"Tiny" a Bloodbowl spectator and sometime unwelcome player.

 

A quick post of a model I have been working on for Duncan.

This is Tiny, a hardcore Blood Bowl supporter who follows whichever tram has the shiniest kit when he looks over.

Obviously he's a giant from GW, but Duncan converted him with the huge sign, made out of plasticard planks, distressed with a Dremel for woodgrain texture and then a layer of green stuff roughly flattened out for his sign.

The Beer-Hat was cobbled together with barrels, GW rope bits from the old Empire sprues and some stiff wire for the drinking straws.

I took the time to follow a skin tutorial off of eBay in order to get a bit more life to it, with a purple wash in there for Shadows rather hen using straight Fleshshade or such, it gives a different feel straight away.

As well as stippling the highlight colours on rather then drybrushing to get some more texture.

The tattoos started as freehand with Talassar Contrast Blue, and then stippled over with the main skin highlights to make them seem weathered and faded like real tattoos.

For the various rags which make up his trousers, I took various Empire trooper colours and some generic leather browns, and added in the blue-white stripes for some fun.

Washed down with Earthshade and layered back up messily to get a dirty, old feel to them.

So there he is.

The base and banner are purposely left blank, as Duncan can base him to match his team/giant army for AoS, and the banner can be added to when he settles on a design for it.

A fun project which was a good diversion from my main 40k grinds at the moment.

Until next time, have nice day...

Askurgan Trueblades.

 

Tempted by the goblet of blood, Tanek stood before the entrance to the Far Peak. In his previous life, they had all heard the legends of the terrible vampire haunted mountain and stayed well away accordingly, but things had changed.

During the last defence of their town, when he was alive and serving in the guard there. He had been drained of blood by the vampire leading the attack, one of its acolytes in a cruel joke gave him what he now knew to be the Blood Kiss, and he awoke later on after the battle had finished.

However he awoke with a terrible hunger. A hunger which had led him to slaughter five people nearby. Filled with shame, he had fled into the wilderness. Days, maybe weeks passed and he knew he was loosing himself and becoming a mindless beast, blood drunk and no better then the things he had culled when he was human still.

When he had purpose, control of himself, a calling to serve...

Then the new calling had begun...

Of his erstwhile creators there was no sign, but something pulled him inexorably towards the Far Peak. 

An unknown time had passed before he was at the entrance, a goblet of fresh blood  sitting on the stone altar testing him. Behind was a hooded figure of dark grey skin guarding the steps carved up the mountain. Great stone arches graced the route upwards, each carved with ancient Askurgan runes decrying the beast and exulting in control and honour.

How did he know that?

The guardian shifted his dark robes swished slightly disturbing the dust, they were tied by a coarse lilac dyed rope around it's waist, a strange splash of colour on the otherwise monochromatic figure.

"You have done well to heed the call young one" it whispered, yet Tanek heard it clearly, "Your choice stands before you, take the goblet and be cut down as a beast, or face the challenge ahead and be reborn on the peak!"

Tanek stepped around the altar, growling involuntary as he passed the blood. Immediately a blade flashed infront of him, the flat holding him in place. Eyes flicking from the metal edge, along the haft of a glaive he found himself staring at a different vampire entirely, this one wrapped in orange robes and dark-iron armour. The same lilac rope hung about her waist as she snarled at him.

"First lesson, you keep the beast in check, growl at blood again and I'll take your head"

Tanek turned and looked back to the hooded figure which had greeted him, but who had now disappeared, a slight mist hanging loosely close to the floor. As he turned back, the glaive was gone, as was the vampire.

"Scale the mountain and be reborn" a deep voice whispered in his mind.

Tanek took to the steps, the overwhelming scent of blood filled his nostrils from further up the mountain calling him, yet he had to resist the urge to charge as he now knew that would only end in death...his death.

The path to control had begun.

*****

The Askurgan Trueblades are a warband for Warcry, the skirmish game set in the Age of Sigmar universe, which has some of the most unique and brilliant models GW have ever produced for fantasy*.

When this particular faction was previewed on the reveal shows, I knew I HAD to have them to paint, but why?

