Ignatyi Ognemet

This was the last time I painted so much fire!

Half a year ago I posted my WIP pictures of converted, odd Necromancers and it's finally time to wrap up the project and post the third and the last one of them painted, the fire-necromancer Ignatyi.

As you can see, this one was all about fire all over him - the rest was my standard dirty clothing. Unfortunately, I have a weird dislike for painting flames, I don't know why, but it just drains my motivation. I noticed it already on my Hexwraiths, but this time I thought I can force myself through it and maybe it'll at least look good. To make it even more interesting (and worse for me) I bought a Burning Head endless spell because it works just perfect with this character.

The whole idea came to me when I was reading rules for 9th Age a long time ago - and they decided to give necromancers Lore of Flames, to give them more offensive potential. This gave me an idea to create a crazed Necromancer, shrouded in green balefire - if not for the game, then at least as a painting/modeling challenge. Since that time the creators of the game changed the whole idea of Lores of Magic, to my miniature no longer applies there. Oh well! I will leave the assessment to you if he looks good enough to be worth all the stress those flames costed me.

Being a fire wizard is one of the surest ways to get yourself banished from the Kislevite society - not only you pose a hazard to all the wooden buildings, but you also stand in direct opposition to the traditional ice magic practiced in the land. Such was Ignatiy’s story - what started as an unusual talent which could find its use on the battlefield, soon became a reason for discrimination and exclusion amongst his traditionalist peers. That, together with pyromania which started to creep into his mind, soon led to his banishment. Ridden with paranoia and slowly losing his sanity, he was found by a certain hooded and masked individual. That creature showed him that his talents can be melded together with necromantic arts to use the energies of the dead and create an especially fell and devastating kind of fire. Wielding those sinister green flames, Ignatiy descended into almost complete madness through all the years he plagued Kislev. In that state, he got recruited by Hautfell - as a very volatile, fiery artillery for his necromantic coven.

Matthias Schwarzfeuer

It's been some time since the last odd necromancer, now it's time for the second one - Matthias, the fancy necromancer who's living under the delusion that all the death and decay around him is actually a pristine elegance. The unpainted conversion of this miniature can be seen HERE.

While Alarich was kinda complicated to convert and straightforward to paint, this one was the opposite. There's barely any conversions on him and an overabundance of freehands. It was challenging a bit, especially keeping the patterns visible while giving them some depth, but also a nice change from other, dirty necromancers in my collection. It was also a good opportunity to do the trick with just polishing the sword on a metal miniature instead of painting it - this guy sure looks like someone who uses a very shiny, clean weapon.

As a piece of trivia - I took his name from an old, old Vampire: the Masquerade character I played, from my edgy teenager phase ;)

Yet another necromancer shown to Hautfell during his search for allies was Matthias Schwarzfeuer. He was sitting alone in a dilapidated palace in the Varsavian wilderness, being tended to by undead servants. Despite all of that, his manners were overwhelmingly noble and royal, his clothes clean, ornate and impeccable. He was indeed a necromancer, quite powerful at that, but he thought, that his profession wasn’t an excuse to stop caring about looking and acting as a noble should. Schwarzfeuer addressed his undead minions with Empire military ranks and still considered himself an important Empire citizen. It was unknown if he was so elitist that he refused to acknowledge the reality around him or he was just stark raving mad. Nevertheless, he acted as a competent ally and necromancer, as long it was an old nobleman Hautfell talking to him - he wouldn’t debase himself taking orders or advice from those beneath him.

Alarich Schwering

Some time ago I showed you my necromancer conversions - to be seen HERE - and now it's time finally start posting the painted ones. First comes Alarich, who I imagined as a crazy survivalist necromancer, one that has some Lore of the Beasts theme to him.

He is the most converted one from the whole group, but also the most straightforward one when it came to painting - just some more of my standard dirty, green color scheme. Well, that and a tiger on his back - those freehands were some added value - gems too, I haven't painted those for a long time now.

