Gudvanger's Monster #13 - The Pegasus - WIP

Fifth new member of the Crypt Horror unit. This one went through numerous revisions before becoming what he is right now.

First, that was supposed to be a mockery of a vampire, with wings, a Vargheist head and claws. Then I noticed that I don't have any good clawed hands to use, so I gave him hoofs on the hands. Then it was mismatched either way, so I used horse heads, because I had some of them laying around. The wings were supposed to have some tattered membranes, but it wasn't looking very good, so I got rid of them. In the end, he turned into a mockery of a pegasus, rather than a vampire, which is also quite cool.

Gudvanger's Monster #12 - The Arm Horror - WIP

Undead stitched monsters are still going strong, here I am with more conversions.

In the original unit, there was one that I called a "head horror", covered with way too many heads. This one is continuing the theme, being an "arm horror". I gathered a lot of Crypt Ghoul arms and some extra chonky Cygor fingers to create this busy-looking creature. Simple and fun.

Gudvanger's Monster #11 - The Cannonman - WIP

Third one for the expansion of my ogre-ish Crypt Horrors. After the Skullman and the Moleman, it's time for the Cannonman.

I managed to secure some Leadbelchers and I always wanted to use one of them for this project - with some tentacles writhing inside, it's a close combat creature after all. The results are rather messy, but that is often the case with my minis, isn't it? The head was a spontaneous decision here, I wanted a tiny head on a tall neck, but during the sculpting I noticed that a whole body could fit there - so I added an extra arm there. Well, when their mad creator is stitching them together, he doesn't really have to keep the standard humanoid anatomy, anything goes.

Gudvanger's Monster #10 - The Moleman - WIP

Continuing with the unit from last week, I'm still in the build mode.

Lots of sculpting on this one! I wanted to create a mole-man of sorts, with giant, thick arms and hands, tiny head and using the Vargheist hairy back. Here you can also see my new approach to stitches - while in the olden days I just rolled a greenstuff 'thread' and cut it into small segments to be used as stitches, this time I'm using a brass/copper rod that's bent and cut. There is lot less of those stiches that way, but they are way more substantial and 3d. Hopefully a mix of two approaches will look ok in the finished unit.

Gudvanger's Monster #9 - The Skullman - WIP

Converting an Ogre Bull last week reminded me of a project that I wanted to start years ago - to expand on my 8 Crypt Horrors, which were all converted from ogres back in 2014. Since then the concept for my undead army evolved and I also could afford bigger units. Since I'm in the mood for converting, I'll try moving this project in the right direction, we'll see how many I'll be able to do! My skills also got better since then, so it will be a lot of fun to revisit the unit that taught me how to convert.

First guy here is based on an idea I had in 2014, lots of bones and that wicked Irongut sickle. Adding a skull instead of a normal head was a spontaneous decision and a one that I really like, one can clearly see it's an undead monstrosity and not just a Nurgle one.

Artwork - The Bog Hag, Concept

Second artwork that I am showing you to pass the time during the hiatus - one that I drew not much later than the first one.

I came with the idea for a Bog Hag when a Mourngul became an extremely popular choice in Undead armies (although I don't remember if it was WFB or AoS) - and I started wondering how could I make something similar, but also more fitting with my collection.

I choose a hag because the term is vague enough to allow for some creativity while staying close to the Slavic roots of my army. Then, to make her similar in stature to the monstrous Mourngul, I decided to make her big, creating not only just a hag, but the Hag, a terrifying Ghoul Mother of the Black Bog. The bigger scale will also make her much easier to sculpt - and any mistakes will be covered with all matter of moss, warts and hair. The pose that I drew is off and I hope to fix in 3D when I'll finally get to actually making her.

Gudvanger's Homunculi

Back when I was working on Haralamb Gudvanger I added two small 'helpers' on his base to improve the composition a bit and make the base seem less empty. They were made out of some random gnoblars with ghoul heads - and they worked surprisingly well! I thought to myself back then that I could make a whole unit of them, a whole gang of little nice helpers of that pleasant character.

Years later I actually bought some gnoblars and even later than that I finally managed to finish painting them! Gathering some extras from the Ogre kits, bits collections and an actually bought unit, I gathered 30 of them and used almost all of my ghoul heads on them. Beyond that, no conversions were made, so I didn't bother with posting the WIP version.

