Undead - Momentous Mori

After a long time spent ticking away at this large dead guy, I have today for you the undead giant, Momentous Mori, just in time for Halloween and the upcoming Scale Creep Living Dead Challenge.

The miniature hails from Macrocosm Games, and I've added some extras to his gangly frame, such as the armour on his upper arms, which hail from some unknown ogre kit. I bought a job lot of ogre bits a few years ago and it's one of the best source for handy parts I have, I dip into it constantly. Some savage orc arrows in his chest, and a vulture from the giant kit whispering into where his ear used to be, and he was good to go. 

I also added a dead knight to his base to give him a bit of scale. That knight was one of the very first miniatures I ever owned, and has been waiting for some paint for ooo... 35 years or so? 

Next I added some wee gravestones, the odd few scraggly branches (bless that dryad kit) and a toppled statute to finish off the spooky vibe.

The painting on this fellow followed my usual undead recipes, though I continue to experiment with dead flesh. The giant still has meat on his hands for some reason. Maybe he moisturized. I did use some contrast paints to glaze the leather under his coif, and the branches at his feet. I'm still slowly working contrast into my techniques, it's mighty stuff.

So, here's the background on the Momentous Mori:

Morbius the liche is notoriously sentimental, and has many pet projects that he refuses to abandon. The Momentous Mori is one such experiment. The giant is not the remains of one monster, but rather an assembly of bits and pieces. The creature is given animus by flickers of soul-stuff woven together by both Amun and Morbius, but somewhere along the line they seemed to have created an entirely new soul. While the battle-knowledge that was embedded in the beast's being made it terrible foe, when not required to hew apart mortals with it's rusty cleaver, the giant could be found pointing up at clouds, trying to play with animals and following Amun or Morbius around like a child. 

Morbius found this adorable.

So it is that the Momentous Mori is a favourite among Morbius' creations, and so woe betide the wight or wraith who upsets the beast by not playing 'throw the skulls' or 'chase the direwolves' with the massive construct.

Fimir - Seanchaí

After a bit of a dry spell I have another fimir for you today. Tadhg, Seanchaí of the Fir Domhan. (The Fomorian Wayfarer from Krakon Games) He's a human size fimir, and is unlike many fimir-style models as he looks more of a wanderer than a warrior, despite his long spear.

I've been looking forward to painting him for a while. I decided to take my new Raphael series 8404 brushes on a bit of a test drive with him, so I added a spot of freehand to his cloak.

They are really nice brushes. They keep their point very well, and hold a nice volume of paint. I had been reduced to painting with scraggly ruins until they arrived, so it was a delight to have new brushes. I best not leave it so long next time. 

Here's Tadhg's backstory:

Tadhg is a welcome sight among the settlements of the Fir Domhan. He often appears around times of festival or celebration, but also times of mourning or ceremony. He is a Seanchaí, or storyteller, a custodian of tradition and keeper of heritage. He is also quite the gossip, and carries news and goings on from village to village. A master orator, his tales of heroism and tragedy are much loved by the fimir, though he is a frequent visitor to the human villages of the Tuatha Taiden as well.

He carries a long heavy spear, though in truth it seems to be more staff than weapon. More famous yet is his cloak, the Eagna Mac Tíre. Cut from wolfskin, it is heavily tattooed with beasts, heroes and passages written in Fimar, the written language of the fimir, which shift and change to compliment whatever tale or speech Tadhg is giving. 

Tadhg is not a tall fimir, and is, indeed, of the shearl class. In fact, he is quite rotund, being given to enjoying the constant hospitality offered to him. Despite this, he enjoys the respect and deference of even the dirach and the nobles of the Fianna. The Seanchaí is a sacred office, and to bring harm or disrespect to one is the most terrible offence.

Tadhg's tales are of the past, the present, and on occasion, the future. He presides over matters of custom and gives eulogy over the dead. He recounts to the fimir of the wrongs done to them, and reminds them of the deeds of heroes and villains long gone.

Then he is off on his way, and days are counted until he returns again.

For gaming purposes, Tadhg will count as a minor magic user or lesser hero. I'm adding s few characterful fimir at the moment so I can build up a nice warband for Warcry, Frostgrave and so on. I have a daemonmaniac coming up that'll work for any larger ogre-sized beastie I might need.

Elatha and Fedelmid catch up on the news as they escort Tadhg into the Ráth.

Fimir - Jes Goodwin's Limited Edition Fimir

Aah, a return to one of my absolute favourite factions, the fimir! I've been promising myself I'd get around to painting Jes Goodwin's 1987 Limited Edition fimir for years, and finally, here he is. May I present Elatha, Fian of the Warped (Na Buile). I have several bucket list minis I have decided to take on this year, this being the fist.

The fimir were always intended to be roughly human sized, as this fellow is. The reasons they ended up the size of ogres is already well documented already. This rare treasure though, is the archetype as far as I am concerned.

It's been a few years since I painted a fimir, so as you do, I tinkered with my recipes a little. I altered the skin, toning down the yellow and replacing my highlight colour, Elf Flesh, for a less yellow tone, Flayed One Flesh. I also added more green to the bronze. I'm pretty happy with the results.

