Tigrius Citadel Legend

Librarian Tigrius 

This was a personal project to paint something I have loved since my childhood. I have a freehand banner not attached that I cannot seem to find since I moved house. Until found this will remain incomplete but I'm still proud to showcase it. I hope to have the classic Marneus Calgary painted sometime before I die to accompany his librarian into battle. 

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush Airbrush: Iwata Hi-Line HP-CH Airbrush Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes, Windsor and Newton Series 7

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Unreleased Dark Elf Sorcerer on Howdah. Marlieste of Karond Kar.

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Raiding the lands of the Tomb Kings, Marilste and an escort of Ch'Ihll guard seized a fabled clutch of Golden Hydra eggs. This being is the first Golden Hydra to walk the earth in millennia. Marlieste will do everything in his power to break the will of the Hydra, retarding its normal growth with black magics to keep it stunted and small so that he may ride it into war for millennia to come. 

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This is a model near and dear to my heart. I saw this model for the first time in the Dark Elf Army book (3rd/4th edition), and he subsequently popped up in the 4th edition Rule Book, White Dwarf entries and various other supporting picture content for Games Workshop products. I only remember seeing him on foot (although I am assured the Hydra makes appearances in the 4th edition books). As an over indulged only child it infuriated the hell out of me that I could not buy this model (of the America Games Day only release executioners). 

This grudge would stay with me throughout my adolescent life and into adulthood. Then eBay happened. 

There are a multitude of things you have to think of when approaching this kind of project. Should it be painted in an old hammer style, or should I use more modern techniques? Should I use the original size base, a modern sized base appropriate for the create, or go with what I think looks best? Colour choice - should I go with a classic scheme or should I go for something uncommon? Should I glue the model in place or magnetised it? 

I love the work of Georg Damm (more commonly known as Georc) and I feel that I'm walking in his shadow when painting this model. Although his own version was done many years ago and does not reflect the magnitude of painter he has turned into, it still remains a seminal piece for this model. 

Georc's Version

Georg took the classic approach, using earthy tones to produce a paint job in line with my conception of a Hydra (Jason and the Argonauts has left an impression). The Black robes of the sorcerer work well with the overall tone of the model. If Georg hadn't have conquered this scheme already I would have done something similar. However why go over ground well covered? 

Why the yellow? It stems from a linked mini campaign (one of the new digital ones - I believe it is called northern wastes) I played with a friend where my Dark Elves were exploring a part of Troll Country and inadvertently stumbled on the outskirts of a Tomb Kings metropolis. Over the course of the campaign the idea surfaced that the Sorcerer Lord was on a quest for the fabled Golden Hydra of Khursh. The final scenario saw us battle beneath the fabled hydra - but instead of the flesh and blood hydra the sorcerer was led to believe it was, instead it was a literal golden statue shaped in the image of a hydra. Disappointed, the Lord ordered the statue cut apart by his corsair bodyguard and smelted down, only to find a hydra egg at its heart. 

The model was painted with an airbrush to block in the colours - base, shading and broad highlights, then I switched t a brush to define the details and wash a bit of interest into the yellows. I used russet browns in the shadow and ink in between the scales. I knew from previous experience that turquoise works well as an accent colour to yellow. I purposefully varied the patterns on the heads - you do not see exact patterns being repeated across species, why should it be the same on this? Although I used what I consider to be more modern techniques I still used old school techniques to help bridge the gap between now and then. 

I didn't go for the small square base, but I went for the more modern rectangle. The model is very front heavy (if you look ad the photographs of the base you can see there is a slight bend on the centre) but I felt this better help frame the model - from streamers to heads. I have not glued the Sorcerer lord to the Hydra but instead I've attached a thick brass rod from his feet that go through the Howdah, into the back of the hydra. Once threaded it holds as seen in the photos, which I imagine will make for some scary moments when balancing on terrain. I don't believe that magnetising is the answer here as the models are lead and very heavy. 

This model will form the core of the Ch'Ihll rearguard. Much like my child hood self, the Sorcerer (named Marilste) is a collector or rarities and monsters. His host will comprise of classic Citadel miniatures and any monsters that I collect. 

