Saturday 13 February 2021

Gryph-hounds of the Star-Fated Lords Stormhost.


The Stormcast Eternals of the Star-Fated Lords Stormhost made camp in the foothills of the Drakespine Mountains. They had been working on an expanding patrol route of the foothills after receiving word of Black-Axe Brayherd movement's to the north of Ancestors' Fyrd.

Corine Silverheart, the Knight-Incantor meditated in her tent as the Lord-Castellant Andrius Suresteel and Knight-Concussor Arinos Swiftsoul conversed.

"I do not like this waiting Lord" Swiftsoul spoke up, "We seem to be inviting ambush by the cursed beastmen".

"We are not inexhaustible my friend" Suresteel replied, "Even the champions of the Storm King need to take rest occasionally".

"Yes Lord, but apart from our sentries here we seem rather vulnerable, especially camped here near the Ruins of Whitestone".

"True, we are in an exposed position, but I wouldn't have wanted to rest inside those haunted walls, would you? Besides, we are not as vulnerable as you think".

"Lord Suresteel, my visions point towards a detachment battling its way from the northwest" Corine Silverheart spoke up now, her eyes still glazed white in the trance.

"We need to muster our forces" Swiftsoul began before Silverheart cut him off.

"They bear the colours of our Stormhost" she said.

"Ah, our Vanguard Detachment is here at last" Suresteel said with a knowing smile.

-----

Four miles northwest of the Stormcast camp, Jermyna Swiftgale sprinted forwards. Her troops of the Vanguard Detachment using their own Swiftfoot spells to keep up with her and the ranging pack of Gryph-hounds she kept with her.

The hounds, eagle headed but with the bodies of miniature lions barked as they called to each other, the wind ruffling their feathered heads as they sprinted and bounded between the conferious trees of the foothills.

With a sudden growl-bark the pack stopped in it's tracks. The alpha moving to join it's package which had called out.
The two creatures sniffed the air and began to weave between the brush and tree trunks slowly.

Jermyna Swiftgale, held up a clenched fist and the entire detachment stopped, coming from full sprint to silent rest in seconds.
She watched the two hounds intently, any reaction from them would be a warning, for it was truly said that one can never surprise a Gryph-hound.

With a start the Alpha clicked it's beak and began barking, the second hound joined in and the pack moved over towards them.

"Defend yourselves, Brayherd ambush" Jermyna shouted to her troops, as the forest came alive with the crashing shapes of the beastmen.


*****

Age of Sigmar has some really cool spectacularly high fantasy models in it's range, a lot of which have been produced since the game was released after the death of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (I'm not getting into that here!).

The Stormcast Eternals are the games flagship faction and have seen the most attention, obviously.
Some of my favourite things that have been released have been the creature additions to the Stormcast range.

From the Aetherhawks, to the Gryph-Chargers and the mighty Stardrake.

These Gryph-Hounds are the Azyr equivalent of a hunting dog.


I gave these a more muted tone then the box art or some I have seen online, or as I have produced in the past when I previously painted one to accompany my Lord Castellant.


Mainly a series of dull tawny browns for the bodies, remeniscent of a lion.
Along with the white eagle head, the combination of which makes the pack resemble miniature Griffon's, but without the wings.
It dosen't show up well in the photo's, but the white feathers actually have an undercurrent of electric blue beneath them, something to denoted their magical nature.


The bronze and red accoutrements tie them to my Stormhost. 
The Alpha-Hound here also has a series of black feathers around his head, as well as his bronze headgear denoting the pack leader.

Finally, as I plan to add these to a Vanguard Chamber detachment, here is a photo of them with the detachment leader, Jermyna Swiftgale:


With these six beasties out of the way, that's another "Unit of 2+ models" box crossed out on the Hobby Bingo grid, pushing me well into the lead, until Chris and Dave post some stuff and catch up. They've both made noise that they have post's to produce, so keep an eye on their blog's as well.


These models also give me another six points in my challenge with Duncan. Bringing me up to 23 points in total.
As we both have a week of annual leave currently, I'm hoping to get more of a tally going,, as I know he's probably working on something super-heavy for lots of points...

Until next time...


 - Lewis

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