KnaveOfScribes
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Posts posted by KnaveOfScribes
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“Silence is always broken.”
Attributed to unknown Aelvish philosopher.
~
“How long had they watched our King, their ward, and despaired?”
“How long before despair turned to doubt, and doubt to detestation?”
“We could never see beyond those carven smiles, those silent masks.”
“How wrong we were about them.”
“How glad we were to be wrong.”
~
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“Hunter or Hunted, it matters not which side of the spear you stand. The Wild Hunt has only one command.”
“Run.”
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“The great and the good are often guilty of a simple sin: forgetting those of a simpler standing around them. You may not see or hear your servants, but someone will. And those unseen and unheard servants will have seen and heard a great deal themselves…”
Follies; Everard Hemp of Hammerhal.
“Loyalty is earned, not assumed.”
Attributed to Kwan-Xi, warrior philosopher of the Jade City of Shyish.
~
“This is madness. You know this is. They will never turn. It’s not in their heartwood to turn.” Moralanith felt his hand searching for the hilt of his falchion, a nervous grasping that closed around empty air. It wasn’t wise to go armed before them after all. He stared at the broad pale back of Blessed Loclaranam as the Reeve strode between the twisted trunks and snowbound frozen ground of the Darkwood with the easy grace of a beast of the forest.
Moralanith and his seed-kin had rejoiced at the return of their beloved Reeve, had felt the first faint stirring of the seed of hope in their ******. Hope that the creeping influence of the All-Hag could finally be countered, that their Kings madness could be talked back to sanity. But hope was a cruel and fragile seed. Blessed Loclaranam had changed in the long seasons he had spent beyond the borders of the Darkwood, beyond the boundaries of the Grey Marches itself, some whispered. True, he had returned stronger than ever; puissance smoked from him with every deep huffing breath and knowledge glittered in his golden eyes. But that same knowledge seemed to weigh heavy upon him, wore him down purely in the knowing of it. A price had been paid, and perhaps was still being paid.
“You go to your death. Yours and mine most likely. You do remember their purpose don’t you? His executioners, not just His guardians.”
“Have faith little brother” the Reeve rumbled in reply, his voice the deep bass of a bull stag. Glyphs glowed in spirals on his white pelt.
“My faith, like all my seed-kin, grows on fallow ground,” replied Moralanith. “We would follow you to the Anathema’s very door, but this is still madness.”
He fell silent as they entered a clearing, a perfect circle of unbroken snow ringed by blackened trees that creaked and groaned like the dead as frozen winds whispered between skeletal branches. Blessed Loclaranam stood in the centre of the clearing, planted the butt of his immense scythe in the snow before him and threw his antlered head back to bellow at the sky. Moralanith felt the bellow as much as he heard it, like the tolling of a great bell or the beat of a huge drum. A call of challenge, of dominance.
“This is not wise….” He hissed, and then fell silent as they appeared.
They stepped from the shadows of the trees in pairs and trios, their numbers growing swiftly to a dozen, then a score. All were of a size to match the Reeve himself, all wrapped in thick sheaths of twisted dark hardwoods and layers of barbed thorns. Some carried huge cruel scythes, others long blades and every single one of them bore a rictus grin carved into the wood of their armoured faces.
The Kingsguard. His most feared servants, tasked with his protection and the punishment of those He deemed guilty. Silent in everything they did, twisted by cruelty and hate, a far cry from the noble envoys of Kurnoth they had once been. They stared at the Reeve with lambent eyes, cold unmoving smiles on every face, heavy with threat.
Blessed Loclaranam held their stare with his golden amber eyes, his bulk swollen with primal power. His steaming breath gusted into the cold air.
“Think on their name, little brother. The Kingsguard. The King’s…Guard.” He lowered his great antlered head in a single slow nod to the silent ranks of Kurnoth. “Are you thinking of it in the right way?”
Moralanith’s confusion crashed into understanding and then into stunned awe in the long minute that passed before every one of the feared Kurnoth inclined their own barbed and gnarled heads in reply to Blessed Loclaranam and silently and slowly bowed before him.
~
“The cold and silent hand of our King, His will made manifest.”
“The blade at the neck of those He judged guilty.”
“We all stood in fear of them, we all avoided their fell regard.”
“Implacable. Unceasing. Ever Loyal.”
~
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Super quick update today folks,
So its been a pretty decent hobby week really - I've found some cheap Tree Revenant legs on a bits site, so can start to use up my spare pieces to make the next 5 Spites; the regular Kurnoth are ready for painting (and I think will be reasonably quick to do as its back to wood and spirit forms) but need their intro-fluff doing, which is this weeks job; and I've got all three of the first unit of Crone-touched Hunters assembled to a base level and just needing greenstuff.
Here's a pic of them as they stand - one has a slightly different bow to the rest as I ran out of the specific dryad arm to match the others and wanted to try a slightly different take on it. Still works I think, and breaks up the unit a bit.