Well, basically they are Vampire Zen Shaolin Warrior Monks (and given my predilection for far east warriors/warfare it was a given), therefore they were painted with element of Shaolin and Sohei elements.

I went with the starker, dark orange robes of the Shaolin temple this time, but tried to work in the armour style of Japan on the plates on their legs.

Their chest and shoulder armour is very mainland Asia themed as well compared, so took from Korea with the un-laquered metal effect (yes I did do some research).

There are two members who don't have the orange robes, these being the leader and a somewhat interesting character story wise. I chose to change the colours on these to reflect their positions and responsibilities within the warband.

The leader got a pale grey/white set of robes as white is the colour of death and mourning in Japan, it is often worn to funerals and in the past it marked someone in a position similar to the grim reaper in western mythology (imagine if Viking Berserkers wore white and you get the idea).

The Pariah wears a dark grey robe because I enjoyed the contrast to the rest of the warband, it also marked him out from the rest due to his unique position.

The main element which ties all the warband together are the lilac ropes tied around their waists. I saw this element was immediately reminded of the first season of the anime Naruto and the main villain Orochimaru, who other then his ability to turn into a snake, his main recognition piece is a large purple rope ties around his waist.

May as well run with that idea as it was memorable!

Askurgan Acolytes:

Acolytes are new recruits of the Trueblades. Many, having just received the Blood Kiss, are horrified by their new existence and seek out the order to learn how to control their eternal thirst. Reaching the secluded sanctums alone is proof of their potential, but they must further prove themselves to their new kin.

Askurgan Ascetics:

Ascetics are the elite warriors of the order. They seek transcendence through battle, searching for secrets that could not be found from contemplative study alone. These warriors fight through the carnage of battle until they are knee-deep in gore, yet through battle-mantras and the martial kata that allows them to appear as blurring specters, they repress their hunger.

Curseblood and Pariah:

Cursebloods are the result of Trueblades losing the battle against their inner beast. The result is a hideous and painful transformation with muscles growing larger and larger while facial bones elongate into a maw. The rope that symbolizes the Askurgan remains flapping around their waists as if mocking them. Yet they are truly mindless, having just enough self-awareness to avoid attacking their fellow vampires.

Pariahs are rare Cursebloods that manage to leash the beast and regain their humanoid form. To revert, they must engage in a harrowing trial observed by another vampire ready to execute them in case of failure, as the process risks the Curseblood losing any remaining sanity. Even if they survive, the physical marks never fade and must live on the margins of their society, both respected and feared; despite being able to regain control, one that slipped the leash may fall again.

Askurgan Exemplar, the Warband Leader:

Exemplars are masters who have confronted their bestial nature many times and has always emerged the victor. They can be found meditating upon platforms surrounded by lakes of blood or on mountaintops surrounded by pounding storms.  Many Askurgan vampires dream of learning weapon arts directly from such masters, but approaching one means they must first get through the copious amounts of gore that surround the exemplars without succumbing to the beast within.

With these off the painting table, it marks the first unit completed for 2025 and the first box filled on my Hobby Bingo card:

I chose to use a supernatural box, as well, they're Vampires after all!

This gives me 10 points for Hobby Bingo.

For the OPC challenge, these are 8 infantry figures over 12mm in size, so provide another 80 points to that running total, putting me up to 90 points out of my total of 6,000.

I have the Blades of Karanak and Chameleon Skink warbands for Warcry to do next, and love the others so may pick one up the next time i go through the Element Games for a gaming day.

Until next time, have nice day...

*It really is a thing that the further you get from their core games, the better the models overall.

Necromunda is the obvious example, but Warcry and Kill Team have some fantastic models which otherwise wouldn't be made.

Blackstone Fortress and the various Warhammer Quests games have had their share as well, as has Underworlds.

Vampire Knights - a cross-blog challenge.

 

Prince Duvalle claims descent from the von Carstein lineage, and few are foolish enough to gainsay him to his face. The charismatic lord is adept at conjuring glamours and illusions, rendering his prey disoriented and vulnerable before the final blow. His personal coterie are known as the Crimson Court, a clique of vampires obsessed with the hunt – his right-hand man, Gorath the Enforcer, the savage and twisted Ennias Curse-born, and the proud duellist Vellas von Faine.

