Sunday 12 November 2017

"Garrek Gorebeard Delights In Taking Severed Heads..."

"...Scalps and other trophies from those he has slain, brandishing these grim souvenirs to stoke his... bloodlust."
This 28mm scale "push-fit, red plastic" miniature of Garrek Gorebeard comes as part of the "Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire" starter set by "Games Wokrshop", and, rather usefully, can also be used to represent "the chieftain of a murderous band of Khorne-worshippers" in the Nottingham-based company's "Age Of Sigmar" tabletop wargame as well. Earning "the title of Gorebeard after ascending to his position by biting the throat of a rival, staining his beard in blood", the mighty warrior is not only the first of my Khorne Bloodbound warband to be painted, but the second of my four weekly submissions for this year’s Mo’Vember Challenge.

Initially primed with "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone to mask the model's vividly red coloured plastic, the war dog's trousers were painted with "Citadel" Abaddon Black and his leg armour, shoulder pad, wrist bracelet and symbolic belly plate were all subsequently treated to a combination of "Vallejo" Brass and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. In addition, Garrek's numerous chains and incredibly well-detailed double-axe-head were given a layer of "Citadel" Ironbreaker, before being generously washed in Nuln Oil.
Demon Bunny WIPs - The large rabbit has been primed, washed and dry-brushed
The mortal Bloodreaver's belt, numerous straps and wrist-guard were 'picked out' with some "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and Strong Tone Quickshade, whilst his "Grisly Trophy" was originally undercoated with "Vallejo" Heavy Warmgrey and then shaded with "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson and a little more Strong Tone Quickshade. As Gorebeard has the impressive ability in "Age Of Sigmar" to "add
1 to the Attacks characteristics" of his unit’s melee weapons for the rest of the battle whenever he "slays any enemy Heroes", I decided to give the severed head's lifeless eyes an especially haunted look using a tiny dollop of "Vallejo" Dead White.

I created Garrek's infamous bloody beard by highlighting its "Citadel" Abaddon Black undercoat with "Vallejo" Heavy Red and then washing the various strands of hair with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. As a final touch, and in order to ensure the miniature fitted in with my Chaos Host for "Age Of Sigmar", I painted its highly-detailed based with "Citadel" Doombull Brown, Rakarth Flesh and (even more) Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". This colour scheme is what I use on all my bases these days, and whilst it did seem somewhat a shame not to 'pick out' all the numerous skulls littered around Gorebeard's feet, it does mean the (allied) model can be readily included within my Tallyband of Nurgle.
BUF Bodyguard WIPs - This pair of "Bolt Action" bruisers have had all their different areas layered 
To help this "Age Of Sigmar" assimilation even further, I decided to also flock the base with static grass despite it actually depicting the chieftain being stood on some sort of dried mud-bank. This is an extremely straightforward process whereby the stand's paint-job is covered in a protective layer of PVA glue, and I then dab some more of the adhesive primarily around my figure's feet before depositing it in a large tin of static grass. Whilst the glue is still wet and the model is literally suffocating in flock, I gently but firmly push down onto the grass in order to ensure the small threadlike particles are well and truly embedded in the PVA; a process I might repeat on two or more occasions if I feel its coverage is still too 'spotty' after a couple of hours drying.

With such a 'patience-testing' piece finished, I have turned my attention momentarily towards a couple of much easier mini-projects, such as a "Horrorclix" Demon Bunny by "Wizkids", and a pair of "Warlord Games" British Union of Facists' bodyguards. I've already managed to get some basic priming, shading and dry-brushing done on my 'Rabbit of Caerbannog', whilst Sir Oswald Moseley's thugs now simply need to have some shades applied to them before they are finished...

36 comments:

  1. What a brute! Lovely work Simon and I am quite taken by the demon bunny too.

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    1. Thanks very much Michael. Garrek is quite a beast to paint imho, and I'm glad you like the bunny - he's cute ;-)

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    1. Cheers Andy. Hopefully the rabbit will be finished before the month is out.

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    1. Thanks Phil. Always like to mix things up when I can ;-)

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  4. great work on Garrek Simon, good start on the bunny, and the thugs seem to have been a quick paint. Are you adding any other colours to the bunny or keeping him predominately white ?