I apologise for the state of that picture, I think my phone cam is really starting to struggle with taking decent pics, which is troubling. You get the general idea though. Load of greenstuff work to do still, and the bases of course. I really like them though, even if they are half the size of the regular Kurnoth.
That's all for today - Ill try and get some pics of all the Nine Crows together with Raest, or everything in the Court all together at some point soon. If anyone is on Instagram, you can find me as knave_of_scribes and see the latest Inq28 related distraction that the hobby magpie gifted me with. Once I've sorted out the story for that properly, I'll kick off a proper thread. I've also got to stop thinking about a Scion or Primaris Kill-team, a Scion 40k army and a Nighthaunt or Maggotkin AoS project....
Sigh.-
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“Come join the murder, come fly with black…”
Traditional mourning dirge of the Bitterfruit Vale
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“Call the Crows, count them in your hand.”
“Three eyes, three talons, three wings.”
“Wings hunt swiftly, unseen on the wind.”
“Ever behind you, the quickest cruelty.”
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Well that's some brilliant, brilliant work on Aventis there Chris. Bloody well done sir. The effort in the conversion work has paid off as that winged Gryph-charger looks amazing and the joins are pretty seamless. Painting wise, its pretty glorious too - the patterning on the forelimbs is really subtle but gorgeous, and I love the blue on Aventis' cloak.
I think I mentioned before how good the Sacrosanct stuff would look in your capable hands and I'm looking forward to seeing what else you do with them.
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Hello again everyone.
@TheR00zle - Use the idea by all means mate, just give me a credit nod when you do
Be great to see what you come up with.
@pseudonyme - Thanks man, that's much appreciated.
So yes, that Crone-touched Hunter conversion. I've got the first test one to the stage where she's ready for greenstuff and I have to admit that I'm pretty damn happy with how the basic conversion has worked and that my idea has translated into something pretty good looking. Here she is:
Still needs some greenstuff work around the waist to blend the snake and wood parts, as well as the back branch/crest and bow arm, but I really like her. In game terms these will be my bow armed Kurnoth Hunters (yeah I know they are smaller than the regular Hunters but meh, its my army and story/look > gaming) and in background terms they are more of the dryad puppets created by Mother Aldwynter - this time as a sinister kind of praetorian guard for herself. I think the fact that they are so slim and small compared to the regular Hunters actually works well as they will be avoiding physical combat a lot, unlike the larger combat orientated Hunters that will accompany Blessed Loclaranam.
I've got enough bits to finish off the first unit of three, but will need to get hold of some more dryad bits and another Melusai body to sort out the second unit. Plenty of time to get that done though and I still need to do some more battleline Spites.
Once I knew that this conversion was going to work, I turned my attention back to the last of the Crows. For some reason it feels like I've been painting these Palladors for months already and that there's still loads to do. There isn't really - just the tack and some small detailing - but dear god they are getting close to becoming a pain. I still love the models but I'm kind of glad I only did three and not the 9 plus Lord Aquilor I originally thought about. Here's how they look at the moment, freshly photographed this very morning:
It's actually been pretty fun painting Stormcast for the last couple of months, a nice break from the wood and spirit forms etc, but I'm itching to get on with the rest of the Court now as the 2500pt target is in sight. After that, its probably some Inq28 and a small 40k army of Scions while I decide on either expanding the Court even more or starting a brand new AoS army. I might end up doing a smaller 1k or so AoS project for small scale games or skirmish stuff. Not sure yet.
C&C welcome as ever folks, love hearing from you all.
Knave.-
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Hello again everyone - sorry for the lack of replies, its been a busy old week and I've been quite distracted with Inq28 and 40k plans. I also didn't get any notifications about your comments, which was helpful.
Speaking of the gryphs, here's a shot of the second one I completed, showing the paints used and giving a better idea of the actual darker finish. I am getting a little concerned about the slight graininess of the pics my phone has been taking recently but I guess that's that problem with using a phone camera. Anyways, war-chicken ho:
Bases and details left to do on all three now so they should hopefully get finished up this week. That finishes off all my Crowcast allies and means I can get back on to the actual Sylvaneth again. Will I be doing the Spites I know I should be doing? Ha! Course not, I'll be working on converting Melusai into my bow-armed Hunters. My Melusai turned up this weekend so I've already made a start on the most important thing - checking whether the Dryad torso will work on the Melusai snake bodies.
Spoiler Alert: Yes it will. Obviously greenstuff is needed but ****** yeah I like where they are going. I'm currently working on the bow arms, trying to use a mix of dryad and revenant pieces to represent the bow itself actually growing out of the dryads own body rather than being something they are holding. Also trying to work out how to show that their arrows are literally pieces of themselves they snap off and fire at you. Super excited for this unit - yeah they're smaller than actual Kurnoth but I don't care. They'll look cool and creepy and work in the storyline so that's what matters most for me. I'll be doing 6 of them eventually but will show more of this tester once I poke her some more.