I went through them a bit rougher and faster than I do on my heroes, but those little buggers still took more time than I expected! During the painting process, they were quite colorful (which worried me a bit) but after several layers of grime, they achieved a proper look. Perhaps even too much - they blend together as a monochrome mass, but I think I can live with that - and I'll leave the judgment to you readers.

Despite the irritating process of painting such a (relatively) big unit, I am pretty happy with them - they kinda look like the creepy 'little men' from the forest - just as it was intended for them.

Anyone unfortunate getting lost in the Black Bog - or foolish enough to wander there of their own volition, will find themselves carefully observed by little men, the homunculi of the foul Flesh-stitcher Haralamb Gudvanger. Created through unclear means and materials, they are his loyal and very nasty servants. They study the newcomers from afar, judging if their body parts or equipment could be useful to their master. If not, the little constructs will try to lead them out of the bog - not without playing some mean tricks on them before, of course. If yes, then the homunculi will torment them for an extended amount of time time, leading through the treacherous bog, before finally descending upon them to literally hack them down to pieces. Besides having sheer numbers, they are also surprisingly strong for their size - they have tricked thus many foolhardy adventurers. Still, they are cowardly by nature and prefer to dispatch intruders by leading them into other, much more dangerous creatures living in the Bog.

First, the whole nasty mass:

And then the individuals (most of them) - they may be small and disposable, but they have enough character to warrant showing them a little more up-close.

Kaliglav the Scarlet Priest

After my rather bloody Dryads, it's time for a bit livelier example of flesh horror in my collection - Kaliglav the Scarlet Priest.

As I mentioned in the WIP post, this guy is an answer to High Council of the Radiant Wheel - while they are worshipping the withered god of the wights and undead, Kaliglav is following the Fair Lady of the Bog - with all her horrific blessings. The conversion is based on Taddeus the Purifier, the priest from Blackstone Fortress and inspired by THIS artwork by Bogdan Rezunenko - to create a human that isn't bound anymore by his fleshy form.

When it came to painting, I wanted to make him worthy of his title, to make him red almost all over, forgoing notions of complementary colors and contrasts. HERE is the image that I had in mind when working on this project. Besides that, I was trying to illustrate how I imagine Karcists from the SCP universe, also leaders of the cults devoted to dark powers with Lovecraftian powers. I went a little special with the basing - he's standing on a rock, above a little, murky bog - but unfortunately, it's barely visible/recognizable in real life and even less on the photos. Leason learned: those kinds of things need much more space and shouldn't be covered like this! All in all, he was an enjoyable project - so I will gladly expand this "scarlet cult" of his a little more in the future.

Eager to gain control over Varsavia, Daremnych is trying to expand his new cult of the Radiant Wheel, fighting hard to convince the people to his cause. Meanwhile, deep in the Black Bog, there are settlements and villages, isolated and hard-to-reach, where the cult of the Fair Lady of the Bog is the law and has been for centuries. People live here mostly unaware of the outside world, without the knowledge of Kislev and Chaos, where they continue with their lives day after day without change, safe under their Mistress’ protection. Scarlet priests are the leaders of such communities and the most active one is Kaliglav. Blessed by the Lady, he is not bound by the human form anymore and is seen as a powerful demigod by his followers. After all the centuries of his service, he has become an arrogant and detached creature. There is nothing and no one he won’t sacrifice in the service of his Lady - and those cursed, ancient undead with their impotent god will learn it the hard way if they’ll try to challenge his Mistress once again.

The Lady's Gardeners

After painting them for quite a while (lots of breaks and distractions), the Lady's Gardeners, mockeries of real Dryads made by the Good Enchantress are finally ready. I took the basic GW Dryads and sculpted all matter of fleshy and bony appendages on them - think The Thing from 1982. Their faces were removed and replaced with an engraving of the Lady's sigil.

Frankly, with those here, it was the sculpting phase that was the difficult one - painting was really easy. Without any clothes, weapons, hair, etc. they had basically just 4 surfaces - wood, flesh, bone and leaves - so I when I finally sat with them, I finished them pretty quickly using the assembly line method. At the end I just slathered it with gloss varnish and blood. Still, they turned out pretty horrific and disturbing - exactly as intended, a little in the AoS28 direction. Now I am wondering if a Treeman made in this style wouldn't be an interesting idea...

The unpainted WIP versions can be found HERE.

