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Barak-Val, the Halls of the Fallen: First Khemist ever?


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Hi everyone, I finally decided to start AoS seriously with the awesome release of the Kharadron Overlords, after playing a bit with my dispossessed, seraphon and slaves to darkness (oh my, do those names still sound weird to me...) from my Fantasy times but not being really satisfied with neither. 

So I decided to make my own sky-port, Barak-Val, the Halls of the Fallen (Valr meaning "the dead", "the slain" or "the fallen" in old norse), a sky-port hidden in Shyish, the Realm of Death, in where outcasts of the Kharadron Overlords society and sometimes even other duardin go with the purpose of starting a new life in where they'll try to redeem theirselves by killing the foes of their race and amass big fortunes to be rich in the afterlife. They are fiercer than the other sky-ports, partly because they used to be the worst of their people and also because they want to be redeemed in battle, and it is frequent for them to organise raiding parties to seek glory and treasures, attacking unfortunate groups in the ground who call their attention.

The army will have a heavy Viking theme: the fluff, the names, the conversions (of which there will be plenty) and the paint scheme, as I've always liked Norse mithology and just got further motivated by the Vikings serie. Additionally when I saw those ships I immediately thought of flying steampunk drakkars, so I was very pleased when I discovered that the army indeed had a pirate theme going on which could easily be transformed into what I wanted.

At the moment I'm waiting for an Start Collecting box or other bundle with a discount before buying something, though maybe I'll end up getting an Arkanaut Company if I get impatient, but for the meantime I can always sculp my heroes from scratch:

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So I'm pleased to present you Egil Skallagrimsson, the Khemist-Skald or the Raging Poet, a famous Aether-Khemist renowned for not only suffocating his enemies in a cloud of toxic gasses, but also for then charging into their broken lines axe in hand, while singing and rhyming about their deaths. 

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A lot of layers and waiting have been needed to sculpt this model as, even though he's far from having as much detail as the original, he's covered in cables, vials, and various vials. But even though it has taken a lot of time I'm quite proud with the final result, will soon get him painted to test out schemes.

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I can't wait to paint his back-pack, I'll be trying a lot of effects on the different parts!

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I included a pic from above to show the bowl, which is recollecting some sort of alchemical substance, as it doesn't shows from any other angle.

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"As their skulls lay open,

their bones are broken.

They will soon run away,

defeated by our ancient ways.

They're the enemies of the gods,

I will delighten in their frightened sobs"

Egil Skallagrimsson

I know it is quite terrible, English isn't even my first lenguage, but I just had to do it :P.

 

So, any feedback will be appreciated, as well as ideas for the models to come and different paint-schemes!

 

 

 

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I have a friend that sculpted himself a complete Dark Eldar army of 1500 points. He spent 1 year, but it looked really unique! Great work here! I wish ihad the same sculpting talent :( 

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Today I tried out a colour scheme, but I don't like it too much:

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Even taking into account that it has been hastily painted and the bad quality of the photo I don't think this is the way to go, this model has just too many details to make much freehand... :( 

So now I'll try out something completely different, something more bluish... However ideas are still welcome!

Edit: been trying schemes for a while now and I still haven't found it... I'M STARTING TO DESPAIR!!! I want something different from the usual KO colours while not being the black, white and green of my Harvesters of Souls, but I really can't find anything to go with the armour plates which ALSO looks Viking enough! So now I'm not open to ideas, I'm desperate for them!!!!

22 hours ago, Dez said:

Really great theme and sculpting!

Thanks a lot!

22 hours ago, FractalRain said:

Wow, you have some great sculpting skills!  I like the background.  Loominf forward to seeing more!

Thanks, I wish I could post something better, but this is all so far...

7 hours ago, Simhis said:

Great sculpting skills buddy, I hope I'll get on your level some day. Can't wait to see him painted!

Thanks, it is really just practice, I've been into the hobby since I was seven, and only in the last two years I started making any serious sculpting.

