WIP Chaos Warriors w/ Additional Hand Weapons

Here's a pic of the current state of the Warriors now they're back on their bases. Been a really slow moving process with these, too many distractions!



Got quite a bit to do still. This is just the darkest metallic colour on the gold currently, got to highlight it up to the normal colour still. Once all the painting is done I'll be adding another snowfall to the bases! More updates soon!

Chaos Warriors - Movement Tray

Not a real update but I am still working on these! Movement Tray and bases WIP pic!

Quick Update

Forgot I hadn't posted these pics of the Warriors here yet. Haven't gotten any more done since but hope to get some more painting done today. One more highlight and I'll be moving on to the gold.





As I said I haven't done much painting in the last few days. Most of my painting time occurs when my daughter decides that godforsaken o'clock is the ideal time to wake me up so she can go downstairs and watch Peppa Pig or Teletubbies. Miraculously she's been sleeping through the last few nights so I've not painted anything. Anyway, with the half term, doing papier mache with my son and my nephew was the perfect excuse for me to able to make a start on something I've been wanting to try as well.



Yes, this certainly does continue the trend of rather random pictures of god only knows what!
It's going to be my scenery piece to represent the Herdstone Shard magic item in the Beastmen army. Whilst I like the idea of the item, the idea of burying a rock in the ground doesn't seem half as good as burying a tainted acorn or some such and a chaotic tree sprouting like something out of Jack and the Beanstalk. It'll be based on a cd.
The problem with this whole project though, is I'll probably never use the magic item. My Beastmen are going to be a very mobile army and having to bunker shamans in my deployment zone just seems like suicide.
Anyhow, this is the framework of said tree.

Chaos Warriors w/ Additional Hand Weapons

Not much of a post but I've spent lots more time on the Warriors but haven't gotten very far with them. Seemed to take forever to black their cloaks back so I could start on them. Here's a picture of one now that I've put the first highlight on. Going to blend the darker purple with the highlighted purple a bit more then I'm going to add one more extreme highlight and then I think I'll be leaving the cloaks.



What do you think so far?

Chaos Warriors & Lord Kemen's Tomb

I've made a start on a unit of Chaos Warriors. Not much to look at yet but the picture proves that I am doing something at least!



I decided that since Argider is almost exactly the same to paint as the Warriors I might as well do him at the same time and then when I had one slot spare on the movement tray I figured I'd put Ximun on there as the purple on the Warriors' cloaks will be getting used on his robes. This means two of my Mordheim warband get painted at the same time and seeing as the rest will get painted when I get to the Marauder unit it's all good!

Also, might seem random for now...



From such humble beginnings shall rise Lord Kemen's Tomb! More on this later!

Foe-render More WIP

Done a little bit more of the Foe-render, just the horns and hooves.












I'm not sure on the horns though. They just didn't seem to come out right so I think I might be redoing them later on.

Quick WIP Shots

I did a mock up for one of the Ungors in my Beastmen army. Still needs tidying up etc but wanted to see how the mini would look built.





Going to greenstuff some fur onto the upper arms etc to make the arm seem more like its meant to be there but it seems to be a quick and easy solution to the problem of arming the Ungors with short bows! Ignore the base size, by all accounts that's going to switch to 20mm so he isn't stuck down yet!

Also done a tiny bit more work on Aaracturious The Storm God...





I've been working on another mini as well but he's refusing to photograph well so you'll have to wait and see him at another point!

The Storm God - Aaracturious

In between painting I've also been working on my other beast...





I was feeling daring with him! I filed down most of the original Shaggoth face and then cut the Defiler face to a more suitable shape. Sculpted the hair to make the transition from the helmet to the rest of the mini seem less drastic. What do you think? I'm far from a scholar of the greenstuff arts but does it look passable so far?
Still got lots to do on him yet!

The Glorious Host, The Future, Decisions and Plans...

I did a quick and as a result quite poor pic of the bits of the army that I'm happy with at the minute (the marauder horsemen need some more shading on their armour and bases need the rims done on quite a few things).



My army looks like an all cavalry force with the exception of poor Vela the footslogger and the Hellcannon. My army is actually quite infantry heavy though. It might not be as competitive to do so but to me cavalry should be the elites in an army and so shouldn't ever outnumber the infantry regiments. So that gives a clue about what my current priority is now!

Also I'm debating over the Chaos Steeds..



