BitzBox Warband Champion on Palanquin

This BitzBox warband project had been on hold (and forever pushed further down the painting queue) largely due to this fella. It was great fun to kitbash and convert; delving into my box of bits to create a new palanquin and leader, but the thought of painting the bastard was daunting to say the least.

But I've done it and as usual it was never as bad as I had expected or built it up (a bit like public speaking). 

So here he is; Seth Spawnbloat. Level 10 Human. Champion of Nurgle. Infestation of Nurlings. Atrophied Arm, Enormously Fat. Palanquin, Shield, Warhammer

I primed the whole thing black (to make sure it was dark in-between all the nurglings) and then used a zenithal application of white from above. I much prefer using my ink washes/glazes over a white undercoat and then building up the subsequent highlights over the top of that.

With the Nurglings I used a limited palette of just yellow, green and orange inks (some mixed together) to keep all of the nurglings unified in colour. After the various washes were dry I highlighted up, which was a pretty tiresome effort.

The wooden areas were washed and glazed with a variety of greys and pale browns for the baser colour and then highlighted up with pale greys to try and create a weathered and old looking wood effect. A final addition of some subtle green glazes were applied to give a slightly mossy look to the wood. The idea being that a slightly green tinge to the wood would be complemented by the orangy/red rust colour on the metal areas.

The writhing mass of bodies on the throne (which was fun to make) created a few challenges. I wanted to make them look like they were the same colour as the wood, so that they were actually part of the throne, but this time highlighted up with a little Elf Flesh so as to give them a bit of a warmer skin tone.

You may have noticed the tattered awning surrounding the palanquin. This was an addtition that I expected to make as there was a slightly annoying gap between nurglings and palanquin that ruined the illusion of the mass of nurglings lifting the dais. To mask this I added this decoration and deliberately made it look tatty, both by ripping the paper and washing several layers of grungy sepias, browns and greens.

The images on the awning are taken directly from the page borders found in the Lost and the Damned.

Likewise the banner behind the champion. My first idea was to use a crow illustration from the Fighting Fantasy books but it looked a bit lost on amongst so much else. The black lining could not really compete with the busy-ness of the model. So I painted over it with the most iconic Nurgle image possible, Les Edward's original illustration for the Lost and the Damned itself - just on a tiny scale!

It actually wasn't as hard to do as I though it might be. Once I had added some thin layers of background colour, I went about sketching the outline of the GUO onto the background with diluted black and then added the shadows with Rhinox brown, before building up successive highlights with a range of pale greens and yellows. I then re-emphasised the shadows and added some spots of pinky/red for the sores.

The champion himself needed to stand out amongst the colours I'd already used and I'd already decided that I wanted him to look quite pale. I ended up going a bit pinker than expected, only to make him pop from all the other colours. 

Writing this all out does always make me realise just how much internal thinking occurs when painting models, an ongoing internal monologue.

The final element to complete was the shield and again I wanted to create a nice contrast with the warmer colours of the champ, so I hit the demonic shield with the baby-blue treatment and a bit of subtle purple on the tongue and yellow on the horn to mimic the warmth of the flames higher up in the composition.

So has the painted version lived up to my expectations? Those expectations were pretty damn high after being so proud of the actual build of this model and I have to say that I think the paint job does the model justice. I'm certainly happy with all the decisions I made and the composition and balance of the whole piece holds up. I know I'll never be the best painter around, but this is up there with my very best.

Hope you enjoy it too. I'll post up some photos of the finished bitzbox warband later..

An Undead Champion of Chaos (Deadcember)

I like a bit of ambiguity, in a hobby sense it creates opportunity. Ambiguity of race, alignment and status are all present in this model that I've just finished painting. Is he undead (the skeletal legs would assume so), but perhaps a good undead - the shield design and colour may make that a possibility? His helmet suggests some sort of status too, perhaps a hero? He could of course be a Undead Champion of Chaos, as per the Lost and the Damned. I haven't found any models that were specifically released to fulfil this role though, anyone know of any? Anyway, he'll be fulfilling one of those roles for me...

 

 

Ambiguity with a sculpt, however can be a pain in the arse when it comes to painting, trying to work out what is what is slightly irritating, especially if you work it out half way through painting it and realise it needs to be re-painted. A third layer into highlighting the cloak around his shoulders with a pale blue, I realised it was in fact a metallic shoulder armour...



This model has both types of ambiguity. The definition of the shape of the axe was pretty terrible and I'm still unsure what exactly is supposed to be around this fellow's neck, (I guess it allows some creative freedom - which is a positive) but I'd take these sculptural/casting defects any time for a nice ambiguous character. Because this guy (I believe) was marketed by GW in 1985 as a Chaos Champion, but because of his skeletal legs, he could also quite easily be an Undead Champion. Muliple uses. Added character. Helps create a backstory for him.