*****

The other day I suggested to Chris about painting up a small project to completion as a sort of end of month challenge type deal.

We both had recently built up the Vampire warband for Warhammer Underworlds, The Crimson Court, so this seemed the logical go-to as we could paint them together for a fixed deadline and compare the two units once done.

I really like the Warhammer Underworlds game in general, but the individual warbands are fantastic self contained projects, the models of which also double really well as commander or character models for a larger massed army battle.

For my part the models were built, I wished later that I'd some them in sub-assemblies.

I added some scattered pools of sand to the bases for some extra detail, rather then just the cracked flagstones.

I then undercoated them with Dark Grey and attempted to zenithal undercoat with some lighter grey and white, intending for these models to be a testbed for new techniques.

The undercoating worked... somewhat to plan...

At this point the models stayed for a couple of days whilst I went off and played Dragon Rampant for the day and dealt with household stuff before getting chance to hobby again.

During this time I looked into the story of the characters for inspiration for painting and apart from the above passage there really isn't anything to go on.

Into the Von Carstein lore I looked, starting with the surviving member of the old world family, Manfred Von Carstein, now one of the three Mortarch's of Nagash and riding the big Dread Abyssal, he's a cool miniature even if by his character traits he's a dick really.

He has so much potential which GW/BL squandered simply by making him one of the "I'll always betray you because I'm power hungry" archetypes, but one which doesn't actually use any intelligence to do so.

The original Von Carstein, Vlad was infinitely more likable as a genocidal, power hungry, sociopathic undead blood drinker because he was relatable to a character which we already know in Dracula. 

Vlad Von Carstein being Warhammer's Dracula analogue.

His story with his wife Isabella added to that characterisation and even though they were trying to usurp the throne of The Empire, they had a great story because it wasn't just a one-trick thing of the same actions in every story.

They even made the Ring of Resurrection magic item which Vlad used to stay alive through various "certain death" scenarios and when it was stolen he met his final end, as did Isabella.

They both had fantastic miniatures which I wish I could get my hands on without paying a fortune for, just like Bretonnians, but oh well...

Back to the Crimson Court, with Prince Duvalle claiming lineage with this bloodline, and his armour being the same style, I originally thought about doing the armour a deep purple, but felt that was off the mark.

Mengle Miniatures put a great "Masterclass" type tutorial/blogpost up when the Crimson Court were released and I decided to follow that after reading it through.

But with the caveat of only Duvalle would be in full Crimson armour, and von Faine would have her chest plate Crimson and leg armour black to match the other lower standing members of the warband.

This I felt would tie them to the name of the warband and the bloodline from their backstory.

So the plan was to get these models fully finished by midnight on November 30th (tonight as of writing this), and put up a blogpost detailing them.

I started the painting on Sunday 27th and by the end of the day had ended up here:

All of the basecoats are down apart from the metallics, and the armour has started to be highlighted.

Another couple of nights work saw the major sections completed and finally at around 21.20 Tuesday 29th the warband was fully finished and read for photos:

I followed a lot of the steps in the Mengle Miniatures tutorial, highlighting the red up with Wild Rider Red and spot highlighting the corners with orange, something I've never pushed that far before for highlights.

I'll add different bits about each model as we go through a series of rather cruel close-ups:

Starting with Prince Duvalle:

As mentioned before I pushed his armour highlights up to the orange on the raised corners.

The base was also an experiment following the tutorial starting with Incubi Darkness (lovely colour) and shading with Nuln Oil. Then highlighting with Incubi Darkness and a further highlight with Thunderhawk Blue.

Given how cold and stony the base is, I didn't drybrush over the skull or Duvalle's feet with dust as I normally do on a battlefield base, this adds a little warmth and colour into the dark base.

Gorath the Enforcer:

Gorath the Enforcer is the "Unit" as I nicknamed him. A hulking slab of cold undead muscle, but which has all the speed and power that comes with vampirism, terrifying.

For his armour I went with the traditional Von Carstein black, highlighting with Mechanicus Standard Grey and spotting the corners with Ulthuan Grey.

