Undead Spearhead 7 - Ser Ballon Gravenmere

Ballon's horse trudged forward through the sheeting rain. The grinding of broken bones against the many metal arrowheads lodged deep in it's flesh would have grated on any mortal rider. But Ballon was far beyond such concerns. All there was now was duty. 

But not duty to lord or land. No noble quest urged him on. 

He just wanted to find those who has so cravenly ambushed him and his horse on the Knight's Road. He was going to teach them what happens when such despicable cowards think they have escaped justice.

This day we bid the brave Ser Ballon Gravenmere welcome to the ranks of the painted. Ballon is a black knight, (or barrow knight, to the AoS folks) and is the second of five such creatures I need for my little force. He's from the C21 Citadel undead cavalry range, sold as 'Corpus the Fallen'. I believe they were sculpted by Aly Morrison and Bob Naismith, though I might be wrong here, or omitting other sculptors. Do let me know if I need to add anyone.

I love this range of undead riders, though they are a little small by today's standards. But for sheer character, they are hard to beat. Sadly they never had any command figures painted, but there is a very nice wight king that would serve well as a unit champion.

Prep-wise, this old boy and his mount were as hard to clean up as any metal fig from the era. Some of the arrows riddling the horse had been eroded quite badly, so I cut all but one of them off and added some new plastic ones. I did have to add some greenstuff to the saddle so he's sit on it a little better. Each of these riders only fit one one or two horses from the range, which is fun. 

As to painting, I trawled old Bosch and Bruegel paintings (Triumph of Death is a must-have reference for any undead officionado) for colour schemes for the rotting horse. Browns, greens and purples made up most of my palette here. I think the stanky pony came out pretty well. I didn't want the result to be too dark, as I know the knight would be wearing black iron armour like the rest of my wights, and I wanted some contrast.

I recently picked up a pile of basing bits from Epic Basing. The thorn bushes of Ballon's base are some of theirs. I defintely recommend giving them a look. I had a lot of fun basing my Tomb Kings Bloodbowl team with their shattered pottery set.

Now, it's back to the wights!