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.

Wraiths of Siekerno

Finally, I managed to paint my rather unpractical unit of Cairn Wraiths, made out of converted Grimghast Reapers. I built them like this because I always wanted a unit of them, but I couldn't find the right models - and those wraiths were a perfect converting opportunity for that. They required very careful positioning, basing, additional weight underneath and can stand in only one configuration - but they do work! Good to see that it was possible to squeeze an AoS unit into such a tight WFB formation.

Unfortunately, the converting process wasn't the hard part, painting all the ghostly bits was. Maybe it was just me, but I really struggled to cover it all without missing anything in a reasonable amount of time. I guess the new Nighthaunt aren't really for me! Still, I am quite happy with how they turned out and must admit that it was all worth it! Also, I finally found a good model to try out verdigris and etheral effects at the same time - something that people have been suggesting to me for a long time. Now I have to consider making more minis like this.

Wanting to represent the 'Chill Grasp' rule from the 8th Edition WFB I also painted some frost on their scythe handles, just like I did years ago on my first Cairn Wraith.

The whole conversion process and problems related to it are shown in the WIP post HERE.

In the ages past, when Daremnych was waging a difficult war with another ancient tribe, he came to the village of Siekerno, asking for help. He wanted to ask their well-known and fearsome axemen warriors to sneak through the forest and attack his enemy’s flank during an upcoming battle. The men agreed, but when the time came, they didn't intervene, favoring the chances of the Great Priest’s opponents. Unfortunately for them, Daremnych prevailed through the bloody battle even without them - and came to confront the warriors after that. Already knowing his methods, the axemen of Siekierno fell to their knees, asking for another chance, willing to help and serve. The Priest gave them exactly that - killed them all and bound their spirits to his will, telling them that he will call upon them in the future - only then the axemen will get their second chance and opportunity to serve. Then he captured all the remaining villagers, divided them into small groups and forcibly integrated them into various tribes he had under his command. Now Daremnych, needing an edge against his vampire enemies, came to the forgotten ruins of Siekerno and called the axemen back - to finally serve him as they wanted so many years ago.

First, the whole tightly packed unit of wraiths:

And all of them separated:

Blood Bowl Nurgle Team - Rotters WIP

After getting into Blood Bowl both me and my wife played the video games to try out various teams - and while she did choose Dark Elves, I really liked the Nurgle one. Soon after that GW released their own take on the team and I was lucky enough to get a box of them later for Christmas. I don't want to use the team as-is, there is a lot of converting to be done before I'm satisfied with them, but it's a great base to build upon.

I started with the small ones, the Rotters. Our house rule is to give every player a single level-up at the beginning - to give them some skills and make the game more interesting - and with those guys, I chose mainly those upgrades that could be interestingly depicted on the mini itself. This is one of the reasons why I like Nurgle (or Chaos generally) in BB - all the 'Mutations' skills are just perfect as conversion potential.

Here they are all together with their upgrades:

And the close-ups.

The first two here have Kick and Guard. The left one was also the first one that I leveled-up, I really like having one kicking specialist on the team. He got reposed a bit to show his skill. I wanted to put a nurgling in front of him, but the base was getting way too crowded at that point.

The one on the right rolled doubles when leveling-up so I gave him a skill that will make him useful even if he's just standing passively. For quite a long time I wasn't sure how to represent his skill, unsure how would it work in practice. I considered covering him in spines, but later I just opted for shields - it is clear and obvious at least. That and I had some cool Nurgle-themed shields from the Putrid Blightkings kit to use.

Smiling players now, one with bonus Agility and another with a Big Hand. Agile one was fun to create - with that lucky roll, he suddenly became as dexterous as an elf, while still being a decomposing Rotter! I set him up in a fancy position and gave him long ears - to drive that elf analogue even further.

The second one here was also enjoyable to build, I got to use some of those Crypt Horror and Ogre bits. Weirdly enough, only after converting him I looked up that this mutation affects only one hand, not both! Well, that makes his skill even more recognizable and also look more interesting so I will keep it.

And the last two - Thick Skull and Prehensile Tail. Firstly - yeah, I know that Thick Skull isn't really a terrific skill option for Rotters, but I just really wanted to sculpt a turtle shell on one of their heads. I also gave him some additional greenstuffed nastiness to make him even more different from another rotter that uses the same plastic sculpt.

The one on the right was probably the simplest conversion, just a wire covered with greenstuff and boils - but not only looks nice, but he's also very good on the pitch too!

Zombie Legion - Two Creeps

Part of the Zombie Legion

A small update today - the penultimate sub-part of the legion, the two creeps. I separated them from the rest because they don't really fit anywhere else and are still too distinctive to lump them together with the 'miscellaneous' group. They are from Reaper Miniatures and are known there as Dreg Devourer and Slinker. I bought them when I was looking for more bodies to fill space with - they are good sculpts and fit the rest of my undead pretty well.

One night, two mortal humans approached the vampires in Varsavia. They told the story how they have been traveling between the villages and towns, exploiting them, cheating and stealing. Now, they found about the undead rulers in the land and they wanted to offer their services, as guides or spies - hoping for protection in exchange. The small one was even trying to concoct some sort of agreement, which just reeked of loopholes and precise wording for them to use later. Constantin killed them, raised them as zombies and only then answered that he didn’t need any more help in that matter - not from such nasty human dregs as them and especially not from someone trying to cheat and manipulate him.