This is a reminder of how they look currently but I'm tempted to repaint the horses to look like Gentza:



Need to decide by the time I get to painting the next regiment of Chaos Knights. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

As for my plan of action. Still taking part in the Tale of Fantasy Painters so that directs a lot of how I plan my painting out for the minute. But my rough plan is currently.

December: Chaos Warriors w/ Additional Hand Weapons
January: Chaos Marauders w/ Hand Weapons and Shields
February: Chaos Sorcerer (Isidro Devante) + Warhounds
March: Warshrine
April: Chaos Warriors w/ Halberds
May: Chaos Knights
June: Marauder Horsemen
July: Exalted Hero on Chariot (Luken The Sixth Born)
August: Hellcannon

This way I'll have started the Tale on a Hellcannon and will finish on one. Also by August I should have the motivation to paint that second Hellcannon! Through this month and next I'm going to be painting the Mordheim Warband as well, they'll be easier to do alongside the Warriors and Marauders as a lot of the painting being done on them can be applied to the Mordheim gang also. They'll make up for my used joker easily enough too!

Of course this plan is very rough and completely overlooks the fact that there's christmas to come yet which may well completely change the direction of some of these plans and also in February there's the new Beastmen. You can be certain that they will start to make an appearance on here soon and I'll have to do some tidying around this blog. In particular in regards to the fluff etc. Would like it to all tally up. Everything will fall under the heading The Devotees of Elazar but there will be a clear split within that between The Glorious Host, my Warriors of Chaos, and the forthcoming Beastmen who I'm going to reveal nothing about yet!

Anyway, so the next things you'll be seeing on here are my Warriors with additional hand weapons. Will start posting WIP shots soon but my priority this week is to finish building a few of the minis for later in the Tale as I have my 7000pt game vs. Skaven on Sunday and they will be greatly needed!

Harkaitz - The Herald of Elazar, Bearer of the Glorious Standard

The stories of Harkaitz, amongst the tribes, are many but in truth very little is known of The Herald of Elazar. He has fought alongside the Daemon Prince’s armies as far back as any mortal memory goes and he has witnessed the rise and fall of a great many champions. Legend has it that Harkaitz is the last surviving member of Elazar’s warband from before his ascension, and that is why he has the honour of carrying the Daemon’s banner. This would make Harkaitz centuries old but within the Realm of Chaos such things are possible. Whatever the truth of things his presence in an army is an omen of a great battle to come. Elazar does not send his banner bearer lightly.
The Glorious Standard that Harkaitz carries acts as a vacuum for the souls of those that fall in battle against Elazar’s armies. Dragged into the Realm of Chaos these souls are subjected to endless tortures for Elazar’s pleasure. The wails and screams of the trapped souls can be heard emanating from the banner in a cacophony of suffering. More disturbing still, faces press against the mortal realm from within the banner. They plead for their freedom before they are dragged back by the daemonic minions for more tortures. The sight of one’s fallen comrades begging for deliverance from the next plane is enough to unman many a foe and the mere presence of the banner has turned the tide of many a battle, the resolve of the enemy crumbling the face of such terror. After the battle Harkaitz can be seen riding back into the chaos wastes to return to his Prince’s side. His name drifting back into legend until the next time he marches to war.
The Daemonic Steed that bears Harkaitz to war is the subject of a great many legends itself. This terrible beast has been named as Gentza by the tribesmen that worship the Daemon Prince. Gentza was the cruel steed gifted to the then mortal Elazar by Slaanesh and Harkaitz’s steed matches all the descriptions in the tribes’ oldest tales. However, Gentza is said to have sired many offspring and these spawn of the daemon mount are given as gifts to those warriors who earn Elazar’s favour. Some of them wholly Daemonic, others an impure mix of horse and daemon.

*

The Glorious Standard (counts as Banner of the Gods).
Unnerving foes and inspiring acts of devotion from Elazar's servants, the banner is a thing of pure chaos. Anguished howls of the fallen echo across the battlefield and promise the ruin of all who oppose the Glorious Host...
The presence of The Glorious Standard has such an effect on the combatants of a battle that the bearer causes Terror. Also, all friendly units within 6” of the banner become Stubborn.

Harkaitz - The Herald of Elazar, Bearer of The Glorious Standard (A Sneak Peek)

More (and much better) pics will be posted Monday but was so pleased to finally be done that I had to post a photo!

