Sunday 30 March 2014










"We will spend our lives fighting to secure this Imperium, and then I fear we will spend the rest of our days fighting to keep it intact... In the far future, there will be only war."
- Sigismund



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This model was bought for an online £5 ebay challenge (Link). This model has been on my to do list and is even a model that I've selected for my Citadel Legends.

Yellow has been a problem colour for me - I was not sure how to get the best from the colour but I think I'm heading in the right direction with this model. I used a warm brown to undercoat the model and used successive highlight layers of white and a lemon yellow to create a warm/ cool contrast. The Blade was washed with blue over the grey and white highlight layers to contrast with the yellow armour. Sigismund's left pauldron ties to the blade to the model with the black and white heraldry.

I wanted to leave the scenic bases' banner quite plain and ambiguous. This way we do not tie down Sigismund to any time specific event and can partake in any part of the Heresy (up until he paints his armour black at the siege of Terra).

Why the black armour? In the original short story printed in white dwarf (the first time Sigismund is mentioned I believe) he is described as feeling odd that his yellow armour has been reprinted black for the siege of terra. I'm sure that there are stories out there that contradict this - some say he's in black, others that he wears yellow. There are plenty of examples of black emperors champions out there so I wanted to paint something different 
and present my version of a pre battle for terra Sigismund.

Myles





Saturday 29 March 2014











Upon request of the client I painted these with a white scheme instead of the traditional purple of the Emperor's Children. 



Monday 17 March 2014









Born time and again into the furious cycle of existence in Commorragh Cynath Ch'Ihll, the Void Prince of the Medusae Court, has known many lives. His helm known as the strangers smile is an artifact of the Old One's unknown treatise with the primordial energies of the universe and contains the bound essence of a malicious spirit. The being who claims himself a god is slaved to the Ch'Ihll house acting as advisor, protector and as a power source to the Ch'Ihll's more esoteric pursuits. When incased in this helm Cynath dreams of other worlds, some more barbaric than his own, where swords and sorcery rule. 

The Prince's armour is antiquated, a relic of finer times obsolete in modern Commorragh. The Arioch Lorica is a complex suite of life sustaining drug dispensers, blood clotters and synthetic flesh knitters. It may re-grow the limbs of the occupant if fed enough anguish and is given sufficient time. The screaming face set in the centre is believed to be a baleful representation of Arioch Ch'Ihll, the deity which the Archon's family had enslaved. 

Cynath wields the Tear of Khaine, a blade made of the very essence of a singularity, fatal to all life with the merest scratch. Cynath's bladed hand is a reflex of the Lorica whereby the wearer can extend the fingers into envenomed blades. Thus attired the Medusae Prince is made in the fashion of the elder ruling class, overthrown by Asdrubael Vect. Indeed the Kabal's over fondness for referring to itself as a court or a house is an anachronism in modern Commoragh where freedom is the only absolute rule of law. 

Cynath is here seen during the Lastrai Purge M30.228. The Nightmarish carpet of skulls is a noted side effect of this Kabal's method of war. Before a strike has begun the Medusae Court will launch vexator hallucinogen into the atmosphere inducing nightmarish visions of worlds blanketed with the dead, of daemons stalking through the ranks of the mortal and star systems swallowed whole by the gluttonous appetites of the Eldar. 

The Lastrai Purge was one of the notable cleaning campigns of the Emperor's Children Legion and by Ordo Supremus the true toll on civilian life was redacted. The hordes of mutilated bodies, stumped and mewling creatures they had become were included in the surviving count before given the Emperor's Peace. Before their death, in unison they spoke.

"Fear the dark for it is full of terror."




A personal project of mine that has spanned some years. I decided with the onset of 6th edition to collect a 'players army'. Something that could stand up to most lists without fear of being annihilated. The dandy in me wanted something beautiful to field. The Dark Eldar were released and I was sold. Alongside the 3rd edition of the codex chaos I believe the latest Dark Eldar book to be the finest rule book crafted by Games Workshop. The sense of character it evokes and the ruleset that plays like the background is a fine achievement, harking back to the heady creative days of the early nineties.

So far I've felt like I missed the mark with my Dark Eldar Force. I painted it up in a quick scheme to get gaming with it, but my enthusiasm for the project dried up after painting the kabalites and two ravagers. I've come to appreciate that I'm not a speed painter (although I can paint quickly). I prefer to luxuriate over the details and build character. So the Void Prince is a re-pledge to the nightmarish denizens of Commoragh to build a kabal worthy of the greatest civilization to grace the Universe.

Myles




Wednesday 12 March 2014









Irillyth Nightspear, Phoenix Lord of the Shadow Sceptres. 

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This model was painted as a competition prize for Dreamlike Gaming. I've painted this miniature before and I felt I had some unfinished business with him. I went for what I call an Eldritch colour palette  - moody blues and greens, purples and turquoise. I painted this with soft highlighting and shading with clean lines to contrast with the rust coloured base.

I created the display base from a spray can lid. It's a cool cheap alternative to a wooden base.

Myles

Sunday 9 March 2014
































"Because we couldn’t be trusted. The Emperor needed a weapon that would never obey its own desires before those of the Imperium. He needed a weapon that would never bite the hand that feeds. The World Eaters were not that weapon. We’ve all drawn blades purely for the sake of shedding blood, and we’ve all felt the exultation of winning a war that never even needed to happen. We are not the tame, reliable pets that the Emperor wanted. The Wolves obey, when we would not. The Wolves can be trusted, when we never could. They have a discipline we lack, because their passions are not aflame with the Butcher’s Nails buzzing in the back of their skulls. The Wolves will always come to heel when called. In that regard, it is a mystery why they name themselves wolves. They are tame, collared by the Emperor, obeying his every whim. But a wolf doesn’t behave that way. Only a dog does. That is why we are the Eaters of Worlds, and the War Hounds no longer."

 - Kharn Unpublished treatise. 

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Whatever you've read about miniature painting I can tell you now that none of it was applied to Kharn. Instead of watering my paints down and blending multiple layers together I mixed the paint up with my own blood (even the whites) and 'stabbed' it on with the end of a bald brush. Varnish? Bullshit, I screamed "Blood and Skulls" at the model for 20 minutes and now the paint is to scared to flake off. The nails sung their blood hymn as I sawed my own head off for the final oil/blood wash.


Kharn is here is depicted on Armatura, slaughtering his way through the good old boys in blue.



Myles