4 hours ago, Galas said:

I have a friend that sculpted himself a complete Dark Eldar army of 1500 points. He spent 1 year, but it looked really unique! Great work here! I wish ihad the same sculpting talent :( 

Funnily enough I was planning to start a Viking Dark Eldar army soon mixing DE and Chaos Marauders bits before the KO came out, after all they have flying boats too and the pirate theme, but the Overlords fit it much better, they're beardy vikings, so I'm glad I waited! However I do not plan to sculpt the whole army, just a couple of characters, but everything else will be heavily converted, don't worry! 

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Don't despair!  I did the same thing - tried 7-9 different schemes effects across 5 different Arknaut company before I finally got something I liked!  It helped me to browse some images online of painted minatures and see some color combinations which appealed to me and which I could work from.

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Well being from the realm of shadow why not try some stegadon scale green with blue highlights (see Barack-Zon trousers in the paint guide for a reference) mixed with a bright silver for trimming? Perhaps red eyes on the helmets as well for the intimidation effect.

The idea being that these are shamed dwarves so their dark armor reminds them of the shame they carry.  But the silver highlights a chance at redemption and a reminder that they are still duardin. If you wanted some free hand giving the darker armor free handed gold or brass sigils would look cool for effect.  

I dunno just some thoughts.  Whenever I make a custom scheme there's always a reason each color is selected.

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At the end, after a lot of experimentation, I've found a scheme that I like, so PROFIT:

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Egil Skallagrimsson, former Aether-Khemist of Barak-Zon, was exiled after murdering another duardin for cheating him on a game, and then killing the father who was trying to avenge his son. Without anywhere to go, Egil wandered through the mortal realms, the axe with which he had killed the two duardin being his only possession, and survived as he could, sometimes helping other duardin in battle. It was at that tim in where Egil started writing poems about his feats, to the point that he sang them as they came to his mind in the midst of a fight. It was not long, though, before he heard of Barak-Val, a place of second chances in where outcasts like him where accepted. There he was received with open arms and, because he hadn't forgotten what he had learned in the Aetherhe of Barak-Zon and a Aether-Khemist is always a useful thing to have around.

This is how Egil was came to be know as the Skald-Khemist or the Raging Poet, as he was skilled in fighting, poetry and alchemy. He's a vicious warrior and an invaluable asset to Barak-Val, participating in as much raids as he can, his fame and his poems growing farther and farther.

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So I like the colours I've came up with at the end, even though it may be to similar to my Harvesters of Souls... However it is different enough to be acceptable and well, I guess I'll need to buy less paints :P!

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I think that the dark orange works pretty well as a contrast colour, it will obviously be less common in most of my models, but the backpack had far too many cables and vials...

Also it has struck to me after seeing te actual model in pre orders today that I may be the first one outside the Citadel team to ever paint an Aether Khemist... That would be so cool!

22 hours ago, FractalRain said:

Don't despair!  I did the same thing - tried 7-9 different schemes effects across 5 different Arknaut company before I finally got something I liked!  It helped me to browse some images online of painted minatures and see some color combinations which appealed to me and which I could work from.

Well, it certainly has been hard, but I'm quite happy with the final result. I hope it looks even better with a snowy base added!

22 hours ago, Mikester1487 said:

Well being from the realm of shadow why not try some stegadon scale green with blue highlights (see Barack-Zon trousers in the paint guide for a reference) mixed with a bright silver for trimming? Perhaps red eyes on the helmets as well for the intimidation effect.

The idea being that these are shamed dwarves so their dark armor reminds them of the shame they carry.  But the silver highlights a chance at redemption and a reminder that they are still duardin. If you wanted some free hand giving the darker armor free handed gold or brass sigils would look cool for effect.  

I dunno just some thoughts.  Whenever I make a custom scheme there's always a reason each color is selected.

Well, this comment actually helped me a lot, instead of steagadon green and blue highlights I used Sybarite green to highlight directly over the black, and the silver trim does look good too, thanks a lot for the useful input!!! And yeah, colours should have a meaning of course!

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