Gentza - The Herald's Steed

The next update will be more substantial than this. However, I might hold onto images of it until after the painting competition now...

It's also the WFB Doubles Tournament at my gaming club the same day as the painting competition. Trying to finalise a 750pt Warriors of Chaos force to go alongside my son's Orcs and Goblins. Really is hard to do anything substantial with so few points and such costy troops! Wish us luck!

Gentza - The Herald's Steed

Slowly getting there now...

Gentza - The Herald's Steed

A little more progress. Still very WIP but getting the barding done on the mount now.

Gentza - The Herald's Steed

So, here's a quick WIP shot of the Daemonic Mount. It's not much yet but gives you an idea of where I'm going with it:



I wanted to stick to the army colour scheme but do something a little different to the norm with it. So I decided to use the same scheme as I have/will do on Be'Lakor should I ever get round to painting/finishing him. It's particularly interesting because by the time christmas has passed you'll start seeing my Beastmen appear on here and their colour scheme is going to be very similar to this... I really enjoyed painting the steed like this and the mad part of me is tempted to go back and make the steeds my Knights are riding like this but then the lazy (and/or sane) part is saying 'they're ok, there's so much more that needs your attention.'
I've started using a wet palette for my painting and I've found it makes a HUGE difference. Really would recommend it to everyone.
Anyway please comment! Helps keep me motivated and it's always helpful to get any mistakes pointed out at this stage instead of when I think I'm done!

Battle Standard Bearer WIP Mock-Up

Did a mock-up of the finished Battle Standard Bearer model. Lots of pinning, and gluing done but even more greenstuff and fixing of things to go!











As you can see, still lots of work to do around the arm holding the banner. Getting rid of the tentacle was a nightmare and now I have to build up again now, I'm thinking I'll put a small Marauder round shield on the arm as well. Please let me know what you think! Any suggestions etc. will be greatly received and now is the best possible time to make them so I can fix things!

The Devotees of Elazar - More BSB Work

Finished all the pre-painting work on the Daemonic Mount (apart from drilling some holes into the legs so that it attaches to the base well)





I added an hourglass and a key to two of the chains. The other two are the standard for a chaos warrior/skull collecting enthusiast. I really like the idea of an hourglass and a key, they're two very mysterious items that add a bit of depth to the character of the mini. Well I think so and hope that I'm not alone in that!

Also I've redone the banner. I tried doing press-molds but made a bit of a meal of the ones with faces so just went ahead with chopping up faces. Doing some more press molds for something else soon so will post some more on that at another point.



It might not be clear but the shape at the top is the eyeline from a giant, I'll be greenstuffing the rest of the lines for a Daemonic face there, and the hand towards the bottom of the standard will be shovelling the faces towards it (will try and go for a nice fanged, open mouth). Got lots of greenstuff to add to this yet but will post more pics when it's further along.

Battle Standard

I wanted to show a quick WIP pic of the Battle Standard at the minute. It's a lot of work cutting the little bits how I need them and I'm still a little unsure if it looks good enough to carry on with. So, I'm leaving it to you guys to decide. Honest opinions please!



The idea being the souls of those defeated by Elazar's armies become trapped in the banner as some kind of scary half-living (in a spiritual sense at least!) trophy cabinet and they're all obviously rather desperate to get out of Elazar's prison. If people think the idea is worth pursuing still then I'll be adding more hands and faces yet!

The Devotees In Mordheim - The Chronicles of The Enslaver. Plus a few other bits.

