Amidst a land of looming cliffs, wild streams, and dark pine forests, a harsh and rugged people claw their existence out of that brutal archipelago – Northern Ossia in inner Shyish. While the weather is rarely ever kind, and the wilds often teem with baleful spirits as often as wild animals, the seafaring Ossians proudly sustain themselves on trade and plunder in equal measure. Divided into independent, often feuding clans, Ossians recognize no rule above their Soulblight Jarls, and a king chosen from amongst their rank during ceremonial gatherings of heinous violence.
The Age of Chaos tested the normally indomitable will of the Clans, many of which only survive as ghosts and dusty bones. Even in death however, the culture endures. Druidic necromancers have interpreted the Necroquake as the dawn of a new time, one of unending war and plunder which will restore former glory. Their greatest Jarl, Havard Fuilbeorn – literally the “Blood Bear” – has returned from a pilgrimage to remote Penultima astride a massive dragon, unique in almost all the realms. He has united both the living and the dead, the corporeal and the spectral, for the first time in a thousand years. With this grand army, he shall carve a bloody swathe across the Mortal Realms. Do you dare to stand in his way?
Hello everyone, Martin here with a new hobby project. I’m moving on from a two-year devotion to Stormcast Eternals to break away from every comfort zone I’ve ever held dear, and have turned to Legions of Nagash. I’ve wanted to do this army for a long time, probably since early 2017, but hadn’t the courage nor the idea on how to execute it properly. The tidbit of lore attached should provide some context into what I want, but to further explain I didn’t want something like the endless waves of indistinguishable dead, I wanted something more aggressive and vibrant looking. The idea came about from playing fames like The Witcher 3 and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice to create an army born of Celtic and Nordic influences. Brooding greens and cold greys would contrast with the pallid flesh of vampires and bright bone of the skeletons. There are subliminal nature themes within the army, though it is not one of reverence like that found in Sylvaneth armies, rather representing the inscrutable, inhospitable nature of the Ossian homeland.
I have a goal of painting 1,000 points of the army over the next five weeks, and I will be posting regular updates delving into why I made certain choices about how things looked as well as the lore behind them. In addition to picking an army I believe can be more competitive for me in the long run, I also wanted to infuse more of a story into each unit, giving them as much character as possible. My test Nighthaunt unit for example, is a banshee sent from Nagashizzar to corral the spirits of deserter clansmen, commanding them to fight even when the Jarl had forsaken such a miserable and pathetic house of ingrates.
In this month I have to paint
-Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon
-Necromancer
-30 Skeletons
-5 Dire Wolves
-10 Grimghast Reapers
-4 Gravesites
I’m doing this in cooperation with my local gaming club which is running a Warhammer charity event around building, painting, and playing models. I also want 1000 points complete so I can begin acclimating to the army as quickly as possible, even if the games are smaller. I hope you enjoy these pictures, feel free to leave feedback and check back in with the thread later down the line to see progress. Thank you.