Easier to see on this model is the skintone, which is a cool, dead flesh appearance, this is Grey Seer and glazed over with severely watered down Thunderhawk blue, before being highlighted up through Grey Seer and Ulthuan Grey again.

His cloak shows off the wet blending technique I attempted on the various cloaks the vampire wear. Barak-Nar Burgundy and Abaddon Black then with a clean wet brush I mixed them together, treating the miniature like a 3D palette.

Ennias Curse-Born:

The most monochrome miniature in the warband. In an effort to add some colour, I glazed the wings with watered down Druchii Violet to try and get some purple in there and he has a couple of red jewels to tie to Duvalle's armour.

His mace is Grey Knights Steel washed with Agrax Earthshade and layered back up to Steel again.

Vellas von Faine:

The duelist Vellas von Faine is probably my favourite miniature from the set, interestingly Curse-Born above is Chris' favourite but my least favourite from the group.

Von Faine got all of the techniques listed above, with her armour being split black and red she had both sets of highlights, her cloak has some wet blending on it, but it was hard to do because of all the hair...

Hair which was painted Grey Seer and given a heavy coat of Apothecary White. The coloured sections were rebased with Grey Seer and then got a coat of Blood Angels Red, contrast paints made the hair relatively easy overall.

Incidentally her face does look better in real life, as I said these were some cruel close-ups of the models.

I'm really pleased with how these.models have turned out for just a few hours work, maybe oe-two per night for about three nights.

As I have several of these warbands to do still, I may use one after each big project is finished as a palette cleanser type arrangement.

Until next time, have nice day...

Glory to the Dark God's, A Chaos Warband - part 1.

"Quickly, break into their lines, sever the head and thus it is done!" The metallic echoed voice of Einar the White resonated from within his helmet.

As one the warriors of The Dark Pact and The Black Iron Company pushed forwards, bending the Slaaneshi line. Axes and Hammers rose and fell with arcs of blood. Shields were hammered forwards, pushing at the cultists of the pleasure god as they tried desperately to regain to purchase.

As superlative as their reactions and speed were, even the toughest sapling can only bend so much. So their line split and the Warriors of Einar the White stormed the breaking the cohesion of the mad cult Infront of them.

"There, that is the one I seek!" Einar shouted, pointing with his axe at the Slaaneshi Champion.

The veteran warriors of The Dark Iron Pact surged forwards again, beating back the deranged attacks of lightly armed cultists. Mortaan swung his standard in an arc and pitched three of the enemy through the air as if they were ragdolls.

With the crunching thud of their landing back on their fellows, Zhine gestured his men into position surrounding the Slaaneshi Champion, they formed a ring of steel with armour and weapons pointing outward as Einar stepped through their ranks and saluted the enemy.

"Ravassek, I am Einar the White, today I claim the bounty of the Dark God's" he said formally and then swung in viciously with his axe, playing his spear towards his enemies feet to keep him off balance. Again and again they addressed and attacked each other, sword rang against axe and spear darted towards but was dodged at the last second.

The Slaaneshi champion used his speed to duck, sway and leap out of the way of the attacking Chaos Lord, taunting him all the while before leaning in and swiping a quick cut through the heavy leather of Einar's gloved hand.

Pain and pleasure exploded behind Einar's eyes and he almost dropped his spear for a moment before rallying himself.

"We don't have time for this, be done with it!" Zhine shouted over his shoulder at the combat behind him, holding back three Slaangor from their dueling lords.

Einar dug his feet into the ground and propelled himself forwards, catching Ravassek off guard, he slammed his shoulder into the abdomen of his foe. He heard the wind leave the lungs in a wheeze and smelt the perfumed breath as it passed through the slit in his helm.

With a roar he lifted the lithe Slaanesh champion bodily and threw him to the ground before spinning his spear and slamming it through the fallen Ravassek's shoulder pinning him in place.

A daemonic scream issued from Ravassek as his head snapped upwards and his mouth distended too wide, revealing too many sharply pointed teeth for a human mouth to hold.

The Dark Pact all seemed to take a step backwards as the outer pressure seemed to increase, until Einar brought his iron shod boot down breaking the distended jaw and knocking the champion unconscious.

