Entry VII. - The Black Hand Gang

This one's gonna have a lot of images! 

As I've been in something of a rush to get my Hive Spire Noble warband ready for an Inq28 game tomorrow, I haven't really stopped to document much along the way since completing the Visconte and his two Knights. Thus, the warband's remaining members - its hired muscle, retainers, and hangers-on -  have pretty much come together as one solid block.

First up is the Visconte's personal Footman and bodyguard; a hulking Techno-Barbarian from the tribes of the Chem-Wastes. He's known as Gulnan Vrax.

While technically a "Big Mutie", Vrax is a "counts-as" Ogryn for game purposes and as such carries the Abhuman signature weapon; a Ripper Gun; an automatic, drum-fed, large-bore combat shotgun.

Fluff-wise, Ripper Guns are described as being built for durability, with the designers knowing that Ogryns will quickly and enthusiastically burn through their ammunition, and then resort to using the weapon as a club to turn what enemies remain into a bloody pulp.

To me, the traditional design of it being a proper gun-shape, with a stock, barrel, and the like, didn't fit well with this description. In my mind it would be better made as a purpose built bludgeon, or even a fist-weapon, with a gun embedded into it in such a way as to avoid having its mechanisms smashed into pieces.

That resulted in what you see above; the back-end of a heavy bolter as a sort of hammer-fist combat gauntlet, with a grenade launcher embedded in the side as the giant shotgun itself. I'd imagined it as a removable gauntlet weapon, but I suppose it could be interpreted as a mechanical implant replacing Vrax's arm.

Vrax himself is of course made from a Khorne Slaughterpriest, a fantastic model that is a lot of fun to work with, and I'm already cooking up tons of other conversion ideas for it.

He displays his master's house Corbulio colours in a red and white checker pattern. I also added some Blanchian flames to the shoulder pad.

More Blanchitsu on the back with a grotesque face on his armour plate.

Next is Syr Balphorus Ziegl's Footman, a Underhive scummer known as Grigori. He's armed with an autorifle and also displays his master's black and gold colours in a check pattern.

Syr Zanthamel von Ymir's Footman, Lubovir, is another ne'er-do-well from downhive, equipped with a drum-fed shotgun. He too has the Ymir colours on his badge.

With Ymir himself focusing on ranged combat with his Meltyr Gonne, he employs a Servo Skull fitted with a chainsword and combat protocols to help fend off would-be assailants who get too close. Designated unit code: D1-48-0L-V5.

The Nobles aren't a squeamish lot as far as skulls are concerned, but they do like a bit of refinement, so their bionic servants are clad in decorative masks.

The Ymir Cadre

The Ziegl Cadre

The Corbulio Cadre

The Warband

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed. See you next time!

If you're interested you may find me on Instagram.

Entry VI. - The Forest Awakens

I have completed the pack of five Fenrisian Wolves to serve as the Leshy's summoned forest companions. Nothing too special, a spot of minor re-posing and I used pictures of real Grey Wolves as reference when painting.

 I'd originally intended the snarling black one to the left of center to serve as the pack "Alpha", and hence painted him black like the Alpha wolf in the movie; The Grey.

However, on closer inspection it seems to me he's one of the smallest wolves in the pack, so not very suitable as a dominant specimen! (Note: I'm aware that the "Alpha" theory regarding wolf social behavior has largely been debunked at this point, but for fantasy gaming purposes and having a unit leader it is simply a convenience.) I now favour the one in the middle as the proverbial "big dog".

I'm considering sourcing something bigger like a Thunderwolf for the purpose though. I'm also thinking of getting some kind of were-creatures (one of which possibly being wolf or bear-like) for the Leshy's shape-shifted form; I figure there are surely times where he "runs with the pack", so to speak, but I still want him to stand out even when transformed.

I have further plans to expand the warband, and have now decided I'm going to leverage the Giant/Gargant I was working on as an additional ally, but this combination of master and hounds is the core setup I'd imagined when the idea first germinated.

I'd like to make him a Leshy-Wife, but haven't figured it out yet. There's also an idea for an aerial contingent in the form of giant birds of prey. Perhaps the Wife could bring the birds? There's a thought...

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed. See you next time!

If you're interested you may find me on Instagram.

Entry V. - Forest Lord: The Leshy (Part Two)

In a previous post, I showcased the Leshy model I made for AoS28/Dark Age of Sigmar, but avoided going into detail regarding the model's conception and background as I didn't want to clutter the post, make it overly long, or force people who just like the images to read a wall of text.

That said, I do enjoy sharing my creative process and, for me, it's a big part of what this blog is for. So here I will go into detail about how the Leshy model came about - be warned that if you don't like long rambling background stuff, you might want to give this one a miss!

As I mentioned in that post, the Leshy model was inspired by the Witcher 3 video game, but only partially, as I was already familiar with the creature from Slavic myth.

Much as I enjoyed hunting it in the video game, about the only thing I really liked about that depiction in terms of visual design was the iconic stag skull headgear and the somewhat unnervingly lanky proportions.

I did like the creature's ability to command wolves and other forest beasts, however.

