The Return of Nagash... in 10mm

I have really been enjoying Games Workshop's The End Times series of books lately.

I was a fan of The End Times material that came out about a decade ago and was salivating feverishly reading the latest releases. So a few months back when Nagash was releases, I cast my eyes around the miniature suppliers I was familiar with for a suitable model to represent Nagash for Warmaster.

Once again, Reaper Miniatures had a very nice model that I thought would work for the Great Necromancer. Reapers' Neb'nesew, Nefsokar Warlord (the metal version, not the plastic one) was the miniature that caught my eye. With the addition of some model parts from the GW Spirit Hosts, such as the odd spirit and one of the skulls from their base added to the Reaper mini's shoulder, plus an appropriate weapons arm spru from Reaper Miniatures spar bits, I settled upon this arrangement for Nagash.

I added one of Nagash's blasphemous tomes by cutting the book from its base of a Pendraken Mini's pedestal and sticking it on one of the spirit hosts wispy tendrils. A bit of greenstuff helped to soften out the irregular base of the book and make it fit in with the ethereal tendril.

The skull from one of the spirit host bases was perfect to attach to Nagash's shoulder as part of the Necromancer's armour in keeping with the full scale GW miniature.

The Great Necromancer sits well with Warmaster figures, towering over his risen minions with suitable menace.

I have toyed with the idea of having skeletons rising from the cracked earth at the Necromancers base, but at this time, I haven't really settled on whether to do this or not. So this will be close to my final configuration for the model.

On the Painting Table... Tomb Kings Casket of Souls in 10mm

Here's the newest addition to my Tomb Kings army, a Casket of Souls.

The characters and skeleton pile are from the Warmaster Tomb Kings characters pack. The Anubis Box (better image here) on top of the skeleton pile comes from Crocodile Games.

From behind, the Liche Priest appears suspended above the ground. I cut this model from its base and glue it to the Anubis Box. I originally intended to greenstuff the base of the Liche Priest's robes to extend it to the skeleton pile. However I like the idea of the Liche Priest hovering behind the Anubis Box and so might leave it this way.

The images below give a better idea of the size of this piece compared to other units.

On the Painting Table... Another Terrorgheist for the Vampire Counts Army

I wanted another Terrorgheist for my VC army. Trolling through the excellent miniatures at Reaper Miniatures, came across this little ripper! Their Skeletal Dragon model. And its a perfect size for Warmaster.

Great model, however I wanted a look more like the GW Terrorgheist. The Reaper Mini fits the bill nicely, but the wings weren't quite right. However, Reaper again to the rescue, I saw the wings from another undead dragon. The wings are available separately and are for a larger model than the Skeletal Dragon, but this works nicely in line with the look of the GW Terrorgheist.

It took a bit of creative editing, but cutting a limb off here and bending the model there, and by supporting the model in the right way, I came up with this for my second Terrorgheist...

I based it on an 8cm by 4cm base to give it stability. The right wing also acts as a support to stop the model tipping over. I mounted its back legs on rocks so that it looked similar to the GW model and was tempted to mount a character on the model. I may do another one in future just for that purpose.

You get the idea of the size of the original skeletal dragon and just how big the wings are. This little experiment turned out well I think.

On the Painting Table... a Cairn Wraith, a Tomb Banshee and a Corpse Cart fit for a Vampire Counts Hero

Here's a few pictures of some of the latest additions to the Vampire Counts Warmaster Army.

First is a Cairn Wraith. This miniature is a Reaper Miniatures Wraith. I washed the model with soapy water to remove any residue from the mould process. Once dry, I washed the model in a purple ink several times in order to get a consistent effect across the recesses of the model's folds.

The Corpse Cart is a mishmash of bits. I used the base of a Warmaster chariot (I can't remember which type sorry) and added the sides of the Dreadfleet ship that I cut off to make my Mortis Engine. I then used a number of Pendraken Zombies, cutting the base off some and laying them down to makes corpses at the back of the cart. I then cut the base off a GW Vampire Counts Necromancer  model setting it on the front of the cart. This will be a chariot mount for the Necromancer.

Finally the Tomb Banshee. This one is a Ghost model from Reaper Miniatures. I followed a similar process to the Cairn Wraith, using a green ink wash this time. The colour isn't as pronounced as from the Tomb Banshee, but it still stands out enough from the original model.

The Vampire Counts Mortis Engine is now ready for Warmaster!

My Vampire Counts Mortis Engine is finally painted and ready for battle. You can see how I made it here.

Below is the painting scheme for it and also the house rules that will be tested out on the battlefield.

The Mortis Engine
Once dead (properly dead), the remains of powerful Necromancers are enshrined within the Mortis Engine and borne to war by a host of spirits bound to the infernal device. A chariot of twisted bone surrounded by wailing Banshees and pulled by Undead revenants, it is a terrifying sight to behold. The Mortis Engine is a pure ethereal madness. Ghostly, and occasionally armoured, tendrils stretch upward at an angle, at the head of which are skeletal riders on armoured horses. At the centre of the engine stands the sinister, cloaked Corpsemaster, who is surrounded by a swarm of howling Banshee spirits.