Fresh screams erupted as The Black Iron Company tore into the milling ranks of cultists who began to turn and flee the field, leaving their fallen lord behind, even as The Dark Pact slaughtered the last herd of Slaangor who refused to flee.

As things died down the two champions conversed with their lord.

"Will you kill him?" Haustaan of the Black Iron Company asked, his men hadn't been with Einar that long and this was the first real battle he had led them in.

"No, the pact must be fulfilled" Zhine replied, "We must..."

"I will fulfil the pact Zhine, worry not about that. It is not your place to issue orders" Einar stated coldly, "The next time you presume to do so, I will blind your shield and leave you to the horrors".

Zhine bowed his head, "I meant no disrespect Lord, let us finish the pact and take the next step on the eightfold path".

Einar nodded, the horns on his head dipping with the motion, he gestured over the battlefield towards his Sorceror, floating towards them on a magical disc of Tzeentch.

"Prepare the ritual, but bring me the smithies first, I have something in mind"

*****

A good chunk of miniatures finished for Age of Sigmar recently, they just needed the final touches on their bases. If I would have had time last month, I could have thrown these in with my total and beaten Grant, but hey-ho best laid plans and all that.

Marching with the tread of ironshod boots, the warband of Einar the White has been a Terror to the good people's living anywhere in the northern reaches for the past decade. Attempts to destory the warband have been thwarted as the champion Einar enjoys the protection of his Dark God's and returns to pillage and destroy time and time again.

Einar the White in his Battle Glory.

It is unknown wether the horns on his helmet actually sprout from his head or are for decoration as Einar has never removed his helmet when surrounded by other mortals. The twin skulls were taken as trophies from a pair of Aelf Sisters who very nearly ended his life during one of his first battles. 

Einars'spear, 'The Soulsiphon' was torn from a champion of Slaanesh when Einar defeated him in single combat, adding the decadent followers to his own warband, and taking the fallen champion as a prisoner.

He had his forgemasters remake the weapons into a form more fitting to his liking, his alchemists keeping the magic properties of the Daemon bound within the blade whilst the blacksmiths worked upon its form.

When it was ready, his first action was to plunge the spear through the chest of his prisoner, stealing the soul of the Slaaneshi Champion to feed his new infernal weapon.

The Dark Pact are a veteran unit of Chaos Warriors, led by Champion Ishmicah Zhine who have accompanied Einar the White for nearly a decade of slaughter. They have begun to exhibit signs of blessings from the gods, sprouting horns from their shoulders as well as the gifts given to Ishmicah himself.

Ishmicah Zhine, the Ravager of the Despoiled Moon pictured with his command cadre. Though blinded by battle magic, he has been "gifted" the ability to see through his daemonic shield.

Mortaan the Gagged, hefting the banner, grunts and slathers through some form of speeach which only Ishmicah can understand, meanwhile Kanaros the Thunderhorn has been deafened by the monstrous blasts of noise he produces from the hunting horn he uses to rally The Dark Pact in battle.

The Black Iron Company, are ten fully armoured Chaos Warriors ready to march forth in the name of Chaos Undivided.

Haustaan, leader of 'The Black Iron Company' with his command section. These warriors are recent additions to Einars' growing warband, whether this is a good thing or not will come to pass as a burgeoning internal struggle within the company has reared it's head!

Elig the Slayer, both Einar and Haustaan have begun to watch their backs as this ambitious warrior has eyes on both of their positions in time...is he the reason for the internal strife within the company?

Finally here is the warband pictured with some allied Chaos Dwarves led by Hashuratt Zar-Zardorgath. These merciless killers do not let their stature detract from their reputation.

Another idea for a project I have had has been to turn these guys into an all encompassing "Bad Guy" army for a group of online players to fight against, kind of online RPG but battles reported back rather then played over webcam or something, I'll figure it out.

However after finding out about the expanded rules for Path to Glory in AoS 3.0, the new lease of life for these figures may just be that. If I can combine the Path to Glory rules with some other player control of the aftermath sequence I may be able to get it all working as I want.

I find myself trying to clear more and more half painted projects rather then buying into new ones recently as I took a look in the cupboard where I store all my wargaming gear (apart from the display cabinets) and thought of this from a Facebook discussion I was involved in: 

Le sigh.