When Hautfell met Constantin von Greifen, he was the most powerful magic user in the band and enjoyed great influence thanks to it. Yet, his position was getting weaker and weaker with every new vampire coming to aid von Greifens and with wights becoming more independent than ever. And while his apprentice Krebs was easily manipulated - that means “reliable” - he lacked a true talent that would be needed when all local tensions will finally burst. That’s why he needed someone capable to help him in this fight for Varsavia, so full of undead to be controlled. With the help of the mysterious Haughr found the right person in Alarich Schwering - an old Necromancer residing deep in the Troll Country. Even though he got a little strange after all the years spent alone in the wilderness and was almost blind, he was surely skilled enough to survive in the land full of skaven and monsters - a quality that Hautfell was looking for. After some creative convincing, Schwering moved to Varsavia, ready to push vampires and wights out of it and rule over the undead there with other necromancers.

Three odd necromancers - WIP

For the last few months/years I have been slowly collecting miniatures to be used as additional necromancers - because you can never have too many of them - and now I finally got around to finish converting/preparing them all and maybe actually get them painted. Seeing that I already have some standard Necromancers (and Liches), with those I decided to make them a little special, with some additional theme than just 'an evil old guy'.

The first one shown here is Alarich Schwering, the most converted one, one that studied Lore of the Beasts besides his standard necromancy. I envision him in my background stories as a crazy, wild survivalist and to give him an appropriate look I made him a sabretusk pelt - out of Ogre Ironblaster bits and some greenstuff.

EDIT: Painted miniature can be seen HERE.

As for the second one, Matthias Schwarzfeuer, I got inspired by THIS miniature to make him really fancy, rich and extravagant - a necromancer that wants to break with the 'dusty old man' stereotype. It's mostly about painting, so not very much of that idea is visible now but I could still give him a fancy Empire hat and some additional gems.

EDIT: Painted miniature can be seen HERE.

And the last one, Ignatyi Ognemet, the least converted but also the one that started the whole idea of 'odd necromancers' in my mind. Long time ago, when I was reading 9th Age rules, I saw that they allowed necromancers to take Lore of Fire, which instantly gave me the image of a crazed bright wizard, only using green flames. I liked the idea enough to buy a box of Empire Wizards and build such a guy - he uses a flagellant head and some long hair to make him look more dishevelled.

After that, I decided to add some theme to the two metal necromancers that were waiting in my drawer - which you can see above. Much later I saw that 9th Age got rid of the old WFB lores altogether, so even if I would play that system, he won't make much sense. No worries though, all three odd necromancers should be interesting to paint and that's all that matters.

Haughr of Förghann

Now, this was a tough project. Converting it was fun and quick, but then it lingered on the shelf quite a while. When I finally started painting it, I just applied the base colors and then it lingered again when I was getting distracted with other projects. Still, the deed had to be done, so recently I sat and finished the damn thing - and actually enjoyed it in the end!

I think the biggest problem was that I didn't have a concrete idea how to paint all those flat areas on his robes - whether they should just be dirty, covered with runes or something else entirely. In the end, I went with some subtle, washed-out runes and a lot of dirt - I think this fits the character quite well. Almost all the blending and shading on this model was done by stippling it with the brush - both to reinforce the necromancer's dirty, non-smooth aesthetics and to make the blending on such large, flattish surfaces much easier.

The whole model is a converted Chaos Sorcerer from GW, which I turned into a mounted Necromancer (kinda inspired by Doctor Doom, with his green robes and metallic mask). The pictures of the unpainted, converted model can be found HERE.

When Alexander Hautfell was at the turning point of his life, before he murdered his own sisters, when he could still turn away from the path he had taken, he was found and contacted by a strange, hooded figure. This… creature called itself Haughr of Förghann and offered help with the young mage’s situation. It was from this being that Alexander learned about Necromancy and the dark arts - and since then, the wizard would just keep going further that shady path. Haughr didn’t take anything in exchange - it only promised to collect the debt later. The creature showed up again when Hautfell fell from both the vampires’ and the wights’ graces in Varsavia - but instead of collecting the debt, it offered even more help. Alexander knew that it wasn’t a good idea to trust the hooded monster, but he went with it anyway - sure that he will find a way to subvert it somehow. After all this, very little is known about the creature - only that it is ancient, clever and very skilled in necromancy. Beyond that, nothing is sure - not even if Haughr is its personal name or a name for the whole species...

Belomor

Continuing with the ancients, here we go with the second liche. This one is a model from Frostgrave - I found it when I was looking through their range, looking for something fitting to incorporate in the Zombie Legion. With his pointy hat/helmet and ragged robes, he was perfect as another liche - I didn't have to think long about buying him! The painting scheme is the typical one for wights/liches - and while Mertvet was interesting because of how much fabrics he had on him, this one has just the right amount of clothes, bones and metal parts and I think he turned out pretty well.