That's all from me for now folks, love to hear your thoughts and comments as always.
Knave.-
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Morning everyone, how tricks?
This is a Sylvaneth project, honest. I mean, it's not like I'm painting more Stormcast OH WAIT YES IT IS.
Ahem.
Anyway, I started the Palladors the other day - I wanted to try and get a corvid style look to the gryph-chargers rather than anything too feline or fancy, mainly to try and keep with the overall bleak and muted look of the project. Here's how the first one turned out:
Really happy so far, and it was surprisingly quick and easy to do - only three paints and one glaze used. Now to replicate it on the other two....
Once the Palladors are done, that'll be the last of the Crow allies and its back to the Sylvaneth proper. Well, I say that - I mean it's on to converting some Melusai that I may have "accidentally" picked up on Ebay into bow-armed Kurnoth Hunter counts-as using some left over dryad bits. I'm not avoiding the 20 Spites, honest I'm not.
@Tommy Sorry for the late reply man, but thank you - I'm really happy with the metalwork, it's not overly shiny and fits nicely with the overall aesthetic of the project.
C&C welcome as always guys, always enjoy hearing from you.
Knave.
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“Familiarity breeds contempt. What then of love? What does that turn to over the long ages?”
Follies; Everard Hemp of Hammerhal.
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“Call the Crows, count them in your hand.”
“Three eyes, three talons, three wings.”
“Talons hold fast, kill quick. Steel and iron in their hands.”
“Their loyalty is not born of love.”
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“Choose your friends wisely and your enemies wiser still. Often the two may become the same.”
Follies; Everard Hemp of Hammerhal.
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“Call the Crows, count them in your hand.”
“Three eyes, three talons, three wings.”
“The eyes see weakness, mark the quarry.”
“Cracked and cruel, bound in folly”
~
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Hey everyone - apologies for the lack of updates recently, this has been due to a few reasons:
The weather; it's been ridiculously hot and humid here recently which isn't great for painting as it's too sweaty and mixes dry too quickly.
A lack of progress; somewhat due the above but also a lack of spare hobby funds has meant I've had to slow down a little so that I'm not running out of things to do for the Court.
Boring progress; when I have painted, it's just been armour on the Crows and a basic start on the robes. Not very exciting to show off really.
And in true hobby style, I've also been very distracted by plans for upcoming Sylvaneth units I want (and need in the case of the Spites) to do now that its only the painting of the Crows that needs to be done. I did have a vague idea of starting a smaller AoS side-project as well, jumping on the Nighthaunt bandwagon, but I honestly think that something entirely different is needed as a refresher while working on the Court still. So the side-project will either be Inq28 or a small Tempestus Scions army that I've been mulling over (using Van Saars as the Scions and supported by Armigers. Not sure if it'll work though...).
Don't worry though, I wont be starting that anytime soon - there's still about half of the Court to do in the form of 20 more Spites, 6 more Kurnoth, the King, my Geminids markers and another Wyldwood. I'll hold off on any 40k set shenanigans until I'm on the last stretch with the Court. And I may even come back to the idea of the Nighthaunt anyway.
@peasant - Thanks very much man, great to hear you get so much from my humble stuff.
Speaking of said Crows, here's a closer look at the finished cracked and ancient armour:
Lots of glazes to build up the mottled colouring and corroded look, and the cracking is just Agrellan Earth painted in patches before the model is undercoated. All 9 Crows have the armour finished now and the Castigators only need their weapons and details done, and snow added to the bases. So they should be getting shown off properly soon.
C&C welcome as always folks, and if you're on Instagram please stop by and say hi - I'm Knave_of_scribes on there and recently painted a John Constantine from Knight models for a little change which I was really happy with.
Catch you all soon.-
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“Misery loves company, as they say.”
Follies; Everard Hemp of Hammerhal.
“I give no gifts, grant no boons, which come without a sting.”
Mother Aldwynter
~
The Hunstman stood at the edge of the snowfields, weighing the pouch of teeth in one armoured palm. Drifts of thick snow stretched into the distance, merging into the steel-grey of the skies, broken only by the thin blackened twists of tree trunks and the lonely teeth of what used to be fences. Freezing winds plucked and cut at the air, sending flurries of flakes spiraling about before they fell back to the ground like the dead. There was a thin keening in the air that could have been the wind, could have been his quarry. He didn’t feel the cold, not really. Not as anything more than a dim annoyance, a scratching at his awareness. It had been many long years since he had felt anything other than the eternal erosion and slow chipping-away of himself.