Until next time, have nice day...

The King in Yellow.

 

 Scores of Chainrasps floated in the courtyard, moving with a purpose over the overgrown and twisted flagstone as they were drilled to fight together by the Bladeghiests in charge. 

Even warriors in life had to relearn how to fight together as a spirit, as torment often robbed the less strong willed individuals of thought and memory.

Above them, on the balcony of a crumbling manor house, two spectres overlooked the proceedings below.

Crone Agathia turned to her companion, a second Harridan and regarded her with cold, black eye sockets.

"The mistresses spies have told word that the gate to lost Carcosa has been rediscovered" she whispered, her voice a rasp and shriek at the same time.

Her companion merely nodded.

"Dear Hali, you know who lies on the other side, please tell me that Nagash's curse has not robbed you of your memories".

"No sister" Hali replied, her own voice a harsh dry whisper, she seemed to expel a small amount of dust which each word, "I have not, nor ever will forget".

Beneath them, a group of twenty Chainrasps were wheeling around to face their Bladghiest commanders, silence reigned for what would have been several heartbeats.

If any of the dead had hearts to beat....

"That is good Hali, as you will need all your knowledge of that cursed place, The Queen is sending you back to your home" Agathia said not turning to look at the glowering Hali.

"Crone, I think someone else..." She began only to be cut off mid-sentence.

"The Queen chose you personally because of your ties there from when you were living. She chose you to be her envoy to the King in Yellow and to recruit his forces to our cause. Can you do this or not?" Agathia's voice turned harsh as she asked the question.

After a few moments of contemplation, Halo turned back to her superior.

"I will do as she asks, but surely she must know that she toys with powers beyond her own? There was a reason, even in death, that Carcosa, and The King in Yellow, were banishes to a sub-realm. Not even Lord Nagash would keep that cursed place in Shyish!".

"She knows Hali, she knows what she is doing".

Their eyes were drawn towards the courtyard again, as some of the Bladeghiests screeched a new series of commands breaking the silence.

"You leave immediately, you have to get there before our enemies, is that understood?"

Hali merely bobbed her skull head and turned away, whispering the old song of Lost Carcosa.

"Along the shore the cloud waves break,

The twin suns sink behind the lake,

The shadows lengthen

In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,

And strange moons circle through the skies,

But stranger still is

Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,

Where flap the tatters of the King,

Must die unheard in

Dim Carcosa".

*****

After a heavy series of training I've been enjoying just relaxing and unwinding in my hotel room just painting miniatures.

It's always been a great way to unwind, but more so recently as a way to really take the strain of the day off and get ready for the next.

I brought this Wight King model as he'd been part painted on the shelf for a couple of years and would be an easy completion job.

He was already basecoated with flat white primer and had the Leadbelcher armour layer done when I restarted him.

So a quick coat of Ushabti Bone, a bit of gold for the crown and keys, some black detailing for the shield and grey for the fur mantle.

His cloak was the biggest sticking point and I was stumped so asked my friends and Dom suggested yellow.

Things clicked then as I have always been a fan of Lovecraftian references, so The King in Yellow was brought to Shyish.

Averland Sunset was the yellow I used.

The entire model was washed with Earthshade, before things like the cloak and fur were drybrushed up to regain some of that colouring.

Usual basing scheme applied and the King was finished...

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the white area inside his mouth, I'm going to add some of the Nighthaunt Gloom technical paint here when I get home (I didn't bring it with me) to give him an otherworldly, glowing with power type look.

We'll have to wait and see why Carcosa and the King were banished to a sub-realm within Shyish. In the Lovecraftian style, I have no idea as yet!

Until next time...

A Knight-Questor's Tale - part 2.

 (Continued from Part 1)

The champion loomed large, I am not ashamed to say that I must have screamed in terror.

Here I was, just a boy, playing at being a man and confronted by a nightmare vision of death.

I raised my pitiful sword and made to strike.

A deep basso rumbled in my ears and I realised that the champion hadn't bothered to block my strike and was laughing instead.

Outraged I swung again and again, eventually breaking my sword against the thick hellforged armour, I raged against the unfairness of everything.

