AHPC IX Bonus Theme - Mercenary: The Dark Marshall

Second update today is the entry for the Mercenary Bonus Theme. To begin with I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do for this Round. I knew I wanted the entry to be themed to The Lord of the Rings, but the backstory for my first thoughts - Easterlings & Haradrim - did not really fit the mercenary theme.

Rather bizarrely, everything fell into place when I started considering the definition of mercenary as an adjective, rather than a noun. Looked at this way, a mercenary character is venal - corrupt and susceptible to bribery. And who better fits this description than one of the Nine Mortal Men who Sauron bribed with rings of power, enslaving them and turning them into Nazgul, Ringwraiths, the most feared of his servants.

With the entry fixed, all I needed was a suitable figure and a quick rummage in the LoTR lead-pile turned up this old metal cast of The Dark Marshall. I am not a fan of all of the alternative 'character' sculpts for the Ringwraiths, but I do like the backstory of The Dark Marshall - even as a mortal he had a 'murderous reputation' and now his soldiers follow his orders as much out of fear as obedience. Suitably wicked!

To try and avoid horse and rider merging into one, I tried to create variety with different shading and highlighting. The Dark Marshall's robes are highlighted with a blue-grey (GW 'The Fang') and then washed with GW 'Drakenhof Nightshade'. I might have been better off using a lighter colour, as the wash has really muted the highlights - I can give that a go on one of the other eight Nazgul I suppose!

Meanwhile the cloth covering the horse was highlighted in a lighter blue grey (GW 'Russ Grey '), but instead of using a wash I used GW 'Gulliman Blue ' glaze to tone down the highlights slightly but still leave them distinct from the Marshall's cloak. Finally, bits of the horse itself like the tail were highlighted in a light grey (VJ 'Deep Sea Grey')

Last of all, as a nod to his past as a King of Men, The Dark Marshal wears a golden crown for a bit of contrast (and a break from highlighting all that bloody black!)

In the end, I am very pleased with how he looks; just got to do the foot version now!

6th Painting Challenge Entry - Kill Team Terrain

Output has been severely limited over the last couple of weeks due to (i) the start of the Six Nations Rugby Championship and attendant Guinness-fest and (ii) a nasty bout of flu/chest infection, with so much coughing that I struggled to sleep, never mind paint anything. Hopefully things are getting back to normal now, and I will be able to get a bit more done. However, it has also meant that I have not updated the blog with my most recent entries.

On the opening weekend of the Six Nations, I did not have much time for painting, so cracked out the big brushes and tester paint pots to do some Kill Team terrain. Although there is loads of detail on the pieces, I have gone for heavy drybrusing to bring out the relief - quick and simple!

I did the ruins that came with the Kill Team boxed set and then some pipe work that came in the Sector Mechanicus expansion. The Sixth Legion Huscarl is for scale!

So, a simple entry but it keeps the point tally ticking over towards my 1000 point target and actually I am quite pleased with the look of the terrain. 

5th Painting Challenge Entry Part 2 - Norwegian Leopard and Modern Brits

My second entry was a return to my Conflict in Norway project. I completed a second British Infantry section and a 3-man HQ element.

First Fire Team

Second Fire Team

HQ

Group shot

These are all Liberation Miniatures, from their 1990s British Range. These figures are the BACR figures - SA80, LSW and RTO codes. I will be adding GPMGs, Carl Gustav MAWs and a light mortar, as well as the final section for a platoon of infantry that can also double as Royal Marines.

Next up is a Revell 1/72 Leopard 1A5. At the time I have in mind for Conflict in Norway (late 80s/early 90s), the Norwegians were running the 1A3 version of the Leopard, but this was nearly 50% off in Wonderland models, so 1A5 it is! (EDIT - new info on Cold War Hot Hot Hot now states that the Norwegians actually had their own version of the 1A5, so happy days, this isn't wrong after all!) I see this as a tank from the Norwegian Brigade North, operating in deep snow, so I skipped the use of pigments and just modelled snow on the tracks and around the hull. The angular camo was inspired by these pics:

The camo took a while to do, but I am pleased with how it has come out.

 

As well as finishing off the British platoon, I have another Challenger and Leopard to do, and I want to do a small Norwegian Home Guard unit. Apparently the Norwegians stockpiled huge amounts of older weapons, to be accessed by the Home Guard in the event of war, so this unit is going to be made up of figures from several different Liberation Miniatures ranges and armed with an eclectic mix of weapons. I am looking forward to it!

5th Painting Challenge Entry Part 1 - More Bolsheviks

I manged two entries for the Painting Challenge this week. First up was a second unit of Bolshevik Infantry, this time with a LMG as well.

I also did a command element of Officer, Commissar and Standard Bearer for the unit. I particularly like the Commissar pose; he is obviously ready to fire a few 'encouraging' shots at his charges!

To round off this entry, I also did an Officer and Commissar for the first unit, shown below with the first Standard Bearer I did a couple of weeks ago.

These are all Copplestone Castings and I must say that I am really enjoying painting them. At first sight they might look a little plain, but actually they are full of character.