The Ao'ric, Khorne Bloodbound army.

 Ancestor's Fyrd lies deep within the Drakespine mountains of Ghur, it is a bastion of civilised peoples and order amongst the rough, savage lands of the realm of beasts.
Following the road south from the township for many leagues along one of the lesser used trade routes, a traveller will come across the garrisoned hamlet of Auldsyde.

Here travellers will be greeted with the majestic vista of the Drakespine Mountains to the north and the Grasslands of the Plain of Ghyrria.

Mostly flat and stretching as far as the eye can see in most directions, these grasslands are home to herds of migrating beasts. Thousands of animals migrate around the plains each year, some the size of regular horses used by people the realms over, some are larger and a few are even larger still, the size of houses or bigger.

Auldsyde, protects one of the routes into the mountains and the more prosperous and well travelled trade routes, not from the beasts of the plains, although some of the carnivorous creatures sometimes work their way north. They stand to block the paths of the tribes of the far south jungles.

That these tribes are brutal is an understatement. True any man can fall into worship of the Dark Gods, and from the far north there are many tribes which worship that foul pantheon as a whole. Rare is it that an entire area is dominated by the worship of one of the four gods, in the southern jungles however, that is exactly the case.

The tribes of the Ao'ric were once a peaceful farming people, content to keep to their corner of the realm. The strife of the Age of Chaos reached them however as they found themselves constantly under attack from displaced tribes from the north as the armies of the Dark Gods conquered all before them.

Before long the farmers were praying for strength from a source of power none of them knew about. Harvest rights were replaced with Blood Sacrifice. Offerings to fertility gods were replaced with Skulls given to Khorne. They became more aggressive and warlike, becoming those who they had tried for so long to resist.

The Ao'ric finally became Bloodbound of Khorne, bursting from their jungle to ambush and fight anyone and anything they came across...

 

Another update and this time I have been working on a unit I began a while back but never finished. Namely a second unit of Bloodreavers for my Khornate army.

A unit of twelve models, including standard and champion. Twelve models because they fit into Dragon Rampant like this, and if I add them to the previously finished unit then they'll become a twenty four strong unit for Age of Sigmar.

I decided to experiment with skintones with this unit:

Something to break up the basic Caucasian-ness of the army as it was before. and something to try to do differently as I've never attempted it before.
I always like the Excelsior Warpriest from Silver Tower and wanted to try to emulate the dark skintoness. A painting guide on youtube (there are many so your favourite youtuber will probably have done one) was easy enough to follow, then I had to repaint the various straps and harnesses they wear as I'd done them all in brown leather and they matched the skintone now...oops.

Also, after thinking about the background for these guys and how they would fit into my corner of the Realms, I decided that they were a southern tribe who had fallen to Khorne worship and broken north. Adding other warriors who were worthy to their numbers as they went and killing most others for the glory of Khorne.

And what glory without a baner to declare it?

The Bloodsecrator from the first Age of Sigmar box set. I've had him half painted for a long time, and just never got round to finishing him. Unfortunately his banner had snapped and i'd used his head (with the spinal column dreadlocks) for a different conversion somewhere. So a dip into the bit's box trailed up a Skullhewer helmet and the banner from a unit of Bloodletters.
I've not finished the banner as yet, it's just a coat of Flesh Tearers Red contrast over a grey undercoat, but i'm hopeing inspiration will strike later on.

Finally, I decided to go back to the units of Blood Warriors I had already finished and repaint a few of those models with the darker skintone to match the growing backstory of the force.

Also today, as it has been a nice dry day (if a little breezy) I dragged some bits outside and took some photographs in the sunlight with a suitable background.

The trees nearest the models in this photo are my plastic bonsai trees I originally bought to use with Test of Honour, the further back trees are my pear tree and hedges in my garden. I think it makes a good backdrop for a photo personally.

A couple of closeups with the natural light:

*****

I have another thirty or so Bloodreavers to build up and paint (I may take them to sixty eventually), including the Shadespire specific models on order which I am waiting to be delivered.
I am considering adding some marauder horsemen to the army, suitably Khorne converted to add some flanking speed and scouting to the force. Perhaps some Chaos Hounds?
I'm not entirely sure, but the force will be led by Valkia the Bloody and her bodyguard of Chaos Furies (When I can get hold of some).
I was talking to Chris about this, and we hit upon the idea of adding a coven of priests/shamans to the army to really sell home the tribal nature of the force. Obviously as Khorne hates magic they wouldn't be magic-users in the traditional sense, more brutal and sacrificial in nature. I'm considering converting some more Bloodreavers into this unit, but we'll see.

 Attention is turning back to 40k for a little while with my next painting updates, so i'll try to crank out some more models quicker.

 Until next time...

 

 - Lewis