"I admire your spirit boy! I am Kharnan Kraguul, seek me out when you are a man so we can settle this, one warrior to another" he roared with a voice that sounded as if a volcano was erupting.

Then everything was black.

I woke up three days later, pulling myself clear of the mass grave where the bodies had been piled and sought out the few survivors who were making ready to leave.

I was told that after I had broken my sword, the champion had backhanded me with such force that I flew clear over the ranks of the soldiers behind me and was thought to be dead.

It was deemed a miracle that I lived still...

 Alryne was abandoned, but I never forgot the champions challenge to me. Wherever we ended up I strove to defend to my utmost, even my last breathe I declared.

My home and family had been destroyed and that opened a burning fierceness in me to never let that happen again.

Over and over through the years I defended villages and towns against the insane horde of chaos worshippers. 

Eventually, Lord Sigmar blessed me with transformation upon the Anvil of Apotheosis and I became a Knight-Questor of the Hallowed Knights Stormhost.

I perform my duties with due diligence for Lord Sigmar, however I still search for Kharnan Kraguul.

I still search for the reckoning we are fated.

I still search for vengeance for Alryne...

*****

Whilst I finished the Khornate Knights for the last post (linked at the beginning), I was struggling to come up with a decent story for them, other then being just "Haha Blood Knights" (which are a vampire thing incidentally).

During the course of just cleaning up some Stormcast parts which I originally planned on converting into a Lord-Celestant on foot I began playing the Silver Tower mobile game, where your starting hero is a Knight-Questor.

Coupled with talking to Fraser about my lack of story ideas he suggested the old Khorne theme of honour, battle and challenge.

These two things led to Knight-Questor Calain Drakesword and his loyal Gryph-hound Silver.

Though I never mentioned his name in the background, I always like to name my models (or at least the unit leaders), makes them feel more like my dudes.

So why Hallowed Knights?

I was searching for cool Stormcast colour schemes, as a method of doing something different and found a great Silver washed with Purple shade scheme, but with Red robes.

Chris suggested Green, but I wasn't sure about the Purple and Green together.

Then I remembered the awesome stories in the first set of AoS novels about Gardus Steelsoul, who now has his own AWESOME Mini. 

So Blue it was for the robes and details.

He is built from a starter set push fit Liberator Prime body, a Liberator sword, Paladin backpack and Vandus Hammerhand's Head with majestic mohawk included!

Silver came about because I love Gryph-hounds and I had a spare waiting to be built. I don't believe that a Knight-Questor can take a Gryph-hound in AoS, but rule of cool!!!

So this models definitely falls under the category of a "Kitbashed model" so he claims that second kitbash square on my hobby bingo grid. Also netting me the line across the top as well, making a gain of sixty points at the start of the month.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the grid before I'd made more additions to it, so that updated grid will be in the next post.

Until next time...

A Knight-Questor's Tale - part 1.

 

 I was ten summers old when death came to my home of Alryne.

We were working a farmstead on the outskirts of the town when a group of Freeguild soldiers came through, the sergeant bawling at the top of his voice.

"I want every man and strong lad, get to the temple and get armoured and arms. We have a large raiding party approaching, and I want numbers to intimidate them back to where they crawled from"

We'd never been called before, always being "too young" and "just children". 

That day we were going to become men and we excitedly chattered as we ran to the temple.

I was given a too large vest of old chainmail, a pitted sword and was pushed into the ranks of men gathering.

Already the fighting had begun, screams and the sounds of ringing weapons filled the air. 

I remember curses being snarled, oaths being called upon.

Most of all I remember the first time seeing men, real men whom I had looked up to, aspired to become, scythed down as if they were overripe corn.

Suddenly the men infront of me were cut down, men who had been veterans of the town watch, 

I was faced with a nightmare made manifest. 

A huge dark champion atop a black heavily armoured destrier. Blood encasing and dripping from the length of his sword.

A sword which made the old pitted thing in my hand seem like a child's toy.

*****

I've had these models finished for a couple of weeks but haven't been able to find the time to post them up.

As it is the last day of July, I figured I'd try to sneak a post in to claim at least one box of points this month!