If someone were to venture into the lands of the Lady of the Bog, they would meet many guardians that will protect the Great Mistress' privacy. There is a wide menagerie of those marvellous creatures, but the Gardeners stand out especially. Similar to the treelike Dryads inhabiting Athel Loren, they are both a part of the enchanted Garden that is the Lady’s realm and its defenders. Unable to duplicate the ancient magic of the Asrai, the Wise Enchantress of Varsavia molded the trees herself and injected them with her own seeds, vines and flowers to make them able to move and act. They roam the forests and bogs, tending to the vegetation and rooting out any weeds and pests. Glory of the Lady that they are imbued with makes intruders and weak people break down in fear, but those loyal to her can rest easy, for they can also count on the Gardeners’ protection.

The whole unit of them is a hard-to-understand mess, so first I am showing you all the singular gardeners:

And then as a whole 20-strong unit - which really is a lot of fun to rank them up - and they still poke each other in some places.

Kaliglav the Scarlet Priest - WIP

Recently I got miniatures to be used as human followers of the wights and their Death God cult - and after getting them, I started wondering if I could represent somehow people following the Lady of the Bog, their priests - to mix some religious imagery with blood and flesh horror. Then I saw THIS artwork from the amazing Bogdan Rezunenko and it really got my gears moving. This resulted in me buying Taddeus the Purifier, the priest from Blackstone Fortress to change him into what I need - bringing us the update this week, Kaliglav the Scarlet Priest, the pious servant of the wise and fair Lady of the Bog.

I had to get rid of all the technological elements, smooth out the details and make it everything much grittier and dirtier. Just like with the tentacle-legged Nurgle sportsman from before, I attached the priest to the base with a rod and then built up all the tentacles around it - which gave me freedom when sculpting and posing them. I could also give him more than just two hands - it strengthens the effect of being 'beyond human form' and it actually references the original miniature, who had a servo skull with a gun as the third 'limb'. I also cut off the top surface of the base - I will fill it with some resin to represent a murky, dirty bog.

The Three Hunters

Today I have some Skin Wolves from Forge World. I always liked those models but I couldn't find a good excuse to incorporate them into my collection. Well, I could use them as Varghulfs, but I already have some of those and they are all bat monsters, having werewolves added to that mix didn't sit well with me. Then, when I started expanding my collection beyond just undead and came up with body-horror-themed 'Dwellers of the Bog', those wolves suddenly found their place.

They fit right in as they are so the conversions are minimal here - I added the Lady's sigil on their bodies ('painted' on with Liquid Greenstuff mixed with gloss varnish, visible at the bottom of the post) and filed off any Chaos iconography. The painting was pretty straightforward, I went with light human skin and dark wolf flesh for the contrast. Only on the hands themselves, I tried to go for the 'flayed flesh' effect to bring more attention to them and I think it turned out pretty good.

Once upon a time, there were three hunters, masters of their craft, who were trying to help their starving village during an exceptionally strong winter. Most of the game was already hunted down - everywhere but in the lush garden that belonged to the wise and beautiful enchantress. She forbade anyone from hunting on her grounds, but the hunters were desperate and they decided to try nevertheless. They fell down a great stag - but as they were rejoicing, the enchantress appeared before them. They shook with fear, but the wise woman told them that the rule was just a test to find those truly skillful and brave. In reward, she offered them a chance to become better hunters than they could ever be - strong, fast, resilient, with keen senses. They could also hunt in her gardens without restrictions and their village would never know hunger again. They just had to swear their allegiance to her. Three hunters agreed and they took the stag back home, where they were greeted as heroes. After a great feast, they woke up at midnight, horrifying transformation ripping their skin open and breaking their bones. Turned into crazed, grotesque man-wolves, hearing the Lady’s whispers in their ears, they killed and devoured every single person in the village. Ever since that night, they roam Varsavia on the Lady’s of the Bog orders, only occasionally turning back into humans to realize what they agreed to.

The Lady's Gardeners - WIP

EDIT: The finished unit can be found HERE.

This Sunday I have a big converting project to share, some Sylvaneth Dryads.

Years ago I came up with the idea of introducing some visceral, flesh-horror themes (think John Carpenter's "The Thing") in my collection - mostly in the 'Dwellers of the Bog' faction - and the first example of that were the Flying Horrors. Now I am going back to this topic, bringing you some progress on the Lady's Gardeners - Dryads 'blessed' by the Lady of the Bog.