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/File:Unreleased_-_Dark_Elf_War_sorcerer_for_War_Hydra.jpg

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/File:Unreleased_-_Howdah_for_War_Hydra.jpg

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Classic Dark Elf Hydra. The Golden Hydra of Khursh. Old Hammer!

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

The Golden Hydras of Khursh are an oddity to many Old Worlders who are more used the drab reptilian greens and khaki colours of the West. The terrible beings of the East are said to breed such creatures for their exotic skin, each generation becoming ever more colourful and bizarre. The rarest of these creatures is a clutch of eggs named the Golden Hydras - beings so powerful that they could rival the dragons of the pre dawn age. No such creature has been seen in living memory, even by the long lived elves and such creatures re believed to be fable.

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I've painted up several Hydras from my dark elf force over the years and I was bored to tears of drab colours. Why can't a Hydra look fabulous? 

I started with a base of white, then a lemon yellow which was given successive washes of browns, purples and warm oranges. The scales are highlighted with a rotting flesh (beige with a touch of green). The markings are turquoise shaded with green. 

Myles

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Unreleased Dark Elf Sorcerer Marilste the Cripple of Karond Kar

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Mariliste, the Cripple of Karond Kar

Marilste was one of many children born into an affluent slavers family of Karond Kar. Fourth in line of inheritance of a brood of six, all of whom were vastly more powerful, knowledgeable, politically savvy or downright more vicious than the weakling child nicknamed the Cripple. Marilste was an oddity for Dark Elf society, a collector, an archivist with a love for the creatures of nature. As a child he had raised three dogs that he intended to act as a bodyguard, but were killed for sport by his father and his court in a drunken trist. 

It is perhaps thanks to this infirmity a that Mariliste was left largely unmolested growing up as the siblings fought views blood vendetta’s amongst themselves. It was only when three were left, Draegon the warlord, Scaritath the blade mistress and Marilste, that 'the cripple' suggested a final duel to settle the matter once and for all. Marilste told them that his failing nerves could no longer sustain the constant threat of assassination from his brother and sister and would rathe die in a place of his choosing. 

Thus did the three enter the Temple, a large Amphitheatre built into the ancestral home of the Mariliste blood line where such ritual battle were held. Draegon and Scaritth were instantly upon each other matching blade strike for blade strike. They had both reasoned that Mariliste would be no threat once their counterpart must be dealt with swiftly. Marilste took to the edge of the he Dias as it was engulfed in the flames from three Hydras who were hidden in the shadowed alcoves. 'It was short sighted of you to think I would wager my life on a fist fight between you two. Poorer judgement yet to allow me the choice of venue". 

Marilste's obsession with cryptozoology has seen him travel the world, accrue in such rarities as the Bordeloux preyton, the Fiender- giest of the dark Marshes and several hydras, manticores and Charybdis. However there is one creature above all the self taught sorcerer lusts above all else - the black chimera.

He studied the higher mysteries but fled from Naggaroth in the wake of the Witch King’s decree that male sorcerers should be put to death. Mariliste founded the cabal of the Jade Serpent which drew all manner of dispossessed and vile sorcerers to him. Marilse managed to accrue a great wealth and permanently bought the services of a travelling troupe of Druchii soldiers who took on the name of the Jade Serpent. Gelding these warriors Marilste made them a band of prostitute soldiers, turning a profit from them when not engaged in war. 

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Forge World Preyon Commission

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Forge World Preyton

Foolhardy knights of Bretonnia sometimes mistake the savage and hateful Preyton for the noble Great Stags of their land, and will follow this twisted beast, possessed of a dark cunning, into the very deepest parts of the forest. Only there, where there is little chance of escape, will it finally reveal its deadly form, its savage fangs, leonine paws and monstrous wings, and attack the unsuspecting warrior.

While their appearance is truly vile, it is the legendary malice of the Preyton that makes them particularly dangerous. Corpses mauled beyond recognition and tracts of forest befouled and trampled betray their presence, the savage creature often discarding the torn ruin of their victims to rot, killing out of pure hatred rather than hunger. Little is known of their origins, but dark legend has it that in ages past they were Great Stags who were enslaved and corrupted before sacrifice-strewn herdstones. Now, bereft of their nobility, the Preytons know only an all-encompassing hatred for that which they have lost.

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