The Legion of the Infernal Skull: Death Eternal

As long as I've been playing Warhammer, I've been creating backstories for my characters and updating the lore as significant events happen in games I've played or in the evolution of the rules.

It has been eight years since my previous army showcase: A Legacy of Death. During that time, I have added several new units and characters, and the Legion's story has progressed through the Age of Sigmar. Now, we have come full circle back to The Old World. The benefit of Vampire Counts is that the undead characters can essentially live forever, so the necromancer Nieman Kimmel and the von Koss vampires would have been around during the year 2276. In fact, as you will read below, my vampires had their origins during Walach's reign at Blood Keep in 1887!

This post is a collection of all the lore I've presented in the past, with updates to incorporate new units and characters, and carry their narrative beyond the End Times into the Age of Sigmar. 

 

RESURRECTION– The Complete Story

The tale of Korak the Grim and his quest to restore his master, the Necromancer Lord Nieman Kimmel, whose soul was lost during the End Times.  This post collects all six chapters of the Resurrection narrative, along with the origin lore for the Congregation of the Crimson Shroud, which I have included as a prologue.

RESURRECTION– VI. The Betrayal

 

RESURRECTION– V. The Hellriders

RESURRECTION– IV. The Artificer

RESURRECTION– III. The Librarian

 

RESURRECTION– II. The Mortician

RESURRECTION– I. The Simulacrum

Korak, Knight the Crimson Shroud

In this post we'll take a look at how I converted Korak into a model befitting his new status as general:

 

The Congregation of the Crimson Shroud

I've been working on the lore for my Nighthaunt army, the Congregation of the Crimson Shroud. Korak the Grim is one of my oldest characters, dating back to my 5th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Undead army. His story is a long one, and now it continues into the Age of Sigmar...

 

Nighthaunt Army Progression

Time to check in on how my Nighthaunt army has shaped up over the course of the year:

 

The Legion of the Infernal Skull, A Legacy of Death

As long as I've been playing Warhammer, I've been writing backstories for my characters and updating the lore as significant events happen in games I've played or in the evolution of the rules. I've collected many of them in this blog over the past years. This post is a compilation of everything so far, with a few updates to reflect the current status of the army and to fill in some of the blanks and flesh out the remaining characters.

 

  

Korak's Mortis Engine

This week, I finally finished up the Mortis Engine.

 

 

 

I don't usually paint source lighting on my miniatures, but as I was painting the chassis and assembling it, I decided to add some yellow to the green of the spirits where they pass near the flames. I also added a little green hue to the bottom of the bone framework to help to blend the different elements of the model and give it a more unified color scheme, rather than distinct areas of "green" "bone" and "flame."

 

 

The corpsemaster can toggle between the "regular" attendant and the wraith Korak the Grim.

 

 

 

 

Other than repainting my Banshees so they match my new ethereal color scheme, and putting together the remaining wraiths that I have in my parts box, this wraps up the "Spectral" wing of the Legion of the Infernal Skull– all the ethereal elements, led by the Korak. Now to tear them all off their bases and put them on rounds! (No, not really.)

 

*Edit:  Just remembered that I also have 10 Hexwraiths in a box somewhere. I guess it never ends...

 

Coming Soon: Skull Forge Scenics Skulls and Walls

The molds are finished for the skulls and I'm finishing up the wall segments. I'll be posting some pictures soon and hope to have them up for sale by the end of the month (hopefully sooner), but here's a peek at the skulls as I've incorporated them into the end posts for the walls:

 

 

'Til next time!

Corpsemasters, and Dreadfleet, and Tombstones, Oh My!

I'm in the middle of a terrain commission, so I haven't had much time to work on my Mortis Engine, but I took a spare moment to finish painting the corpsemasters:

 

 

The different versions are a "regular" corpsemaster and a wraith version meant to be Korak the Grim riding the Mortis Engine. I'd put him up there in the event that he's not in the army as a regular Hero-level character.