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    1. Cheers Dave. The bunny will be predominantly as you see him now, but comes with red eyes, black nose and plenty of gore on his teeth :-)

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    2. If you feel daring add some purple glaze in the shadows, to give it a supernatural feel

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    3. Hmmm... I was thinking about going for the blood-stained "Monty Python" look, tbh, Dave, but I do have some other supernatural sculpts I might try that out on :-)

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  5. Love this post Simon :-)
    Not just for the eye candy, but thanks for the info about how you flock your bases, and introducing me to the 'Rabbit of Caerbannog' - you don't half give me some rare mini's to try and track down! ;-)

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    1. Cheers Greg. Much appreciated. I purposedly did the flocking paragraph as you'd asked for it, so I'm glad it was useful. The Demon Bunny was very hard to track down, and only came to light when my fave U.S. seller "Toad & Troll" suddenly got their hands on some more "Horrorclix".

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  6. Another diverse posting. Chaos barbarians from Age of Sigmar, World War 2 thugs and a demon bunny from....some demon bunny place! I like the Blood Reaver a lot. The detail has been picked out and the colour scheme is your own take on the worshippers of Khorne rather than red armour everywhere. The bodyguards are coming along nicely and the demon bunny has a Malifaux feel to it, which is where I thought it was from when I first saw it. Will he be attacking some wandering knights in the near future? Another genre for you to branch out into. Lovely stuff as always.

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    1. "Diverse" is Fantorical's middle name, Mr Rennie, though I don't plan on 'branching out' with the demon bunny. I actually thought he'd make a fun mutant pet for the Mad Hatter for my "Gotham" campaign, should I feel the urge to introduce Jervis Tetch into it.

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  7. Cracking job on Mr Gorebeard. The rabbit looks like an ace model dude.

    Hmm I like those BUF. I am thinking that if painted in a certain way could be good naval crew for my SHIVA Cast. hmmmm...more browsing may be required I feel.

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    1. Thanks Simon. I'm glad to have Gorebeard out of the way tbh as his sculpt packs an awful lot of detail. The BUF are interesting sculpts, and are certainly making me think VBCW currently...

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  8. Garreck turned out much better than I'd anticipated and I'm far more impressed with him than I thought I'd ever be.
    The Moseley thugs look the part, but I'm drawn to the Demon Rabbit more than anything, believ it or not for "Jimland"!

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    1. Cheers Joe. Demon bunnies in "Jimland" eh? Now that does sound like a terrifying jungle-based encounter :-)

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  9. Just back home, lovely post Simon, as usual, lot of nice eye candy to enjoy :-)

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    1. Thanks Steve. I always try and mix things up when I can.

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  10. the Demon Bunny wins this post hands (I mean tail) down.

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  11. Cracking stuff! I always like how diverse your taste is, you were all over the spectrum with this post - never would have imagined seeing a demon bunny today when I opened the blog lol :) Brilliant!

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    1. Thanks Ivor. I do like to dabble in a few genres, just to keep the painting mojo high :-)

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  12. Nice barbarian, useful fascists, love the demon bunny though!
    Best Iain

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    1. Cheers Iain. The BUF bodyguards are now finished, so I might pick up a few more at the "Warfare" show this weekend - I can feel a "Bolt Action" force for VBCW looming ;-)

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  13. Nice work on Garrek Gorebeard Blaxkleric; he looks brutal and fearsome in equal measure. :)

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    1. Thanks Leon. He was indeed a formidable painting subject - I just hope he does well on the tabletop as a result :-)

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  14. I like the Rabbit. I am probably not supposed to like it but none the less I do!

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    1. Cheers Clint. What's not to like about a giant, heavily-fanged homicidal rabbit ;-)

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  15. Congratulations on getting the Movember figure done, but I have to say that the demon bunny looks evil! Great stuff.
    I thought the BUF goons looked like those Clockwork Orange chaps from Crooked Dice - certainly work as henchmen with hand weapons.

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    1. Thanks Roy. Just two more MoVember Challenger minis to go :-) I own a couple of those "Crooked Dice" Clockwork Orange chaps and you're spot on - they do indeed look similar to the BUF. The BUF guys are now finished and flocked, so should be posted later this week. Fingers crossed the bunny will follow soon after...

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  16. Excellent work on Gorebeard - he looks suitably menacing. :)

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    1. Cheers Leon, hopefully the rest of the Reavers will turn out just as well.

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