So here we have a unit of Khornate Knights.

I converted them with some leftover parts from the Wrathmongers sprues I bought way back when Age of Sigmar was first released and I was building up the Bloodbound.

The Khorne flesh hound is actually the pet of Khorgos Khul, the original warlord from the starter set, but I dislike his model so mounted it on a 50mm base instead.

Being just three models strong they aren't usable for AoS at the moment, so I may add another Flesh hound to the unit to make it five strong.

However for Dragon Rampant they can count as Elite or Heavy Riders with the reduced model count rule having two wounds each!

They follow my usual scheme of heavy metalwork with touches of red and gold for their faction.

However I can run these as a unit of chaos Knights in a regular Slaves to Darkness army with the Khorne keyword should I choose to do so.

When I said about scraping some last points, these guys net me one of the kitbash boxes for ten points, increasing my total to 340 for the year so far.

I am close to finishing the first grid completely, so hoping to catch up to Chris over this next month.

Part two of the fiction will be the conclusion of our unnamed narrator in one of my next posts.

Until next time...

More Chainrasp Reinforcements.

 

Liberator Prime Hammerborn stood in the front rank of his units, Warhammer held high to draw the attention of his troops.

"This is where we stand, this is where they are banished, we will hold the enemy here" his voice sang out above the clamour of the battlleline being drawn together, "Do I make myself clear?"

The Stormcast Eternals reply was loud and bellicose in response as they slammed sigmarite shields together forming a wall against the charging enemy.

And what enemy, the unquiet dead never seemed to give up in their quest to occupy this area.

None of the knights, neither Exorcists, Incantors or Arcanum had managed to dredge up any knowledge, either through mundane or magical means, about why the Nighthaunt were so focused upon this series of ridges south of Ancestors' Fyrd.

The massing, shrieking horde of Nighthaunt Chainrasps swarmed up the hillside. Their spectral locomotion moving them faster then any physical being could have over the rough ground.

"Brace yourselves!" Hammerborn shouted. A quick glance told him that the twenty Liberators under his command were drawn up together into a solid shieldwall. The five Paladins holding behind them to deal with any undead which managed to make it past the blockade.

The roiling spectral mass seemed to animate faster and covered the ground with shocking speed.

And faded away into nothingness as they were about to make contact with the line of stern warriors holding position.

"What is this prime? Some sort of trick?" One of the Liberators asked.

"I don't know, be on your guard" the unsure leader could only reply.

 -----

"You did what?" Vornos Ravenhold cried, the loudest noise he had uttered since he started regaining his strength.

"I recalled some of the forces from Ghur to bolster your troops here in Shyish" Kheldol the Soulweaver replied. His form floating just like Ravenholds' did, he matched the Knight of Shrouds in rank, if not in stature and authority within the Nighthaunt ranks.

"Lord Nagash will not be pleased with interruptions to his scheming" Ravenhold mused, "We may have to start to move earlier then planned".

The Soulweaver said nothing, his grinning skull nodded in satisfaction.

*****

More Chainrasp reinforcements for Lord Ravenholds' army have been finished.

This is a unit of twenty models all told, the previous ten already finished can be fielded as a separate unit or added to a previously finished unit of ten models to give the army two units of twenty.

This unit however must be fielded as twenty models.

I started work on this unit last October time, before they got moved aside for Orktober.

They follow my tried and true Nighthaunt scheme so far. I am just waiting for grass tufts to become available from a reliable seller (my last supplier was trying to use the pandemic as an excuse for not sending items, three weeks after purchase!).

Once I can add some tufts to their bases they'll truly be finished, but that's a minor detail to add later, this unit is complete and off the paint table.

One thing I think I missed is some tidying up of the models when I started them. They were a cheap bargain from eBay, and the seller hadn't cleaned several of the less noticeable mold lines, unless your painting the model.

If I had the chance I would have gone back and tidied them up fully, I think I was in a bit of a rush when I started them and didn't notice the little imperfections which had been left.

Oh well...

In hobby news, this fills in another "Unit of 10+ mods" box on my hobby bingo grid.

With no local painting challenge going on at the moment, these ghosts will only count for bingo use.

Until next time...

 - Lewis.