He grunted wearily and planted his long-hafted spear in the snow beside him. Frost glittered on the shattered blade as it seemed to cut into the grey sky. He opened the worn pouch and tipped a handful of teeth into his open hand. They clicked and rattled in his palm, gleaming like ivory marbles. They felt like they weighed more than teeth should, but he knew that was only his withered imagination at work. His tired conscience. Nine teeth he held, a trinity of trinities. The Crone’s touch, of course. It was her nature to be obsessed with trinities, to see and use and form them in everything she did, whether she realized it or not. He held the nine teeth for a second longer then cast them into the swirling snows in front of him.
“Wings. Eyes. Talons.” Each word left a dull ache in his breast that faded slowly over the long minutes that passed until he knew that they were close. His Crows.
They walked slowly from the snows and freezing winds, ragged furs and cloth fluttering like dying wings in the winds, frost kissing the edges of the cracked and dull plate they wore. Notched and worn weapons hung loosely from armoured fists, and impassive metal masks hid their faces behind ancient metal. The nine of them stood before him in a ragged line, three hunched on the backs of emaciated gryph-chargers whose faded black plumage and fur made them seem like a tattered patch of shadow against the snow. The one who stood at the center of the line was the only one bare-headed, her face thin and sallow beneath ashen-blond hair so pale it was almost colourless. When she smiled, there was nothing of warmth or affection in it; only a sharpness and a kind of mockery.
“Greetings Raest. You look tired. Are you getting enough sleep?”
Hollow laughter echoed quietly from behind the impassive masks of the others. He’d forgotten how much he hated the sound of that laughter.
“I wonder, Tarat Vaun, would you take release now?” Raest replied. “Do you think whatever is left of your soul would reach home, or would you find yourself elsewhere?”
“Release? Oh no, none of us would chose that now.” Tarat Vaun’s smile widened, showing sharp teeth behind it. “We couldn’t bear to leave you all alone. Not when you’re having so much fun running errands.”
That laughter again, growing louder as it sawed at the winter air like a jagged knife. Like the ache of a broken bone. Raest clenched his jaw against the dull anger he felt rising, growled his words out.
“There is a hunt to be made. She will tolerate no Ascendants other than herself in these lands, she has told me. Out there, the Jheck curl themselves around some little godbeast that hoards a little puissance. Stolen or faded, she cares not, only that it dies.”
Tarat Vaun let her heavy mace slide from her shoulder, the head crunching softly into the snow at her feet. She tipped her head to the side, staring at Raest like a cat stares at a mouse, before her iron-hard eyes slid away and over to another Crow.
“Do you recall, Varandas, that he used to be a good captain? I was with him on the road to Dwimmerdale where he slew the Nightingale Prince.” There was a pretend wistfulness in her brittle voice now.
The Crow she addressed nodded his armoured head slowly, crossbow held easily over one shoulder. His voice echoed hollowly from behind that unmoving mask.
“And I when he went up into the Harrowback Mountains to kill fire-drakes. It’s sad to see him now, hollow puppet for a witch.”
“It’s true.” Tarat Vaun tipped her head to the other side, stared at Raest again with a mockingly apologetic face. “It’s true and all the sadder for it.”
The assembled Crows laughed brokenly again, one of the withered gryph-chargers clacking its sharp beak in what could have been agreement. Raest sighed again, took up his spear and levelled it, pointing with the shattered blade out into the snowbound horizons.
“Enough. Your memories of me do not matter here. I have called and you have answered. We hunt, as we always do. First the Jheck godling, then others. She has given us much work to do.”
“Ah, what an afterlife this is, to work when we could rest.” Tarat Vaun waved her free hand and the Crows turned and began to disappear into the swirling snows around them. “Still, plenty of time for us to catch up and remind ourselves of our and your past glories. How lovely.”
That broken laughter again, louder and stronger this time even as the Crows disappeared from view. Gods how he hated that laughter. Tarat Vaun gazed at him for a moment longer, her eyes flat.
“It’s good to see you again, husband.” And then she turned away and was gone.
~
“They’ve followed you for so long that they can do naught else.”
“Bound through bone and blood, marked upon their souls.”
“Do you feel the weight of their company? Do you feel the weight of their eternal regard?”
“Are they a burden or a blessing?”
“I wonder, do they hate you? Do they curse you?”
“Or are your Crows loyal and loving?”
“Tell me, are they laughing at you, or with you?”
~
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A purpose in life is admirable, but your purpose should not become your life, at the expense of all that you are.”
Follies; Everard Hemp of Hammerhal.
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“I am as a cup, ancient and cracked but still of use and purpose. Every passing year sees me filled to the brim and spilling over.”
“I no longer remember how much I have lost, or what I have lost. I know only perpetuity.”
“Come, friend; bare your breast to my spear, stretch your neck out to meet my blade.”
“Let me give you the peace that I cannot have for myself.”
~
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Afternoon folks, just a very quick update today - the weather recently has been far too hot to do much painting, which sucks.
@flamingwalnut - Ha yeah I'm looking forward to doing the twins for the Geminid spell. Should be fun and is another nod to the vein of Slavic folklore running through this project.