Painting scheme

• Basecoat in Chaos Black.
• Drybrush entire model, except for the Corpsemaster, in Skull White.
• Paint the bone carriage in a succession of drybrushed layers of Baneblade Brown, Rakarth Flesh, Pallid Wych Flesh and finally, very lightly in Skull White.
• Paint the Black Knights and the Skeleton figurehead, also beneath the engine where it attaches to the ground, and the cursed ground directly below it, in Nihilakh Oxide and allow to dry. This will take some time.
• When its dry, wet brush the Black Knights and the Skeleton figurehead in Badab Black wash. DON'T let the wash run on to any of the connection point of the Mortis Engine or the cursed ground beneath it).
• When dry, drybrush the Skeleton figurehead very lightly in Skull White to add a highlight.
• Drybrush the base of the Black Knights in Ice Blue.
• Drybrush some of the Black Knights armour and shields in Tin Bitz.
• Paint the Spirits in watered down Temple Guard Blue (use a 2 to 1 ratio of paint to water).
• When this is dry, paint the recesses on the Spirits with watered down Naggaroth Night (again using a 2 to 1 ratio of paint to water).

House Rules for Warmaster

 

TROOP                  Type     Attack   Range    Hits    Armour   Command   Unit Size  Points  Min/Max

Mortis Engine -    Machine   4/3       30          5            5+              -                1          300       - / 1

 

The Mortis Engine is a Machine for the sake of determining movement.

Mortis Engines cause Terror.

 

Special Rules

Blasphemous Tome: Vampire Counts spellcasters within 12cm of the Mortis Engine gain +1 to all die rolls when casting spells due to the presence of the Blasphemous Tome.

 

Banshee Swarm's Ghostly Howl: the spirits swarming around the Mortis Engine are Banshee's. During the Shooting Phase of the VC Players turn, the Mortis Engine can make a ghostly howl shooting attack at a single unit up to 30cm's away. This attack cannot be used for Stand and Shoot (the Reliquary covers this situation). No armour saves are permitted against this attack.

 

The Reliquary: At the start of the VC Players turn, roll 2D6 and add the current turn number to the result of the dice roll. The result is the range of the Mortis Engine's dark aura in centimetres. All enemy units within this range automatically take a shooting attack from the Mortis Engine due to the dark energies of the Reliquary. The shooting attack is the same value as the Ghostly Howl value (i.e. 3 shooting attacks), but armour saves are permitted against this attack. Moreover, due to this dark power, all friendly units within the dark aura's range ignore the first hit scored against them in the Combat Phase from melee. Finally, if the 2D6 result is a double, then the fell energies prove too powerful for the Mortis Engine to contain. The Mortis Engine explodes doing the 2D6 (plus the turn number) result in shooting attacks to all units, friend and foe, within that 2D6 (+ turn number) range in centimetres. Armour saves against this attack. For example, on turn 3 the 2D6 roll result's is two 2's, all units within 7cm (2+2+3 = 7) immediately take 7 shooting attacks. If a hero is attached to a unit that is destroyed by the explosion, that hero becomes a casualty and is removed from play. Also, with the exception of the VC General, all VC heroes within the explosion's range are overcome by dark energies and are required to roll a saving throw to determine if the fell sorcery that makes them is destroyed by this overpowering dark energy release. Roll a single die, on a roll of 1 to 3, the hero is overcome and removed from play as a casualty, a roll of 4-6 means that the hero is unaffected.



Update Note 15Dec14: The Mortis Engine is a Machine as defined within the Warmaster Rules.

The Red Duke

I was inspired by a post over at Hetairoi Wargames of a Blood Dragon Vampire character that he did for his Warmaster army a few years back. So I thought I would make one of my own. In particular, I wanted to make a character piece for The Red Duke, the infamous vampire that terrorised Bretonnia. So following Hetairoi's example, I introduce The Red Duke!

Still needs some work on the shield and some flock added to the base, but the Duke is ready to terrorise Bretonnia once again.

On the Painting Table... the Terrorgheist is finished

Work has been slightly mad of late. However, I did get some time to finish off the Vampire Counts Terrorgheist that I showed off in an earlier post (see here). This is the Dar Hilzernod lieutenant from Descent. I was after a look not unlike the one for the dragon on the front cover of Paizo Publishing's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Revisited cover. See below:

The model was base painted in Chaos Black. I then used three successive drybrushed layers of different greens, from the darkest shade first to the lightest shade last. The mouth, eyes, nostrils and internal chest cavity were painted with a 50:50 mix of light green and yellow. After that had dried, I used a white colour and applied it into the centre of the green/yellow painted areas. Below is the final result.