I also had a go at making the club tail quite dark, and blending it into the flesh tone. It gives him a little more visual interest, so I think I'll keep that for now. Elatha is the first member of a new unit of fimm, the Warped. These are fimir that suffer from battle frenzy, and enter into the warp spasm in battle. There will be a lot of weird mutations and so on. I have a couple of larger daemonmaniacs I'll be adding to this unit as unit fillers as well as serving as larger beasties in warbands.

I am finishing off a second fimir right now, of a very different type. A Seanchaí, a wandering storyteller. He'll be for adding to warbands for Frostgrave and Warcry. I plan on proxying the fimir as Bonesplitters in Warcry I think.

Speaking of warbands, here is Elatha, serving as Fian in Fedelmid the Dirach's warband.

Fedelmid leads his fimm and half-dead in search of transgressors.

Gaslands - The Faithful Sons

With the Gaslands project complete, it was time to take some shots of the whole gang. So, here there are, The Faithful Sons genestealer cult Gaslands gang in their entirely. Two heavy trucks, one performance car, one car, a buggy, two bikes, three acolytes on foot and five neophytes on foot.

The Zealot laying down some heavy fire.

I enjoy small contained projects like these, though I fell down the rabbit hole hard with this one. 20mm genecult near-future car gangs pressed several of my buttons. I could still go on and do a set of cult-inspired terrain for this. My terrain in general is sorely lacking! That might be a project for later in the year.

The Patriarch extorts his flock to greater efforts from the deck of The Ophanim.

I particularly enjoyed painting the bikes for this warband. I was stumped for what to use for bases, as I didn't fancy squares. Then I remembered I had a few clear bases left over from my Man O'War Khorne fleet, which worked out just fine. The infantry are on 20mm Renedra bases, with HobbyMad 20mm magnetic base bottoms for transport, and also because I like the nice clean black finish on the undersides. We all have our quirks eh?

Left to Right - The Joyful Word, Little Beast, The Ophanim, Jackal One and The Zealot.

With the gang complete, I'm hoping to get some games in once such things are possible. In the meantime I have built myself a list of 'must paint' minis I've had on my mind for years. I'm starting off with the Limited Edition Jes Goodwin fimir. After that I have some of the Skeleton War Machines set to do, some 28mm Genecult minis, (the kelermorph in particular), Genecult chaos coven minis and a certain beloved Tzeentch sorceror and Khorne warlord from my youthful warhammer exploits all in my sights.

One is excited.

Gaslands - Neophyte Hybrids

Today the last of installment of my Gaslands project, the neophytes. It's been a very enjoyable project, but the time has come to wrap it up for now. These five eager brethren are the final addition until the 20mm love hits me again. 

From Northstar, and sculpted by Mark Copplestone, these bald fellows make for perfect neophytes. They were a joy to paint, as most Copplestones are, being sufficiently detailed, but really easy to read. I gave them my standard genestealer cult colour scheme, and added to my small trio of acolytes, they make for a nice little group of foot sloggers.

So with these guys completed, I am more than ready for Gaslands fun, once I pick up a few gaming accessories that is. I'll be posting some shots of the complete gang soon, but for now I'll leave you with a photo of part of the gang limbering up for some missionary work. 

Some of The Faithful Sons doing a grocery run.

Gaslands - Acolyte Hybrids

Today we have a trio of acolyte hybrids on foot for my Gaslands genecult. Making these wee hybrids in 20mm was something I put way more effort into than I should have, but it was terribly enjoyable. The original minis were 'Dark Brethren' from CP Models. Here are the un-defiled minis:

So as you can see, they've been fairly brutalised. I mostly used greenstuff to make the ymgarl hybrid heads, with some claws from my bits box. For the other hybrid with the mancatcher, I used some Instant Mold to make a mould of parts of one of the old metal genestealer familiars, which gave me enough pieces to work with to make an early generation hybrid.

Here are the fellows in more detail.

Brother Hastun Medlock

Brother Davon Yogoth

Brother Jerec Yogoth

These three fellows are the first of eight cultists on foot. That should see me right for most predicaments the Faithful Sons might find themselves in.

Of course, I do see myself adding a covered truck to the group at some point, if only to echo the vehicles from the illustration in White Dwarf 115 above. A covered wagon with some purestrains visible in the back would be pretty cool.

Finally, the patriarch has some hybrid mooks to order about. 'Make sure it's a skimmed milk latte my child.'

So, with that, I start on my final push to finish the project, the neophytes on foot. I leave you with an image of just how wee these guys are! I've grown used to the scale, but boy, they are teeny.

Gaslands - Jackal Bikers

The Gaslands project careens towards completion. The last vehicular additions are these two wee bikers. Kol Venner and Sayben Desh riding Jackal bikes operate as outriders and scouts for the Faithful Sons.

Both of the bikers are 3D prints, graciously sent to me by a pal once I announced I was looking for genecult bikers in 20mm. I mounted them on bases I had left over from my Man O' War project.

Kol Venner on Jackal One.

This one has an obvious warboy vibe, but suits equally well as a neophyte biker. I painted on some residual brow ridges just to reinforce the genecult theme, as well as  a purplish tinge to his skin.

Sayben Desh on Jackal Two.

Kol here is much more obviously a miniature atalan jackal. Where he hails from, I know not, I was just delighted to my hands on him.

With these two outriders, the gang is technically complete. However, I'm going to add some cult members on foot should 20mm cult wargaming opportunities loom at some juncture.

Little Beast flanked by the jackal riders.