@Davariel - Well, what's life without a little tease? I'm hoping I can make all the conversions work as well in reality as they do in my head. My main concern at the moment is making the Yncarne look Sylvaneth enough as the King-in-Horns.
Have made some progress on Raest though, at least from the point of view of amending something that was bugging me slightly. I was stumped for a while in terms of how to paint the spear blade, as due to the broken lava style sculpt it wouldn't really work in metals or obsidian. Then I realised the problem was the blade itself - as cool as it is (I love how short and fat and heavy it looks), it's far too chaotic for the vision I had of Raest. Mores so considering I had spent so long removing all the other overtly chaotic details from him. Bit of tweaking last night while sorting out a few other weapon swaps on some of the other Crows, and I ended up with this:
An altogether more slimmer blade that looks more like a hunting spear than a war-spear, and ties Raest more to the rest of the Crows, especially the Palladors. He should be all done fairly soon, then I can crack on with the rest of the Crows before knuckling down to another 20 Spite Revenants. I have got a plan for some of them though, to break up the painting and visual look of them all and to introduce the Crone-touched to the Revenants...
Cheers all.-
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Evening folks - hope things are ace, and as ever thanks for all you comments.
@ObviousPlayer - Ah thanks very much man, great to hear you've enjoyed things that much and I've filled your lunchtimes. Still loads to come to keep you hooked.
@flamingwalnut - You are too kind mate, way too kind. I don't write fiction for a living sadly, just random freelance stuff, but writing fiction is the dream. I submitted something to the last BL window, so fingers crossed something happens there. Great to hear you're inspired hobby-wise as well, that's one of the best compliments to hear. I do tend to build narratively, which can be a pain sometimes as you can end up overlooking the basic guys in favour of fun stuff, but yes there is indeed a now-2500pt list I'm working towards as the first chapter-end goal for this project. I'll pop the list below, its nothing special game-wise but will have a few surprises in it.
@brettfp - Thanks bud, great to hear you like the background that much. Doing my best to keep the standard of both high.
@mrllaine - Crazy how much better the Sacrosanct look isn't it? Well done to GW there. And cheers man, I shall try.
So, with a break in the weather comes a chance to do some painting, and Raest has had a little more progress made:
Happy with how he's coming along, him and the rest of the Crows should be a really nice visual break from the Court, without standing out too much thanks to their muted armour.
And for those interested, here's the target 2500pt list:
Sylvaneth Allegiance, Shyish home Realm
Mother Aldwynter - Branchwraith; General, Gift of Ghyran, Regrowth, Ranu's Lamentiri
Blessed Loclaranam - Branchwych; Regrowth, Oaken Armour
King-in-Horns - Drycha Hamadreth; Dwellers Below
10 Tree-Revenants; pipes, banner, scion
10 Spite-Revenants
5 Spite-Revenants
5 Spite-Revenants
5 Spite-Revenants
3 Kurnoth Hunters; Scythes
3 Kurnoth Hunters; Bows (more than likely converted from the Melusai so I can have creepy snake-dryads)
3 Kunoth Hunters; Bows (same as above)
The Warmasked - Treelord
Raest the Huntsman - Knight-Questor (with a Shyish artefact once the Community guys clarify that for me, probably the Banshee Blade)
Eyes of the Nine Crows - 3 Castigators
Talons of the Nine Crows - Steelheart's Champions (using the ETB Sequitors)
Wings of the Nine Crows - 3 Vanguard Palladors
Endless Spell - Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (represented by actual twins...)
Mothers Children - 10 Dryads for the Wych's summoning spell.
Dreadwood Wargrove
Outcast Battalion
Free Wyldwood
That's about 2500 on the nose, nothing too waac or tourney-winning in there, I'm way more focused on the story.
Right, im off for a beer. And maybe to buy a certain non-GW model of my favourite character ever...
Knave.
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Congrats on the awards man, they are well deserved - that's a beautiful looking army you've made so far. I like the subtlety of the conversion work on the Incantor, works really well to link her to the Temple overall. Your Lotann is great as well - I think a lot of people get distracted by the Ochtar and overlook just how lovely and understated Lotann himself is, but your scheme really draws attention to him against the pale blues and greys. Lovely.
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"Hwaet. Can you hear it? Can you feel it in the rushing of your blood, the thumping of your heart?"
"Come. Run with us."-
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What ho, gentle folk? How fares the day?
Not sure why I'm speaking like that, its a bit odd. Anyways, a quick little update today showing what I did over the Soul Wars release weekend. Hint: it wasn't as much as I wanted due to needing to eat. First up though, replies to you fine folk:
@Davariel - Thanks man he is a random old collection of parts, its true. Just so pleased he turned out the way he did - there was a point where I was trying to fit the head and was thinking I'd just wasted 20-odd quid. Came through in the end though. And thanks for the kind words about my background - always super happy to hear that people like it.