 

 

All that remains on this model is the bone cage surrounding the reliquary and bits like the skeletons and book. I'll hopefully find some time to work on this so I can get it off my plate and focus on other projects (alas, the Morghasts are already resigned to the Shelf of Shame). My buddy Chris also put forth the challenge for me to finish painting my Dreadfleet set before he finishes his Deathwatch Overkill set. Challenge accepted!

 

In other news, those of you following me on Facebook will have seen that I'm getting ready to release my first resin terrain set. I hope to have these tombstones and shrines up for sale sometime this month. More on that in the coming weeks...

 

'Til next time!

The Return of Korak the Grim, Part 2

Converting the Wraith

 

As I mentioned last week, the base model for Korak is this wraith from the Mortis Engine's ethereal swarm:

 

That wraith is combined with the sleeves from the Corpse Cart's corpsemaster. A plastic skull with the back portion trimmed away is used for the face. At this stage, I haven't yet decided how I'll handle the scythe, other than that I'll add the spirit tail behind the blade. I'm torn between the pitted scythe from the Mortis Engine or the "flowery" scythe from the Empire Wizard kit. Since I first envisioned this conversion, I've imagined Korak with a larger, fancier scythe than the regular rank-and-file wraiths.

 

I cut the flat portion off of the wraith, and trim the bottom of his robes a little. Where the flat spot used to be, I sculpt some layered robes.

 

 

The sleeve is blended into the body with putty. I leave the top of his hunchback a little rough because it will be covered with a second layer for the hood.

 

The "tail" of the spirit clinging to Korak's back is extended and filled out with more putty to create a base for the model. The spectral cloud continues up under his robes. I also work out the model's positioning on its base. (Although, the base would be changed out later because this one melted under the heat lamp while cooking the putty. It wasn't even in the heat for a long time, only a few seconds, but the base began to warp quickly. The black GW bases have a MUCH lower tolerance for heat than the regular plastic.)

 

Next, I add the other sleeve and sculpt the wrinkles on the connecting putty.

 

The hood and shawl come next– a layer of putty over the back, smoothed over and shaped at the bottom. The folds are blended around the neck. The holes are made with a pointed sculpting tool by poking into the putty and pulling down slightly.

 

 

 

The edge of the hood is enhanced with a bit of putty.

 

 

At this stage, I notice that there is an indent in the spirit's skull. I think it's part of the attachment point when it fits together with the other parts of the spectral swarm. Either way, it looks odd, so I sculpt over it and added some tendrils that blend into the wraith's robes.

 

I had removed all the flowers from the Mortis Engine's chassis, under the assertion that nothing would be living in the presence of this much Death Magic. I apply the same principle to Korak, and remove the roses and thorns from the scythe. (I imagine the grass and vegetation withering in his presence as he floats by.) The scythe handle is made from a length of wire, pinned into the scythe head. The hands are from a Tomb King's skeleton, and the wire runs right through them. I leave the hands unglued, and base their spacing and the bend of the handle on the positioning of the sleeves on the wraith.

 

Once the fit is correct, I glue the hands in place and attach the spectral trail.

 

I wrap some putty around the wire and smooth it out to create the wooden handle. Some splits and wood grain are pressed into the putty with a knife.

 

The final step of creating the scythe is to extend the spectral trail with putty, blending it into the blade.

 

 

A new base is added and the weapon is glued in place. The last little bit to be added is the hand grip on the scythe, made from a section of a plastic spear shaft. I had planned to add a second handle closer to the blade (scythes usually have 2 hand grips) but, in order for it to be "anatomically" correct, the grip would need to extend up, perpendicular to the blade, and in front of Korak's face, which would look terrible when viewed from the front. It also seems odd to have both handles on the scythe and Korak using neither of them. So, one handle it is! (If anyone asks, Korak will just explain to them how the other handle broke off ages ago, and then murder their soul.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's all there is to it! Now that he's painted, I can't wait to get this guy on the table.

'Til next time!