him what his favorite piece is. Kris told his hobby time was almost nonexistent last year; between family life, work, running the Lady of the Lake GT (details found here), and being on the Rules Committee, he had actually only managed to paint one thing last year; however, this piece was his current favorite.

The new piece is created to represent an Avatar of the Father, with wings, or a Chimera. In Kris’s usual style, it is a minotaur, which has been made thru a conversion; with wings from Lord of the Rings Nazgul. Kris wanted the minis to look older and wiser, giving it grey hair, and a worn leathery appearance, complimented by the musculature of the mini itself. After seeing the model, I told Kris that if he could only paint one thing last year, this definitely was a good one to put his time into!

A big shout out of thanks to Kris, for taking time out of his schedule, to send me pictures and chat with me. If you haven’t been to the Lady of the Lake GT, in Duluth Minnesota, I highly recommend giving it a look, not only is Kris legitimately one of the nicest people in Kings of War, but his event is one of the most fun events running in the United States, reflecting the energy and passion Kris brings to Kings of War. Lady of the Lake is August 10-11th, and has rightfully earned a a reputation, as a premier event for the United Stats; more details can be found here. 

Army of the Month will be back next month, with another amazing army project!