@Boss Salvage - Cheers as well bud. It's gonna be Instagram you saw the Man-Stag on - as much as I'd love to be, I'm not part of the Iron Sleet collective. Drop me a nod on Insta if you're on there, always happy to have hobby chums to follow on there. And yeah, I was really happy with how the white and woad came out. I'll have to get some pics of him with the Revenants to show how they look together.
Onto the progress report then. To the eternal gratitude of my wallet, I managed to resist getting too much on the release day - I will grab the Core Book and GHB at some point but as I don't game myself all that often, they're very much a secondary concern at the moment. I also managed to resist the urge to start a new army (the Nighthaunt were very very tempting) as I felt it wouldn't be great to lose focus on the Court while it was only about halfway through. There's also still a big desire to do some Blood Bowl and Inq28 first before a new AoS project anyway. I did treat myself to both the ETB Stormcast kits though with the intent of turning them into Raest's Nine Crows, as explained last time round.
First impressions of the new Stormcast are...... yeah I like them. A lot. The Sequitors especially. Its crazy how some robes makes such a difference and turns the rather bland and visually dull Stormcast into something much better. Pimping gold plastic aside, both kits are lovely, packed with detail, easy to build (durr) and remarkably free of mood lines. The upcoming multi-part Sequitors look great too even if for GW nowadays, multi-part is synonymous with limited-pose-options. I think I'd get bored of them pretty quickly as an army project, but as a little skirmish-type thing like the Nine Crows they're a fun break from the Sylvaneth.
Here's how the Castigators look after the initial assembly and conversion work:
I really like how removing the crests from the helms has given them a slightly more sinister look - I also shaved away the Stormcast sigil on the pauldrons and trimmed down the anvil-charm as well to remove the most obvious Stormcast markings. They need greenstuffing, particularly on the new right arm for the Prime to bulk it out appropriately, and to add tattered furs over some of the robes. The hound was just a random idea that seemed to work - I liked the thought of Mother Aldwynter sending a nightmarish hound to watch over Raest and his Crows. I'll work on the Sequitors over the weekend, turning them into stand-ins for Steelheart and his chums. I also got the cloak done on Raest but I'm now cursing about needing to rebase him onto a 40mm base and wondering where I can grab one easily enough...
Once the Crows are done, its back to the trees. I've got some Kurnoth that have been begging to be painted for the last 2 months or so and I should really bite the bullet and get the last 15 Spites and 10 Dryads sorted out. There's a few more ideas for other random things too, including possibly using Lady Olynder for something as that is a stunning model - the current thought is using her to represent another shard of the Baba Yaga, possibly the Mother/Lady this time. Course, then I'd have to do the Maiden too, and then there's the other inhabitants of the Grey Marches to explore like the Jheck and the Sheeda......
Back soon with more.
Knave-
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“A man can hold many names, and each will be a part of himself that he acts upon. What, then, of the names held by our gods? What weight and duty most those names bring? And how many names have been forgotten over the long Ages of the Realms? What of those duties and roles?”
Follies; Everard Hemp of Hammerhal.
~
“Golden Antlered Harne, the hunt made flesh.”
“Blessed Loclaranam, marked and noted child of Ghyran. Favoured of the Court and the voice of reason to our Kings madness.”
“Man-Stag of the Wyld, primal and urgent. The surge of blood and heat in the rush of life.”
“Our Herald, our strength. Our hope.”
~
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Afternoon folks
Crikey its hot at the moment. Ridiculously hot.
AthlorainStoners - Thanks man, much appreciated.
So yes, the Man-Stag is now finished, and looking rather lovely even if I do say so myself. While his varnish was drying, I used the spare time to make a start on Raest and specifically his armour. Raest and his Nine Crows are the first time any metallics have been used in this whole project (other than on a tiny knife blade on Mother Aldwynter) so I was careful to keep the armour from being too shiny and bright. I used the same process as the armour on my Korinth Gorgons player, albeit with a little more silver and a few more glazes, aiming for a corroded and cracked old armour look. Here's how he looks so far:
I'm pretty happy with the dull finish, and the texture added by the stippled drybrush has worked well, but I think it may have a bit too much of a silver tone rather than the old bronze look of the Gorgons player - but then having that silver tone does visually move him away from both the Hammers Of Sigmar Stormcast and the darker schemes of the Chaos factions.
While working on his background, I've also decided to expand the number and type of "bound" Stormcast that Raest can call on using the pouch of teeth (bonus points for you if you can recognise that particular comic reference). Originally that idea was just to have the trio of Palladors (the hounds to Raests hunter) but I enjoyed assembling them so much that I kinda wanted to do more. I'd been considering finding a way to use the Steelhearts Champions models for a while as they are lovely and much much better than the frankly boring and borderline bad Farstriders (seriously, why is their boss surfing on a log? Why?) and that's when the idea of a small hunting party of trapped and bound Stormcast came to life. My only issue was that Steelheart guys were very much clean and tidy Liberator types, not hunters.