This of course triggered the Lost and the Damned in me, in fact the Lost and the Very Damned in me, because what could be more damning than a dead servant of chaos being re-animated on a whim by their patron as an undead, lesser version of before? The Path of Chaos indefinitely prolonged in a  non-progressive stasis? But he'll have no idea of his identity, so this is all bollocks anyway. Here's why LatD says on p.159:



"The fallen body of the Chaos Champion rises as an Undead Champion. Initially his appearance will be little different to that of his living form. The Undead Champion is recognisable as such only by his deathly pallor and slightly ungainly way of moving. As time goes on the Undead Champion starts to decay. His flesh peels away, exposing his putrefying innards and gleamin bones. Eventually the Champion is reduced to a complete skeleton. Undead Champions do not have the intellect or even the sense of identity that they had when alive. Perhaps a remant of their former identity haunts their eyes, but they are really little more than automatons."


A further passage in the book describes how you have to deduct characteristics from the original champion as he becomes Undead, losing S,T,I etc but becoming fearsome and immune to psychology. He can also lead Undead units which is useful as in the army list from the same book there is an option for zombies and skeletons to be present.




The cold blue paint job for this guy was based upon a Wight King that I painted a few years ago, but this time I wanted to add some artificial warmth to him, to represent the once living and some part of his former self, hence the sun shield (which I think is from a Marauder Dwarf?) I had to raise him up on some cork rocks, partly because he's such a small figure (didn't you know that in 1985 there was a shortage of greenstuff due to the surfeit of sculpts during the golden age of Gw and all those grand ideas needed to be sculpted with something)  and also because he needed a more leaderly looking pose, raised up on a plinth of sorts, more statuesque perhaps.



I like my efforts on this undead champion of chaos, it was fun to conceive and to create.

If ambiguity provides opportunity then I am nothing more than an opportunist. Completing this model on the one hand for my Nurgle warband/army but also so I can partake in Deadcember (painting undead during December). It's a thing apparently and a nice bit of extra motivation to get something else done from a pile of models. And I haven't found too many (any?) examples of an Undead champion of Chaos, so Google had better make this post come up first on any search result. Maybe you can help with that by reading it once at work in between important stuff  and again when you get home in the comfort of your armchair. Go on, it won't kill you.

Citadel's classic "Champions of Nurgle"

I've finished all 11 of the original Citadel Nurgle Champions and for me this is an achievement which sits firmly at the summit of my geeky leaderboard. In doing so I've managed to fulfil my collecting needs, my converting and conpletionist needs and also itched the Nurgle painting bug all in one fell swoop (well over a month or so). In fact I t feels like I've completed some challenging quest and I'm now awaiting to level up in the hobby. What new skill will I acquire; osl, nmm, patience, satisfaction with what I've got or blending level 2..?

Anyway are the motley bunch of Nurgle minions, striding forth to bring pestilence and much mirth to the area :

Having completed this quest, my new short-term hobby quests I've seemingly unlocked are:

1. Make a castle and scenery for my son's birthday in June

2. Create a Logan's World/Helsreach, 40k Mercenary Warband (with Mad Max style vehicle) for use at BOYL 2016.

Nurgle Chaos Champions #'s 073167/7 and 073167/9 (converted)

The last two original Nurgle Champions to complete the collection are done! Now the eagle eyes amongst you will notice that these are now not original as I have converted them, on the one hand to add a large standard and on the other to (I think) improve the weapon on the original miniature (which was a bit small and pathetic in my opinion).


So after the conversions were complete I had to make some decisions regarding the painting. I decided for the banner bearer to work in a purely brown palette, relying on a range of brown hues which I have collected over the years. The same holds true for the banner. I then wanted to highlight the fun loving nature of the Nurglings (I imagine he has an Infestation of Nurglings) by painting them in bright, vibrant colours:

For the banner I decided to use some Ian Miller imagery, from the LatD tome. Combing three of his heads into a vaguely Nurglesque icon, using lots of sketchy brush marks to add to the decaying nature of the browned banner. I tried to have a few different expressions in the faces, from mirth to malignity. I then added a realistic fly at the top in a compositional whim. The painting style was borrowed from the inspirational Nico's blog:

The final Champion of Nurgle proved to be a bit more of a challenge in terms of colour schemes.

