Guild Ball Fishermen: Angel, Salt, and a ball

I picked up a Fishermen Guild Ball team. I wanted to paint these models as realistically as possible, and also make it look like they were on a sports field. I started with my favourite models from the range - Angel, who is a great goal-scorer in the game, and Salt, the otter mascot.

Blightbringer

The Hordes faction Legion of Everblight is basically a force for those who love dragons. Everblight is a disembodied dragon, who's essence is divided out into all of his Warlocks (most of whom are corrupted northern elves). Most of Everblight's monsters look like dragons, but every once in a while, a really weird one comes along. The Blightbringer is one such - aside from a large really cool head, its anatomy is pretty bizarre. Overall it is a fantastic sculpt, where the 3D modelling genius Doug Hamilton turned a dubious design brief into a masterwork. There were still some features that I needed to modify to satisfy my own sensibilities. 

1. Reverse the elbows. The originals were too weird for me. This was an easy fix achieved by switching the left and right arms, and cutting the impaling spikes off at the wrists, and turning them around. A little bit of green stuff modelling putty fixes all the gaps.
2. It turns out that compared to other gargantuan creatures in the Hordes game, the Blightbringer is rather small (there is not a lot of body to back up that huge mouth). I built up a large rocky outcropping out of putty to elevate the Blightbringer, so that it appears comparable in size.

And a work in progress, which gives a better sense of scale:

More works in progress, with a couple hints about what is to come...

Shikome

Malifaux Shikome - although they are technically spirits, I decided to paint them in a naturalistic way, rather than making them look ghostly. They also came with clear plastic flight stands, which I try to avoid using wherever possible.  I wish I had a better camera.

Shikome

Shikome

Shikome

Brennos the Elderhorn

Brennos the Elderhorn gets little respect in the game of Warmachine/Hordes, but his model is amazing. I did a minor conversion to reposition his staff so it wasn't jutting straight out to the side.

There must be a way to get good use out of him in the game, so I will not give up. For now he looks good in my display case!

Sacral Vault

For what is essentially a big block of stone on wheels, the Sacral Vault battle engine is a rather intricate model to build and paint.  From what I've seen, many hobbyists forego gluing on the many candles, skulls, and other adornments in the effort to get this thing finished as soon as possible.  But for me I couldn't resist piling on the candles.

I also opted to convert the model to change the nature of the sacrifice being conducted on the vault's altar.  The original model has a decapitated human tied to the altar, with the Gatorman holding the severed head aloft.  I used a Legion of Everblight Spell Martyr to change the sacrifice to a Nyss (a wild elf from the north) with his ribcage burst open.  The Gatorman now brandishes the unfortunate Nyss's extracted soul.  The "soul" was a leftover swirling soul from another model that I had in my bits box (Lich Lord Asphyxious).  The game rules for the Sacral Vault very much revolve around the collection and use of souls, so this conversion reflects this very nicely, in my opinion.

I had some issues selecting colours for this model, as I collect and play all the forces that this battle engine will work for (Minions, Legion of Everblight, Circle Orboros), and so it needs to not look out of place in any of these.  I essentially merged the colour palettes and base decorations I use for all three of these armies (although I left off the snow that I would normally use for Legion of Everblight models).

Zuriel

Zuriel is one of the great new character heavy warbeasts released by Privateer Press from the Exigence book.  In Mark II of the game, Zuriel was a lot of fun to play, primarily in the forces of Lylyth, Reckoning of EverBlight (Lylyth 3). Lylyth made great use of his dragon breath and his "Predator's Instinct" animus made herself into an infantry-clearing powerhouse. Not quite sure what to do with him amidst all his changes in the new edition. (Edit July 2016).

Wood Elf Spellsinger

I have always enjoyed playing each of the Elven races in Warhammer Fantasy - High Elves, Dark Elves, and most of all, Wood Elves.  In recent Warhammer events the Elven armies have all been combined into one force in the book Warhammer End Times: Khaine.

This amazing event has led me to dust off my Warhammer Fantasy collection and merge my Elven armies into a Host of the Eternity King.  So not only do I need to finish painting a sizable Wood Elf collection, but I also need to add High Elves and Dark Elves into the mix.  The challenge I have set for myself is to unify the three branches of Elves with one colour scheme.  Naturally I will follow my classic Wood Elf scheme, because I have the most models already painted this way, and at the end of the Khaine book, all the Elves now share a home in Athel Loren, the forest of the Wood Elves.  I am curious to see how the High Elf and Dark Elf forces will look in a woodland theme!

To start things off, I will introduce the colour scheme with a converted Wood Elf Spellsinger on an Elven Steed.  I first needed a mounted magic-using Lord level character for my Wood Elves army, and I didn't really want to use the original mounted wizard last seen in the early 90's.  I have such a model, but I prefer to use the newer more realistic horse sculpt that was introduced a decade later, and wanted to use elements from the brand new Sisters of the Thorn kit for my character.

I will still use this Spellsinger in my Host of the Eternity King because I like the various magic lore rules she comes with, even though the High Elves and Dark Elves also come with a bunch of good wizards.  And I still prefer my army general to be a Wood Elf!

Wood Elf Spellsinger

Wood Elf Spellsinger

Wood Elf Spellsinger

Wood Elf Spellsinger