Blood Bowl Team - The Dreadspear Dragons

The third Blood Bowl team is finally painted, here are some Dark Elves! The assassins from Forge World and star players need some more attention so they will come later.

Like I mentioned in one of the previous posts, I bought them because my wife really liked their playstyle in the video games and we wanted some diversity in our teams either way. The team was also quite recently released when I bought them, they looked sharp and I certainly didn't mind painting some Dark Elves for a change!

If I were to paint them as my first team I would probably choose black and red for them because I really like the druiichi in that scheme, but Orcs were already sporting those colors. So I choose the official paintjob - that makes them stand out really well amongst the other teams and it was a good opportunity to paint something purple. Last time I used that color in any appreciable quantity was with Tzeentch Horrors, around 2006 - so it quite refreshing to try that out again. It was also the first time when I decided to cheat and "paint" their eyes using a 0.05 pen instead of a brush - I expected wonders, but in the end, it was almost the same - it's just too damn small! I really admire people that can paint irises and reflections there.

I'm glad how they turned out and liked working on them, even if the elven cleanliness and the striking colors aren't really my forte.

The Dreadspear Dragons were founded several years ago by a Dark Elf noble Slyther “Sly” Maldevs, who was lucky enough to find a young dragon that enjoyed watching Blood Bowl. Sly used it as a team mascot, cheering from the sidelines, sometimes rampaging through the stands or the pitch - guaranteeing high popularity of the team thanks to the gimmick itself. Unfortunately for him, he completely neglected the players - and when they started constantly losing and the novelty of the dragon wore off, Sly was forced to get into more and more debts to support his new, lavish lifestyle. When the situation became dire and the creditors were (literally) ramming down his doors, he transferred the ownership of the team to the dragon mascot, all to avoid the legal responsibilities of his debt. Still, this being a Dark Elf society, nobody gave a damn about such tricks and Sly got ritually tortured and sacrificed as anyone else in his position. As for the Dreadspear Dragons, the new draconic owner quickly “found” a new sponsor, manager and a coach - all the players were changed and the team rushed strong into the new season with high hopes. Not unwarranted too! The new players are much better than the previous dregs and there are two gimmicks now: the team mascot is both a live dragon and also the team owner!

First, some photos of the whole team:

And all the individual Dragons:

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...

Underworlds Warband - The Faceless - WIP

Finally, the converting part of my Warhammer Underworlds Stormcast team is finished - now it should be much easier.

The idea went through several stages and evolutions, but the source of it was Ana's (from Gardens of Hecate) brilliant take on the same kit, which can be found HERE. I wanted to do something similar, but also not copy it blatantly. Then I saw THIS artwork and I realized that I can make heavily armored counterparts to the cultists that I made for my zombie legion. At that point, I decided to get a Shadespire box to try this idea out. There are only 3 Stormcasts there, a perfect amount to test out this idea. Besides, I heard good things about the game itself, so trying it out was a bonus. Then I spent several months developing the idea in my head, sketching various options and looking for inspiration on the internet.

The Faceless were the final result of all that deliberation. Heavily inspired by Dark Souls aesthetics, I made my Stormcasts into creepy, otherworldly knights that hide their faces and identity behind elaborate, sculpturesque armor. Each one has a leading motive, starting with the helmet which then affects all other parts of their equipment. As their name suggests, there will be no faces on their helmets - only animals or geometric/abstract shapes, the more inhuman, the better. I have many, many more helmets/themes planned, should I someday decide to expand on this idea.

As a side note, this was probably the first time when I was doing so much precise sculpting on such (relatively) small infantry miniatures. It required different methods and I learned a lot during this whole work. Hopefully, future projects will benefit from this.

EDIT: The painted group can be seen HERE.

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The whole warband, the Faceless:

As a comparison, the original ones, as envisioned by Games Workshop (not painted by me, pictures taken from GW's website).

Now, the individual knights. First comes the leader, the Crusader. He is obviously inspired by the Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill franchise (especially the movie version) and the artwork I linked above - but he was also thought as a knightly variant of my zombie cultists. In the beginning, I wanted to make the whole team look like that, but I had too many interesting ideas for other knights to just dismiss them like that - the Crusader remains as the only one left from that first idea.

The second one is the Bull. It was this idea that made me scrap the concept of making everyone a pyramid head. He was partly inspired by Smough from Dark Souls, especially the part with the 'fat armor' and helmet visors being hidden in its 'neck'. The rest are my original ideas.

And the third one, the Vulture. This one I made the last and was inspired by THIS and THIS artwork. I had the least ideas for her and made her last, but as the sculpting progressed I was getting more and more into it and I am pretty happy with the final result.

And a bonus, here are the renderings of some of the more geometric helmets that I have in mind for the future, mostly the ones that I could model digitally. Many of them are taken from various pictures found on Pinterest. It's also a quick example of what color I have in mind for the Faceless - well, maybe a bit rusted than that, but you get the idea.

And to add even more to this already long post, this is a 52nd regular weekly post. This means, that I managed to keep up the pace and have at least a bit of progress every Sunday for a whole year. Let's wish for another year like this!