The Chronicles of The Enslaver

As Argider crested the hill he took in the sight before him. In the distance were the city walls and he could make out movement along the battlements. Clearly the walls weren’t undefended. More pressing though was the presence of others in the landscape around the ruined city. A horde of green skins were making their way towards the main gate into the city to the east. From the west Argider could make out dwarves in two parties and a band of southmen. The dwarves and men were seemingly aware of each others’ presence but not of the green skins who too were ignorant of the potential threat. It would only be a matter of time before they clashed on their approach to the city. Argider thought back over Elazar’s words and decided not to seek combat with the green skins. Perhaps their common enemies in the southmen and dwarves would be enough to unite their causes for the time being. “We need to get through the gate,” Argider said two Ximun, Imanol and Ekaitz. Martzel and Bikendi, two young tribesmen chosen to accompany them were summoned over to hear their leader’s words also. “Once we’re inside the walls we can slay the defenders and the tribe can follow. There are others vying for entrance to the city but we’ll avoid them for now.” Argider could feel the indignation amongst his warriors at the order to avoid combat. “Send the hounds ahead and we’ll test the city’s defences!” Imanol made a whooping nose and the three hounds they’d brought with them bounded ahead, picking up the scent of living flesh and the prospect of battle. Argider sprinted after them in the direction of the main gate, his tribesmen following behind him. The landscape was dotted with ruined buildings and strange rock formations jutting from the ground, Argider tried to use them to cover his advance as best as possible. The fizz of a crossbow bolt flying past him made it clear that the cover hadn’t been enough to hide them from some dwarf crossbowmen. Martzel and Bikendi turned to fire arrows back at the dwarves but couldn’t hit them and so quickly fell back in with the party as they covered the ground towards the gate. Just ahead Argider could see two of the warhounds loping back and forth behind a rock formation. A pair of towers, clearly a checkpoint before the main gate house a couple of bowmen and the hounds had halted rather than weather the hail of arrows. Argider and the tribesmen made it to same rock formation and took a second to take stock of their surroundings. A short distance past the two towers was the main gate which was flanked by another pair of towers with more bowmen manning them. Looking at the closest towers Argider could see the men were ragged and dishevelled looking. They were no city guard, more likely survivors of the disaster that had befallen the city who’d taken it upon themselves to defend what remained of the place they called home. Argider nodded to his tribesmen before aiming a kick at one of the hounds, the two beasts broke from their cover and the men followed behind them, sprinting towards the city gate as the arrows began to fall amongst them. As Argider leapt over a makeshift barrier between the two towers he spotted movement to his left. Two men leapt from the rubble and flew into the attack against the warhounds who were nearest to them. One dodged the initial attack but the other hound was caught off guard and was upended by the impact of the man crashing bodily into it. Argider charged the man, sending him reeling with a thunderous blow from his axe and the fallen warhound leapt back up to rip the fallen man’s throat out in an instant. Argider pushed on towards the gate, dodging between scores of arrows fired from the walls. He was so close now. “Heretics!” Argider heard the cry before he spotted the southmen emerging from the trees, heading towards the gate and his fellow tribesmen. There were a few crazed men with flails charging towards them and a man who was bearing a flaming torch who had raised the shout. They covered the ground quickly. Imanol, Martzel and Bikendi turned to meet them. Argider cursed the southmen; he had to get into the city. He would get a chance to revel in their demise in the future, he was sure of it. Another shout went up as two more crazed men turned up from the left, prowling out of the ruins like uncaged beasts. Ekaitz roared a challenge and hurtled towards them swinging his huge flail in wide arcs as he thundered across the distance between them. Argider pushed on, only Ximun keeping pace with him. The chieftain couldn’t help but smile at the shaman’s endurance. He wondered how much that had to do with the narcotics he manufactured. Finally, they reached the gate and drove on through to the other side, arrows raining down on them from the walls. The defenders were sitting ducks to Argider now.

*

Ximun sat by the fire, silently watching his chieftain pace back and forth impatiently. Argider had climbed the walls and helped rout the defenders to make the way clear for his tribesmen but he’d lost sight of Ekaitz, Imanol and the two younger tribesmen. Now the chieftain was agonised by the wait for the arrival of his followers. He knew they’d locate the camp if they made it through the gates…

*

An image of how the warband looked for the first game of the Mordheim campaign. They still need lots of work yet.
In the end of the game I came second. Rather humerously a warband of dwarves were the first to make it into the city managing to find another door!

I've started putting the base coat on the chaos warrior regiment as well. Here's one of the Warriors.



This first stage on the amour is a nice coat of Khemri Brown.

The Devotees In Mordheim - Henchmen Martzel

Right here's the first henchmen, he still needs some work (and the arrow flight from the one in his hand came off as I was photographing him so that needs to be fixed). All the pics I'm posting here will probably look different when they're painted as I keep adding new little bits on and fixing bits.







To finish on a WFB note instead of a Mordheim one... All the bits I need for my character on chariot have now arrived. I need to decide whether to do him or to carry on with the BSB for the painting competition at my gaming club next month. I reckon the BSB model may be a better mini for this sort of thing but can't decide one way or another with any conviction at the minute. Does anybody else have any thoughts?