In Slavic myth, the Leshy is not necessarily always a malevolent force as it seems to be in the Witcher, although it certainly can be depending on the story. There are even tales of him helping lost travellers. It is quite variable. In the AoS setting, I can easily imagine him hating Chaos more than terrified humans, however.

Still, woe betide anyone from any faction who intends to harm his sacred forests.

He's described as being male or masculine (though he is sometimes depicted as having a female equivalent or "wife", and even having his own children), and humanoid or human-like.

However, usefully, for the purpose of representation, he's able to shape-shift at will into anything he likes (though usually some kind of woodland based form) and to any size. I may explore this in future with various other shape-shifted forms of the Leshy for representing in-game transformation powers.

For now though, I wanted to begin by depicting my Leshy in his true form.

You can read more on the Leshy here and here. I also enjoyed his portrayal in Mike Mignola's Hellboy graphic novels.

One thing I really love exploring with mythological beasts is the possible ways in which they could exist that is slightly different from their normal portrayal. Specifically, my usual angle of trying to introduce a touch of realism to everything.

But I'm also intrigued in the way the archetypal peasant villager, fearful and superstitious to the core, could get things so very wrong, and talk up some things which are not so fantastic into the tallest of tales. 

On a similar track I'm also interested in Cryptozoology, and generally trying to explain the inexplicable! 

So, in a lot of art and other media, the Leshy is portrayed most often as a sort of Treant/Ent/Treeman/Dryad type creature, with skin that is literally bark, and hair that is leaves.

Source

Source

Sometimes he seems to be more explicitly tree-like, and others more like a man but with these bark and leaf features nonetheless. 

Source (Both)

The Witcher 3's portrayal is very much like the former case; he is essentially a Treeman with a skull head.

To diverge from this path, my brain immediately went towards some kind of missing link Hominid Crytpid, a kind of Bigfoot or Neanderthal, essentially. Not quite a man, not quite an ape, something somewhere in between. 

The base model is a metal Ogor Kingdoms Yhetee I purchased on eBay. Things became complicated over time and his arms and legs were chopped, changed in length and re-positioned several times. He's now a good deal taller than the standard model even without the scenic base. His hands are from the Crypt Horror kit. I also replaced the flimsy antlers seen below with some bigger and more robust ones from a Nurgle Plaguebearer head. The skull is cast from an old citadel undead horse.

One of the things which piqued my interest about the Witcher 3's Leshen, and I'm not sure if this was deliberate, is the way there is a little sort of opening in the mantle just below the deer skull. I cannot tell if it's intended that the skull is the actual head, or if it is housed inside, or if its actually beneath the skull and inside this hole, with the mantle actually being a hood (see below image).

Source

I thought for my Hominid Leshy I would run with this idea, which escalated into the concept of him being a kind of Druid or Shaman character wearing elaborate head-gear, perhaps designed to trick and intimidate his enemies. I made a cloak out of green stuff to resemble moss and vines, and perched the stag skull on top, then made a little indentation for where the "true head" would be and built up layers around it to hide it as much as possible.

I applied glue to the dried putty cloak and rolled the model in the bits of debris on my cutting mat - spirals of plastic from drilling, plastic shavings, bits of green stuff, bits of balsa wood, to give a random twiggy, viney, and leafy texture. When it came to painting I made sure his hidden face was painted to blend in, as I imagined him covering his face in mud or crude paint to help with his ruse. I also used plenty of Agrellan Badland crackle paint for added texture.

I thought about how the Leshy could be misinterpreted as a Treeman-like beast and investigated how some tree bark looks a little bit like dense, matted fur from a distance. Thus, I decided to paint his fur in a light grey colour like what you'll find on fairly mature and weathered White Ash trees.

Source

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed. See you next time!

If  you're interested you may find me on Instagram.

Entry IV. - Hive Spire Nobles: The Duelist

Hello folks! Been a while. I've been insanely busy for some time and haven't been able to do much hobby stuff in that period. On top of that, I took some time to reorganize and re-jig my work-space, and also to re-consider my approach to the hobby generally; I'll cover that in more detail with a later post, however.

Additionally, I've actually made contact with some fellow hobbyists locally, some from the Ammobunker website, and have now got a group for games of Inquisimunda/Inq28, which is great as it gives me more incentive to get projects finished in a timely fashion.

So here's my latest member of my Hive Spire Noble warband, another "Knight", this one more of a close combat specialist proficient in the art of dueling with swords, knives and pistols.

Syr Balphorus Ziegl; Knight in service to House Corbulio, by way of the ancient Tithe system.

As with the other nobles so far, he has his official documentation hanging from his belt. His coat of arms is a golden key on a black field, and I also added a key hanging from his belt as well; I like to think his family is somehow connected to finance and banking in the upper Hive.

I wanted him to give off a vibe of being highly skilled and dangerous, with the kind of martial prowess in the weapons of the nobility that only hours of private tutelage will allow. At the same time I wanted to convey a decadent, preening foppishness, an elitist and snobbish air, which ended up with giving him powdered face and rouge make-up, as well as a delicate white lace neck scarf. I also added a black strip of warpaint to keep in theme with his gang-mate, Syr Ymir, and to give him a slight Adam Ant feel.

As well as his Archotech rotary autopistol and elegant chainsabre, he has a pair of matched daggers as back-up.

Hope you enjoyed!