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.