The release of the easy-build packs of Sequitors changed that - not only do the three poses and weapon options match the Steelheart trio (with a little tweaking to the lovely female champions arms), but the robes offer a great base for adding rotting furs etc. Plus those maces just look lovely. So I've ordered them. And the easy-build Castigators, who will either see use as Castigators or will be tweaked to count as the Farstriders.
Overall then, I will have Raest the Huntsman (Knight-Questor) and his Nine Crows: the Wings (three Palladors), the Talons (Sequitors representing Steelhearts Champions) and the Eyes (three Castigators representing either just themselves, or the Farstriders). All hollow, undying, trapped and bound to Raest by Mother Aldwynter, and all in the same cracked and dulled ancient armour.
A nice little visual and painting break from all the wood and spirit forms of the Court while still displaying that same Grimm-dark fairytale aesthetic.
Would be great to hear your thoughts on things chaps, your input is always valued. Painted pics of Blessed Loclaranam coming soon.
Knave.-
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“Ask yourself this: if you could remember every detail of every minute of your life, would you want to? Could you know it all without losing your mind, and know that you were losing your mind? Forgetting is as much protection as it is a failing.”
Follies; Everard Hemp of Hammerhal.
“Even the greatest of hunters can lose themselves in the joy of the hunt and will find themselves far from home.”
Attributed to unknown Aelvish philosopher.
~
The ancient hall looked long-abandoned, carpeted in dust and draped with curtains of cobwebs. Cracks in the high shadowed roof and dark walls allowed thin drifts of snow to grow and spread among empty benches and tables. The very air was still, as if all life had abandoned the hall along with any that had once called it home. Only shadows and darkness made their home here now and filled the hall as it stretched away towards the dais at its head. A heavy chair sat there, in the shadows, filled with the shape of a man, layered in webs and rotted threads of cloth. All was silent. All was still.
Mother Aldwynter stared up at the shape that filled the heavy chair, lone eye glittering behind her iron-grey hair. Thin tears of blood slowly wept from the eternal wound of her missing eye to be collected on the tip of a crooked finger and then licked clean by a greying tongue. The polished skulls strung from her twisted staff whispered oh-so-quietly at the edge of hearing as she considered the figure sat before her.
Hulking plates of corroded and cracked armour, a lions face snarling from one pauldron. Swathes of furs adding further bulk, a long heavy spear held across its lap. All cloaked in dust, webs and drifts of snow, as if the figure had moved in long years. Hidden in the valley between those huge pauldrons and the furs, shadowed and dark, rat-tails of long black hair hid the figures face. Mother Aldwynter clucked her tongue in annoyance. This lassitude would not do. A long-fingered hand reached into her layered robes and coats, pulled forth a simple drawstring pouch which gently clicked and clacked in her grasp.
“Time to rouse yourself, my servant, my champion. I have need of you.”
“Tell me, mother,” the figure sighed in reply, weariness heavy in every word. “Tell me again how I came to be here.”
“There will be time enough for tales when our work is done. You need only remember that I found you and saved you and kept you.”
“Kept.” A faint note of tired bitterness entered the weary voice. “I sometimes wonder, what did you keep me from?”
Mother Aldwynter smiled thinly, iron in her gaze and in her voice.
“You asked me, remember? You asked me to keep the shreds of your soul safe, as only I could. Have I not done so? Have I not kept my end of our bargain?”
“Bargain?” the figure snorted. “A poor one, if it ever was one. Answer me this mother, how many times have I died for you?”
“Too many, my child.” Mother Aldwynter’s voice softened for a brief moment before hardening like winters touch. “And not enough, and never truly, my servant. That was the nature of our bargain.”
“And now you have new children to live and die for you, and a new King to rule.” The seated figure leaned forward, dust and cobwebs shedding like a second skin. Cold, tired eyes glittered from behind curtains of black hair. “I wonder, what need have you for your broken son now?”
The drawstring pouch landed on the seated figures lap with a clack, the neck opening and several small items spilling out and falling to the floor in a clicking, rattling stream. Teeth. Mother Aldwynter waved a hand dismissively at the pouch and its clicking enamelled contents before turning away and shuffling along the hall.
“I return your Crows to you, Huntsman. I’m sure you can guess what task I have for you. Rouse yourself and take up your spear. Time grows short.”
Raest, called Deathless by some, Lost by others, and known by all as the Crone’s Huntsman, held the teeth of his Crows in one armoured palm and the haft of his spear in the other. Deep within his cold, tired body, he felt a faint spark thrill to life. Slowly, creakingly, his pale face began to smile.
~
“When she found him, he had been lost in the snows and mists and lands for years uncounted.”
“He had died and lived and died and lived again so many times that he had forgotten all that he was.”
“She took what was left of his soul and hid it away. Bound to an iron nail, hidden in an acorn, hidden in a rat, hidden in a cat, hidden in a hound.”