The second one of Daremnych's lieutenants was Belomor - an eager Varsavian priest that tried to convert some chaos tribes to his indigenous beliefs. He was found and saved by the Great Priest just when he was about to be sacrificed by the barbarians. After that, he quickly took faith in the Death God, the one that spared him after his old gods ignored his pleas. Soon enough he proved to be one of the most fervent members of the cult - spreading the faith however he could, by force if necessary. He was also known for always maintaining a kind, fatherly attitude, even while burning the villagers one by one to make an example for the rest. Killed during one of such spectacles and only now raised, he wants to show the unbelievers that he went too soft on them the last time.

And now I can show Daremnych with both of his lieutenants/disciples together. Now my wights have some magical support!

Mertvet

As promised, here I am going with more wights - or in this case, liches, disciples of Daremnych. This one here is a gorgeous model from Otherworld Miniatures, bought a long time ago, finally painted. He was something different in this typical scheme of mine - there was just way more clothes than metal, so I couldn't just drown it in verdigris! Still, I think it worked in my favor in the end - I got lots of space to paint freehands on, the red robe reinforces his image as an evil wizard and patina got used only as subtle, yet effective accents.

Immediately after being raised, Daremnych started to look for his old lieutenants - to replace living necromancers as soon as possible. The first one found was Mertvet - the most reliable one. That wasn’t thanks to his loyalty or stability, no - rather, the opposite. He could be simply expected to always act in his own interest. Where a loyal man could be broken in the most unexpected moment, Mertvet’s betrayals could always be planned for. He got recruited into Daremnych’s cult when he was busy terrorizing the countryside as a powerful, immoral wizard conducting experiments on people he captured. In exchange for his help in the Death God’s army, he could continue his deeds while enjoying the newfound security, without being harassed by heroes trying to slay him. That and he didn't have to risk the price of denial - fighting much more powerful Daremnych - which was in the end, the reason for his death a long time ago. After being raised, Mertvet and the Great Priest decided to simply continue their agreement as if nothing happened.

Haughr of Förghann - WIP

EDIT: The finished model can be seen HERE.

For a long time, I wanted to have a mounted necromancer, but I also had a really tough time finding a good model for him. The mounted Nurgle lord is a popular option and I have that model in my army too, as Haralamb Gudvanger, but he has grown into something different, with a bigger base and he doesn't really fit that much anymore. Much, much later I found a pretty cheap mounted Chaos Sorcerer on eBay - and then I realized that this guy fits my needs perfectly and will be my longed-for mounted necromancer. Besides, I always wanted to have someone with an elongated, skeletal, metal mask in my army and this was the perfect opportunity for it. Together with the hood and all those robes that will be painted green like other necromancers, he will look like some kind of a Doctor Doom expy - completely accidentally, but I decided to just go with it.

First I needed to convert him and remove that Chaos taint. I simplified his armor a bit and cut off all the tentacles - they inspired me to give him a really long hood, though - it works really well with the whole composition and was more interesting than a small one. The skull face was next - I wanted to use one provided in the Cairn Wraith set, but I couldn't find it, so I sculpted one from scratch. Then I added some bits and bobs, like the skulls, the book and the scythe on the horse's head - both to make him look more 'deathly' and because I like a lot of clutter on my minis. Last, but not least, this metal model needed a lot of greenstuff to cover up the gaps, especially on the mount's underside - so I decided to use it and sculpt a stitched section there, just to get rid of any doubts about the horse's undeadness.

Now I need to think how to paint him. I know that want him green and I will probably paint all the different parts of his clothes with different shades of green, but that's all I have at the moment. Maybe I'll add some green rot or fungi on the bottom of his robes, maybe I'll freehand some runes, I don't know. Any suggestions, anyone?

Haralamb Gudvanger

A converted Nurgle Lord from Games Workshop painted in October 2016.

I invented this character back when I did my zombie ogre crypt horrors, I needed some guy who stitched them together - so I looked up a name and bought a Nurgle Lord mini for him. At first, he was just a weird, mutated necromancer, but then got into a much more important character, with unique properties and introducing yet another faction into my story. I got to like him very much, that's why I really did my best on the mini and drew that little comic for him.

