Entry I. - Hive Spire Nobles: The Visconte

Welcome to the very first entry of my blog!

For my debut, I'm showcasing the leader of my Inquisimunda/Inq28 Noble House warband...

Visconte Titus Di Corbulio - Hereditary Hab-Sector Ruler

Most of his equipment is made up of ancient family heirlooms, including an Archotech plasma pistol and an encrusted face mask which is far more robust than its layers of patina would suggest.

His cane is a symbol of his authority and doubles as a deadly weapon (counts as either a power sword [sword-cane] or shock maul).

He wears a suit of tailor-made power armour emblazoned with a badge depicting the Corbulio coat of arms; three white daggers on a crimson field.

On his back is an official Writ of Marque, the seal of approval from a long-dead Magistrate, acting in the Emperor's name, granting a great-ancestor of the House the rights to rule over the district that Titus still commands by blood.

Perhaps at one time the Tithe system involved benevolent and noble souls, but today such Lords are little more than robber barons, trumped-up thugs with the wealth and clout to back up their bluster. True, they can be hard to live under for the Hive dwellers, but they're often a preferable option to the alternatives.

The Writ is, of course, a copy of the original, which is kept safely inside a sealed vault deep within the Corbulio compound.

However, the copy is still a valid document under Imperial Law which officially grants Titus all his inherited privileges.

What's more, it is digitally linked to the original, carries an array of trackers and sensors, is DNA-locked to Titus himself, and, in the event that it is stolen and he can't intercept it, he's able to remotely detonate it with the force of a cluster of grenades.

Titus also carries a curious piece of artwork on his cloak. No-one knows quite what it's for, or where it's from, though some in the Hive say it's a totem carrying a protective and vengeful Corbulio ancestor spirit to watch his back. Others whisper that it has a darker origin...

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I really wanted to go with the whole decadent and corrupt noble angle, but still recognisably part of the Imperium of Man and its institutions. Not so much evil characters, but definitely driven by self interest.

It's also interesting to me, having been used to ten-man Necromunda gangs, to explore a smaller warband made up of a handful of very powerful and well-equipped individuals.

This model has some very deliberate homages to Picta Mortis' incredible Imperial Bounty Hunter, which inspired me to go in this direction with the Dark Eldar Archon as a base model for my Noble House leader. In particular, the skull on a spike on the base, the upwards pose of the gun hand, and the placement of the purity seal on the cloak are all nods to his work.

You might notice the head moves from one picture to another - it's actually magnetised to the model; something I've started doing more with special characters or models where I have multiple heads I like for them, or multiple roles they could fill in different warbands.

+ Painting +

For the colour scheme I drew inspiration from this piece of Dark Souls 3 concept art, with the purplish-grey cloth topped by a crimson mantle. I'm afraid I don't know the name of the artist, I found it on Pinterest.

I tried to go for a painterly, somewhat graphic novel style which I've kept deliberately fairly monochrome with a limited pallet and spot colours, and have tried to focus attention in highlights and details on particular areas like the face, while allowing the less significant parts of the model to be darker and to fade into the background.

The mask was a tricky one, as I wasn't sure how to colour it until very late in the paintjob. I had originally thought pure white or gold, but did dabble with the idea of red, black, or a very dark midnight blue. In the end I went with white, but then after Googling for masks online I saw some old bronze ones covered in Verdigris, so some quick washes with watered down Thunderhawk Blue brought it all together nicely.

I also experimented with using metallic paint on the armour together with non-metallic highlights, I was trying to achieve a look similar to the sort of bone-like armour seen on these amazing models by Gabe Hearnshaw, who also contributed in inspiring me to go for this paint style I've adopted.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed! If  you're interested you may find me on Instagram.