I always liked this kit and wanted to do something with it, especially when I decided to make my army forest-themed - but they didn't work in my undead army at all. Only later when my painting became less about creating a valid army and more about creating my own themes I have found a place for those tree ladies. I thought of them as foul parodies of real Dryads, pieces of wood which the Lady forces into movement through flesh-bending magic and uses them as horrifying guardians in her realm.

Thanks to that I had a lot of possibilities when converting them, adding various fleshy and bony bits that I found in my box and sculpting tentacles and other fleshy appendages. For the faces, they have just the Lady's sigil carved into them. The only irritating part of the kit were the mold lines - removing them from all the branches was worse than scraping them off ribcages!

Here are them all together. Only one picture because unpainted and in those numbers, they are quite a mess:

And the close-ups on the singular Gardeners:

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Recently I thought that I could make those WIP posts a little more interesting by actually showing the sculpting progress and the techniques that I used.

Here I decided to show how I made the one on the bony 'stilts', probably my favorite from the bunch. I started with cutting the limbs at the knees and elbows, drilling holes inside them, gluing thin brass rods inside and securing them at the connection with small amounts of milliput - mostly because those rods tend to rotate inside their holes after fiddling with them too much and milliput helps to prevent that.

After that, I create a mixture of greenstuff and milliput (ratio 1:2) to sculpt the bony horns. In 'reality' They are supposed to be hard, bony material, so using milliput-heavy mix makes the sculpting more convincing and also much easier to sand afterward.

Using that much milliput made it more difficult to sculpt it properly, so I sanded it to smooth, sharp finish - exactly how I envision bony protrusions on creatures such as this one.

And finally, I used pure greenstuff to sculpt some fleshy connection between the spikes and the wooden body of the Dryad. I was making thin pieces of putty, which I was then 'draping' them over the joints, adding additional ridges or stretching them with the sculpting tool as needed.

Gudvanger's Body Puppets

Continuing with the Nurgle theme, here is my (somewhat) non-Nurgle take on the Putrid Blightkings. From the narrative standpoint, they are supposed to be botched clones of Haralamb Gudvanger and just like he, they are bloated and distorted servants of the Lady of the Bog, not Nurgle worshippers - so they keep the bodies and mutations, but all the chaos iconography is filed off. You can see the unpainted, converted minis together with some design principles HERE.

I had a lot of fun building them and painting was the same - it was really enjoyable to paint all the different hues, reddened, mutated flesh, discolorations, boils and lesions. The basecoat was wetblended to achieve a mix of various colors from the beginning, which were then brought together with shades, glazes and highlights.

The bases saw my second use of two-ingredient water effects and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. The resin actually seeped into the sand that I used as the first layer, creating a pretty interesting, muddy impression. I also stuck those thin, long strands into some of the tufts to imitate lone strands of long grass that I noticed in the wetlands during my last vacation - and I think they help to sell the 'bog' effect a little better - what do you think about them?

The horrific Flesh-stitcher Haralamb Gudvanger may be known best for his lumbering monsters, but he considers himself his best handiwork. For countless years he has been building replacement body puppets, which continuously replace him after each death. It all started when he was still learning the secrets of anatomy by himself, fruitlessly looking for a way to cheat death and achieve immortality. Only when he started to study under the Lady of the Bog he discovered that while he can’t stop his own body from eventual deterioration in any acceptable way, he could build a puppet, a duplicate of himself - one so perfect, it could replace him without any loss at all. Since then, every time his body died, a puppet woke in its place, identical to the original, with the same memory and intellect, continuing his work as if nothing happened - everything a secret he keeps from everyone but the Lady herself. Still, the process is difficult and some results are… botched. They are unusable as replacements but those flesh automatons have their use - Gudvanger arms them and commands them to patrol and guard his domain. Thus they lumber tirelessly through the mists around the Black Bog, attacking anyone they stumble upon. To some extent, they believe to be the Flesh-stitcher too, that’s why sometimes they will hack away the hands of their victims, or try to build gruesome compositions out of their victims’ bodies. Terrifyingly strong, resilient and unrelenting in following their creator’s (their own?) commands, they are almost as dangerous as Gudvanger himself.