I wanted to add some vibrancy to the group and realised I hadn't used any purple on the previous models. During the painting of this model I realised that it needed a second colour and decided that yellow would work pretty well to complement the purple; this type of organic planning is pretty much my approach to painting. It was only half way through that I realised he looked suspiscously Tzeentchian in his appearance. Rather than scrap the colour scheme (especially as the painting was going well) I decided that he could be a Tzeentch deserter or possibly a Nurgle minion who intends to spy on his enemies warbands. It may not be the best narrative but it beats me having to repaint the bastard! In fact now the collection is complete (photos to come) I will write up a piece of narrative to accompany them....

Nurgle Chaos Champion #073201/113

The elusive one. This model has taken me years to own and it was thanks to a certain Graham Bailey from the Oldhammer Community who sold me his, that allowed me to complete the collection. I have no idea why he is so rare (when he does come up on auction, you're looking at close to £50 for him), maybe he was just released in limited numbers? He's not only rare, but also a very cool sculpt (perhaps his rarity adds to this though). The Nurgling holding onto his horns is pretty cool and allowed me to get some nice contrast with the greens and Browns of his weathered armour. I also like the fly design on he face of his helmet, and talking of helmets he has that phallic Nurgle symbol on his axe shaft. Steady.

On other nice detail is the small face carved into his knee armour. Here you can also see that I went for some classic Nurgle transfers for his shield (I'm a bit bereft of ideas at the moment and I'm also keen to complete the collection and move onto other pressing projects).

All in all a wonderful model thst I'm so very pleased to eventually have in my collection and to have finally painted. He's an iconic and  original RoC Citadel miniature that helps link and  illustrate my last post which showcased the wonderful sculpts from the Pantheon of Chaos range over on Kickstarter.

Right last two to paint up to finish this project..

Nurgle Chaos Champions #'s 073167/2 & 073167/6

These two champions were ignored by me as a kid because they had guns! I was strictly fantasy then and now (although I have a few Rogue Trader projects I want to embark on for this year's BOYL - watch this space) but of course Realms of Chaos let your champions have access to archaic weapons such as bolters and the like. I didn't really like the crossover between the two universes back in the 80's but have lessened my resistance a bit over the years. So these are pretty much the first guns I've painted:

I've gone for some real weathering here, both with corroded bronze and orange rusted armour. I used the sponge technique for this attempt; layering lots of oranges and silvers over each other in small quantities. The final layers were pure red oxide dry pigment bound in a little matt varnish.


 I wanted to avoid the obvious green armour on the right figure, but in hindsight wish I'd added some coloured trim or something to break up the rust. The guy on the left came out better than I'd expected, I wasn't really looking forward to painting him as the pose is a bit shit and the body is the same as I'd previously painted for the fly headed standard bearer, but the two faced head came out pretty well and I quite like the three jewels on his front.

So just 3 more champions to go. I then plan to kitbash/convert some modern plastics into homages to these classic models. As well as those 40k mercenary gangs I mentioned earlier. (At this point I stop myself from even thinking about other, unfinished projects that are in the queue..)

Nurgle Chaos Champion #073167/5

After some brainstorming and assistance from the Oldhammer community on Facebook, I finally managed to finish a banner that I was happy with for my slightly converted fly-guy:

The original idea for the banner image was to do something Ian Milleresque, referring back to his iconic designs found in the RoC books, or failing that, a fly head/fly body. After posting on the Facebook group for some ideas, someone suggested an Ebola design. So after some research I found this:

The image I used for the background (originally the whole banner was going to be in this design, but after some consultation with others in the online community I went for my gut instinct which was to subdue the colours and use it as a background).

I had a go but was not entirely happy (despite some lovely praise), it looked a bit too much like polka dots and really lacked a focus. So I went with my instincts (and a few similar suggestions) and subdued the colours I had used with some darker washes and added a new design over the top. I went for someone else's suggestion; to use Kafka's "Metamorphosis" as inspiration. I found some great images and eventually plumped for a part bug part skull design. Here's a bit more of a close-up of the design:

I tried to get the transparency of the wings by applying very transparent layers of greys/whites over the background using a thinly pointed brush. When I was happy with the design I muddied up the bottom of the banner to show that it may have been dragged through the mud, using some baneblade brown earth washes and some of my Tamiya weathering stick.

For the fly head, I added some pearlescent medium to the greens to give a slightly metallic look to the finish; aiming for a blue-bottle fly appearance. The black areas were highlighted up with blues to add to this idea.

There is another banner bearer within this group, for that one I will definitely be going down the Ian Miller route, it's a much larger banner to try and pay homage to his intricate designs...

Thanks to all who contributed ideas and feedback, hopefully you like the final outcome. Much appreciated!