As for the model - conversion can be seen here - he became a collector of hands, gathering them and using for some unholy purpose. I tried my best while painting and I'm still very satisfied with him - I finally learned the true value of strong contrasts. I also tried to make a puddle on the base, using Vallejo Still Water, but it didn't turn out that good. I had to use about 20 layers - and the middle part is still concave... Ghoul-gnoblars were a late addition, as I got those guys from the Ironguts set. Those merry companions of his fill the base and frame the flesh-stitcher nicely - I will make a whole unit of those later.

Being faced with an impending Chaos incursion on Varsavia, von Greifens needed some way to tip the scale on their favor. One possibility was to force their enemies through the Bog - a giant swamp that since time immemorial resisted any attempts to map or civilize it - rarely anyone makes out of it alive, even less make it out sane. But before throwing Chaos marauders into it, Sorin was sent to gather some intelligence about it. The vampire found himself surrounded by thick fog and attacked by bizarre creatures. Not so easily fooled, he managed to locate the dilapidated stone building in the center, hiding enormous underground labyrinth of passages and rooms. After fighting his way through it, he was approached by the master of the place. A strange, corpulent creature, surrounding himself with severed hands and deformed servants - he called himself Haralamb Gudvanger. The vampire, normally very confident in his abilities, found himself confused and completely unable to assess his opponent. Before the situation could escalate into something unpredictable, the creature said that he’s impressed with the vampire reaching so far into its lair and offered a deal - a cooperation to further both parties goals. Gudvanger wanted to communicate with the rest of the world and use the influence vampires got in the land - and in return, he will help them fight off the barbarians. That meant giving them some of his undead creations - for he was a necromantic master of fleshcrafting. Gudvanger’s monsters were certainly helpful, but their master was way too enigmatic to be simply accepted as an ally - only time will tell how this cooperation will turn out.

And the miniature itself:

Haralamb Gudvanger - WIP

A Nurgle Lord from GW I bought to convert into some kind of necromancer long time ago. At first, I only intended to give him some knives and a bag, but while doing it I came up with an idea of giving him cut-off hands as his definitive feature. Also fits for my storytelling for this character. The hands are taken from all the leftover bits I managed to collect through the years and the spikes are made from cut-up sprues.

The painted version can be seen HERE

Livio Heim

GW Corpse Cart painted in November 2013. It got small conversions - there's a spear for the driver to use and branches on the back, mostly to have more surfaces for OSL (object source lighting - simulating light with paint on a model) to work on. This was also my first take on OSL ever and I think it came out quite well.

More than one grisly myth in the Varsavian countryside tells about a ghastly cart being drawn by corpses - and Livio Heim is the source of most of them. Nobody really knows his story, but now he's a necromancer that roams the land in search of corpses - all to add to his collection. After all the years his grip on sanity is getting looser, but he's still eager to ensure everyone that his greatest creation will shock everyone sooner than anyone expects. It's quite easy to convince him to tag along and support the undead bands in exchange for having a full battlefield of bodies to search later.

Rado Krebs

A common necromancer miniature from Games Workshop painted in October 2013, plastic. Bought to serve in my army as the weaker, helper necromancer. While painting him I discovered that old people's faces are just easier - both to draw and to paint. Also, a nice change from Heinrich Kemmler model, the older one has only front and back, this one is much more 3D.

Haunched journeyman of necromantic arts to his master, Alexander Hautfell. Kicked around and ridiculed most of his life, he has seen necromancy as a means of revenge and is nowadays a bitter and vicious person. Busy scribing down scrolls and rising up skeletons, he isn't clever enough suspect that his master would probably - at some point - frame him for some rebellious act against their vampiric protectors.

Alexander Hautfell

A Heinrich Kemmler miniature from Games Workshop painted in October 2013, finecast. Probably my favorite necromancer model, I looked quite a bit for it and when I finally got I tried to make at least a bit special. That's why he got those skeleton hands and a freehand on his cloak.

While von Greifens excelled at close combat, subterfuge and diplomacy, they lacked a really good practitioner of Necromancy in their midst. They could manage like that for a while, but when they needed to face real opposition in Varsavia, they needed numbers and magical support. After some searching and initial disagreements, Constantin managed to ally with an exiled imperial nobleman and a master necromancer, Alexander Hautfell. While the mage was ready to help the bloodsuckers in exchange for their protection, he was way too proud and arrogant to let this situation continue indefinitely. Sooner or later, he will wring control of this land from them.