First, the whole group of six fleshy automatons - a little from above to make the bases easier to see:

And some close-ups of the individual creatures, the first three:

The second three:

Gudvanger's Body Puppets - WIP

Not long time ago I wasn't feeling like painting, but I really wanted to build something. I looked a bit through all my boxes and found some Putrid Blightkings. I bought them about 2 years ago to accompany my other Nurgle model - Haralamb Gudvanger. They have lots of bits and are big and bulky, everything that I wanted at the moment.

My concept for them was to make them similar to Gudvanger - they are supposed to be failed replacement bodies for him. To achieve that, every single one of them has a covered face and some kind of horns. Any Nurgle iconography was scratched off - though I left any fleshy disturbances, they fit very well both the concept for them and the 'The Thing' motif I am trying to push with this faction. I got another Johann from the Giant kit, so that the central one here could hold him by the neck, screaming and handless. Their bases have also some depressed areas to put some grimy puddles there, another thing to tie them together with the flesh-stitcher. There are 6 of them instead of the usual 5, because I wanted to have a 3x2 block of them - I bought one additional torso to round up their numbers.

I heard many good things about this box and I wasn't dissapointed - it was a lot of fun to work on them. Every single one is distinct and interesting, there are no guys who are only there to take space and I could build probably another 6 of them. I had similar feelings when I was working on my undead ogres. I think I will get another box of those to build players for a Nurgle Blood Bowl team!

Gudvanger's Flying Horrors

Heavily converted Carrions from the Tomb Kings range - painted in March 2017. This was a rather spontaneous project - there was a competition on Carpe Noctem, with the topic being "Special Unit" and I found three cheap Carrions on eBay. A quick burst of inspiration later I bought them and rather hastily turned them into what can be seen here. The general concept was inspired by this artwork. The mess in their bellies represents the first try of the visceral fleshcrafting / body horror I would like to add to the Bog Dwellers faction - think something like from The Thing.

The unpainted version can be seen HERE.

Built from strange varieties of bones, feathers and flesh, held together with steel and skin, the Flying Horrors are another mad creations of the flesh-stitcher Haralamb Gudvanger. What sets them apart from others, are their bellies - in which he planted seeds from the Lady of the Bog. Amongst all the dead, necromantic tissue molded by the stitcher, those writhing tendrils of the blooming flesh are the only living parts, twisted as they are. The hungry mass of viscera catches and consumes all nearby body parts - be they alive or dead - with unending appetite. As long as the Horrors won't devour themselves, Gudvanger can deem the experiment of joining dead mass with the living flesh as successful. When they are not fighting with Wretches over waste bodies, they are useful in flesh-stitcher's modest force for scouting and terror tactics.

Gudvanger's Flying Horrors - WIP

The painted version can be seen HERE.

A rather spontaneous conversion turning old Tomb King Carrions into a mix of something from this artwork and creatures from The Thing. The heads are scratchbuilt, teeth are needles, the fleshy sack on the middle one is made out of greenstuff balls covered with several layers of Liquid Greenstuff, the rest should be rather self-evident. It was a fun project, I plan to do more of such visceral horrors in the future.

First the three monsters together:

And some closeups:

Serrana - the Strigoi Sister

'The Harpy's Embrace' miniature from Gamezone painted in August 2015, converted to serve in my army as a Strigoi Ghoul Queen. The idea to make one came to me when someone on the net mentioned that there's no rule against giving vampiric power 'Beguile' to a Strigoi Vampire. One thing I changed to make her more 'vampiric' was adding bat ears - the conversion post can be found HERE. Just as her brother, she too can be mounted on a Terrorgheist base - which can be seen HERE. The painting itself was much more challenging than expected - it was the first time I had to paint so much smooth skin and it was difficult at times to discern what is what. Despite that I still think that the mini's sculpt and design is outstanding - the way she's cradling his head, the way she blocks his hands with her legs - tender yet deadly.

While von Greifens tend to look down on Strigoi vampires, Haralamb Gudvanger isn't so discriminating. He took care of two Strigoi siblings and helped them crush the witch hunt that was following them. Thankful, the feral vampires help the flesh-stitcher as shock troops and ghoulish commanders on the field.