Nurgle Chaos Champions #'s: 073201/110 and 073167/1

The next two completed Champions of Nurgle are here finished. After being praised for not using any green on the first three Nurgle champions, I've gone for a fair bit of green here. Pale green skin (with some warmer red glazes) on this chap:

And a rusting green armour on this one:

I've experimented here on creating some severe weathering on his armour using the hairspray and salt technique. It's pretty easy to do and seems to have worked quite well. I definitely used too much salt though as there are still some white residues on the model - which adds to the patina - but more noticeable when I recieved an unexpected salt taste from licking my brushes, which I'm wont to do when blending. There's some other rusting techniques used on this model too - I really should do a tutorial. In fact there's a draft post been sitting amongst my other drafts since about May of last year...

Chaos Champions of Nurgle #'s 073167/4,3 & 8

These are the first three painted Nurgle champions from my newly completed collection. They were painted a little while ago, but needed some touch ups due to gaming wear and tear.

The next three are in progress...

All the original Champions of Nurgle

Over the many years since I first became obsessed with Games Workshop's products, I've at one time or another, owned all of the Realm of Chaos Champions of Nurgle bar one. It's only recently and with the enormous help of Graham Bailey (thanks buddy!), that I've actually managed to have them all at once, and therefore I'm on the first step to eventually fulfilling a very long held ambition to have them all painted in a unit to field as a unit of Chaos Warriors in my LatD Nurgle Army.. The final missing piece to the jigsaw was the elusive warrior with axe and accompanying Nurgling on his shoulder, which is where Graham from the Oldhammer community helped me out. So here's my collection positioned in the same places as the page from SoLegends:

And here's that aforementioned page from the catalogue/solegends  that I've looked over many times from kid to adult, dreaming that one day I'll have them all..:

As you can see I've made a few conversions to mine, because I'm not a "purist" collector and I like to improve and make some of my miniatures unique. Especially as I will game with them, sporadically, in the future. I feel that even with a few changes, in this case one with a weapon change and two turned into banner bearers, the models still retain the character inherent in the sculpt. They are still recognisable, for example, as that "Nurgle Champion with the Nurgling on his shoulder". In fact I feel that I've added to the potential for a Nurgling Infestation Gift by adding further Nurglings on the banner poles.

Anyway I'm incredibly proud to be able to have completed this first part of the mission, one off the hobby bucket list! Now to get to paintong them...

Frostgrave Bestiary Challenge: Vampire (and all the Undead)

Well the model is actually an 80's Citadel Champion of Chaos, but was surplus to requirements for other projects and with his bone armour donned he looked suitably necromantic to be used as a summoning vampire (hence the Mantic skeleton rising from the slabs).

I tried to capture a strong contrast between the light, smooth bones and the dark, grubby cloak and the limited palette of colours made me introduce a spot colour in the blue of his swords hilt and the eye's of the raised skeleton.


And here are all my recently painted Undead, being led by their new Vampiric leader:

I'll be having a break from my Frostgrave Bestiary Challenge and returning to old Citadel Nurgle next (seeing as I've recently finished collecting all of the Nurgle Champions...)

A Lost and the Damned warband

As the Oldhammer movement (and all that it stands for) grows, it was only a matter of time until I found a local, like-minded enthusiast. And so it happens that Justin from the Masterwork Guild blog got it contact to say he only lives a short drive from Farnborough, where I reside. So after a few emails we have decided to meet up for an evening over the next few weeks (depending upon the date of my house move) to play some RoC and have a geeky look at our Oldhammer miniatures; I can't wait.

So we decided to roll up a RoC warband each and then perhaps play a few narrative based games with them. In an ideal world I would have rolled up my warband and then gone about sculpting/converting/painting the models to match the Champion, his retinue and their various chaos attributes, but that for now is not realistic task for me. So for my Champion I decided to use one of my completed models and then apply his attributes based on the appearance of the model.

Introducing my Champion, a level 5 human; Istan Nnarth:

He has the Mark of Nurgle (+1 T), Huge Head (+1 FP) and I then rolled Involuntary Temporal Instability. For his equipment he has an axe, shield and light armour.

We agreed that our champions would have two rolls on the retinue table and I rolled a 63 for 2 Chaos Cultists:

These two are led by a Chaos Warrior, who should be given two Chaos Attributes, in this case Manic Fighter and Fear of Blood!:

The second roll saw me roll a 24 for 5 Beastmen of Nurgle: 

So here's the entire Nurgle warband, ready for action in about a fortnight's time:

I can't wait to play and meet Justin - I'll share some photos of the clash here.