The Blood Knights grow...

Time for another Blood Knights update! As I mentioned last time I am painting each Blood Knight individually as they are almost worthy of being character models. Today we add a champion and musician to the unit. A few things to note first of all: One: They don't have shields yet. I am going to do a whole session of shield painting to get a consistant look to them and then add the shields to the models whilst ranked up to ensure that they will not interfere. Secondly, they have very heavily modelled bases. The reason for this is that part of the brief was for rocky ground and a sense of dynamism within the unit. With this in mind I decided to take advantage of the Finecast's light weight and pose them in ways that would have been awfully difficult with metal.

Each has been clipped from their runners and positioned on the base with a bent paperclip attached to a pilot hole drilled into the hoof. The wire allowed me to control the height of the model as well as the position. I added green stuff rocks to cover the wire and then used cork pieces to continue the rocky theme. While positioning the models on their base I created a loose "flying V" formation with the champion at the centre of the classic cavalry charge arrowhead. As you can see from the side view I created a very dynamic look to the unit (so far). Lets get in to the new individual models.

The musician was painted identically to the first lancer so I shan't go over the basics again. The only point of difference is the instrument. Basecoated in Vallejo Brassy Brass and then highlighted twice with first a 1:4 mix of Mithril Silver and Brassy Brass and then a 1:2 mix of Mithril Silver and Brassy Brass. Finally a wash of Devlan Mud shaded the instrument.

The champion was a lot of fun. You can see from the side view how dynamic the model is and how impossible it would have been to achieve in metal! The basics were the same again so lets pick out the interesting details.

My favourite part of this model is the giant bat pelt on the shoulder. Basecoated in Khemri Brown, a couple of washes of Badab Black and then the face was highlighted with Khemri Brown mixed with increasing amounts of Tallarn Flesh and then re-glazed with Badab Black. I think I will go back and pick out the black eyes with gloss varnish though as they have rather vanished into all the shading.

The sword is massive, the hilt is painted in the same way as the musicians horn, the blade is not terribly well cast so I decided to give it a little interes with engraved detail painted in Mithril Silver.

The steed is more mutated than most of the Nightmares. The horns and sharp teeth added to the glowing eyes create a pretty disturbing beasty.

Finally a brand new technique. I wanted a pale inhuman pallor to the vampire flesh so after a little fiddling I came up with the following method: Basecoat with a couple of thin coats of Dheneb Stone to get a smooth basecoat. Shade the flesh with first thinned Leviathan Purple and then very thinned Devlan Mud. Finally rehighlight first with Dheneb Stone and then a couple of thin highlights of Dheneb Stone with increasing amounts of Skull White.

The remaining Knight and Standard Bearer are next, hopefully to be finished before I go on hiatus from Christmas Eve to New Years. The site will still be updated with delicious miniature eye candy as I have the secret Christmas project to showcase but I won't be working until early January. I figure that the Standard Bearer will take a session to paint the model and another to paint the banner. The client wants the Drakenhof Banner:

Image (c) Games Workshop, used for illustrative purposes only

 So I reckon that will take a session in and of itself. Time to break out the sharp pencils and the fine brushes. Always up for a challenge though. Until next time:

TTFN