Gavros' sister Serrana is a rare sight - a female Strigoi. One would be gravely mistaken to think she'll be docile though. While not as rage-driven as her brother, she definitely makes up for that in sadism and cunning. Loft upon giant bat wings, she often beguiles her prey with her sleek, shapely physique and a bit of vampiric magic - when the poor fool notices her wicked face it's already too late. Draining one unfortunate completely, she just jumps onto another one, more often than not playing with her meal before finally snapping the neck. Being the only other person her brother listens to and having a cooler judgment, she makes manipulating them a little more difficult than Gudvanger would like to.

Gavros - the Strigoi Brother

Strigoi Ghoul King from the Terrorgheist set from GW - painted in August 2015. I built this one to be used on foot instead of riding the Terrorgheist - but if there's a need for that, he can be mounted on the monster's base no problem - which can be seen HERE. I changed his pose to fit his status as a foot vampire better, added some bestial bat-ears to him and changed his hands to ghoul ones - the conversion post can be found HERE. Much of it was inspired by Rob Hawkins and his Marduk the Ghoul King. The mace, taken from a chaos warrior, was added to accommodate the idea of giving him a magical weapon on the tabletop. That was valid in 8th edition, but I really don't know if that's still a thing in Age of Sigmar.

The color scheme is the same as with all my vampires - pale blue, red and black - and proved to be a bit troublesome on this one. There are not much elements on him that are not skin and at first, I painted his loincloth red - which made him look like a stripper... In the end, only the handle and the little pouch are red.

While von Greifens tend to look down on Strigoi vampires, Haralamb Gudvanger isn't so discriminating. He took care of two Strigoi siblings and helped them crush the witch hunt that was following them. Thankful, the feral vampires help the flesh-stitcher as shock troops and ghoulish commanders on the field.

A muscle-bound brute, the brother - Gavros is all one can expect from a Strigoi Ghoul King. Fuelled by rage and hunger, he's easily manipulated by Gudvanger. He also possesses a peculiar knack for leadership, somehow inspiring the flesh monsters to perform better on the battlefield. Known for very short bursts of extreme strength bolstered by blood magic - during this moments he can crush stones with his hands and rip apart fully armored knights - that together with his supernaturally quick strikes makes him a truly terrifying foe when on the offense, even if somewhat lacking in defense. If not fighting with his poisoned claws, he enjoys using a monstrous mace he took from a killed Chaos Knight.

Strigoi Siblings - WIP

A short post showing my conversions of two minis I use as Strigoi vampires - Gavros and Serrana. Both of them got large ears - which was inspired by Turelim vampires from the Legacy of Kain franchise - I just really like feral vampires with laarge ears. I heard also people saying it reminds them of gremlins, so there's that too. More detailed info on them is in their separate posts.

Gavros the Strigoi Ghoul King is first:

And his sister Serrana, the Strigoi Ghoul Queen:

The Netherpyr

A Terrorgheist from GW painted in August 2015 - the first miniature I painted after moving my whole workshop to Berlin. Weirdly enough, it's not converted in any way. Still, I magentized it's wing for ease of transportation - following a tutorial by Rob Hawkins. It was also his idea to place a 'slot' into the base to field him with a character 'riding him' or not - the process is described HERE. The black tar-pit on the base was my own idea and I documented the whole process HERE.

I wanted to paint him in 'inverted' color scheme - Terrorgheists are usually dark/black with light/white bones - and I went for pale skin and dark brown bones. It made him somewhat different from the standard and also tied him with my other fleshy undead which are also pale green. The execution of that plan, especially on the wings, got messy. Shades were drying badly on those large surfaces and tap-water in my new place was leaving a lot of nasty white residue and it was still difficult to make them look interesting, even with reddened holes in the skin. In the end, I sprinkled him with GW Athonian Camoshade, using an old toothbrush. That made it look grimy, dirty, rotting and much more interesting - since then I add this to most of my fleshy, messy undead.

Netherpyr is a personal pet of the Strigois and yet another reason Gudvanger - and by extension - von Greifens - try to stay on the siblings' good side. Resurrected thanks to their innate magic, this giant monster, still possessing some of its wicked character, quickly made itself known in the Varsavian countryside as the 'Netherpyr' - which is a bastardization of a native word for a bat. The unnatural death shriek it possesses boils the flesh and shatters the bones - thanks to that, it's often called forth when the Varsavian undead fight with the servants of Chaos - for their sturdy armor is not a defense against the agonizing screams of the Netherpyr.

The slot makes it possible to 'mount' a Strigoi Ghoul King (or Queen) on his back. Posts about those two minis can be found HERE.