“His death is hers and his life too. The Lost and Deathless Huntsman.”
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Hey everyone
Curry_Supreme - Cheers man, much appreciated. The Reeve is the most converted model so far, though the new version of Raest has been tweaked a lot and the planned King-In-Horns will probably be the most esoteric conversion of all.
Anamnesis - A bit of creepiness is what I was aiming for
The whole idea with the Reeve is that he's just as magical in nature as a daemon, so can look like anything he wants - he just has the shape of a stag as that's what peoples perception of him have 'forced' him into. He's definitely my favourite model in the project so far.
Speaking of Blessed Loclaranam, slow progress has been made on him - painting time has been limited due to the warm weather, several trips to the cinema (Hereditary - good, Incredibles 2 - underwhelming) and other distractions, as well as the white fur taking a while to get right. Here he is currently though:
The bark sections and branches all need glazing with sepia and black and all the details need doing still but he's coming along nicely. Shouldn't take too much longer to finish, though the reveal of Raest and possibly his Crows will more than likely come before the fully painted pics of Blessed Loclaranam. Once these are done, its back to the coalface of Spites and Dryads. Fun times.
Your comments are always welcome folks, love hearing from you all.
Knave.
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Afternoon folks
Lavieth - sorry for the delayed reply man, and thanks very much for your compliments, hearing things like that really make my day. The metal on the Gorton players was done like this, using Vallejo paints:
Basecoat of Old Bronze, glaze with vey thin Bronze Green, stipple highlight with Old Bronze again and then an edge stipple with Chainmail. Glaze with very thin Black Glaze, then a second very very thin glaze of Bronze Green in the recesses.
Kirjava13 - ha, puns! You got 'em. Glad to hear you like the Reeve as well.
Terrainguy - love a good pun buddy
And thanks, I'm really happy with how the conversion turned out. Wasn't 100% sure it was going to work at first but yeah think I nailed it.
Painbringer - Ah thanks very much man, much appreciated. Plenty more to come.
Yep, I'm pretty damn happy with how the construction of Blessed Loclaranam went (I will get out of the habit of calling him Man-Stag...) and hopefully the painting will go just as well. Already made a start on him, or at least the fur, as seen here:
The fur is only about half done here, it needs bringing back up to white and the recesses lightening a bit before a few more grey glazes, but I'm already loving the look of him. By the time the branches, antlers and bark-belt are done, visually he's going to be a nice reversal of the colour scheme established so far - white with dark accents as opposed to dark wood with white accents. After him will probably be the Knight-Question, then the Kurnoth and the Palladors.... and then I just need to get 15 more Spites, another 2 woods and the King himself, which should take me to 2k points. Fun times.
Course, I might get distracted by Nighthaunt because dear Gods the Mortarch of Grief is sublime, but there's always Blood Bowl to do and an urge to get back on the Inq28 train (actual 40k doesn't really hold any appeal at the moment, not sure why but just can't maintain any enthusiasm for an army idea) or maybe just taking the Court up to 2500 or 3k... There's always the Maiden and Mother splinters of the Baba Yaga to explore...
Silly hobby magpie.
Knave.-
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Be great to see what you come up with.
And thanks, I'm really happy with how the conversion turned out. Wasn't 100% sure it was going to work at first but yeah think I nailed it.
The Darkwood Court
in Painting and Modelling
Posted
Afternoon folks - very quick update from me, just giving you an idea of what's coming up for the Court over the next few weeks.
So in terms of what's next for the Court, it's really a case of a few quick simple units. I've been a bit guilty so far of overlooking the battleline stuff I need to do in favour of fancier units or allies, which is a shame because not only do I really like the Spite-revenant models, they are ridiculously quick to paint. The target 2500pt list had 10 Tree and 25 Spite to do, of which I currently have the 10 Tree and 5 of the Spites done. Another 5 Spites is on the workbench right now, and I've decided to drop 5 of the planned Spites in favour of another Branchwych. This is in part due to the effectiveness in-game of 5 Spites vs a Wych (even if gaming is a very secondary thing now) but mainly due to aesthetic reasons - while the Revenant models are lovely, they are a little limited in terms of options and poses and I think 30 is enough to show variation without repetition. Also I wont go mad painting all that wood. The other reason for doing another Branchwych is that I will probably end up using the Nightvault Briar Queen model as the basis because dear Lord she is lovely. And also pretty fitting as the Maiden... Then of course there's the new Shadespire Sylvaneth warband that'll be out at some point. Exciting.
Here's the obligatory terrible workbench picture:
Apologies for the quality. But you should be able to see the next 5 Spites, the first 3 Crone-touched Hunters, and two blue ghosty girls who will be the Vasili Sisters. That'll make sense, I promise. The Spites and the Sisters will be fully built and undercoated by the end of today so should be coming up soon.
Thanks for all your interest and comments so far folks, always makes my day to hear from you.
Knave