Nagash (old version), and 'friends'.

A little while ago I decided to buy and paint up the original Nagash miniature from about 1994. Now, I never liked this miniature at the time, and to make a generalisation, many other people never liked him either. For some it is considered one of the worst miniatures ever made, and is the epitome the over the top designing and over-sized weapons from the mid 1990's/'Middlehammer' period.

I did hear a story which might be true about Gary Morley who sculpted Nagash. Apparently he sculpted a lovely miniature with a human type face, full of character and evil looking, but the GW studio wanted Nagash to be skull faced and more in line with the rest of their line at the time. So, in annoyance, Gary Morley sculpted this version of Nagash, which GW liked and put into production!

So why buy and paint this miniature?
Well I wanted the see if I could take the old Nagash miniature and make him look better in my eyes, and more evil as befitting his reputation. Previous paint schemes suffered from the 1990's predilection to clean and bright (often red) painting, and I wanted to avoid the bright colour schemes of the 1990's and give him a dark look, with a a hint of his Khemri past.

To do this I decided to go for a dark paint scheme, painting the robes black. To hint at Nagash's Khemri background I painted the armour and staff gold-bronze, with some turquoise on the staff. I wanted to keep a very simple paint scheme with a limited palette of colours to contrast with the GW painting. In line with the Khemri feel, I gave him a desert base. Overall I am happy with how he looks and the darker look.

Apart from Nagash I have also had a foray into Age of Sigmar. I have played a demonstration game some time ago, and quite enjoyed it, but my main interest at the moment is wanting to return to painting and rebasing my Tomb Kings army. Now I am aware that Tomb Kings are no longer part of the Age of Sigmar canon but they can still be used for gaming. In addition, the Vampire Counts are still used in the form of the 'Grand Alliance of Death', and so I have been painting up some of the range and adding new items. I have decided to give them a Tomb Kings aspect, giving them Tomb Kings shields and weapons, and going for bronze weapons and armour. More on those, and the Snakemen which I have not forgotten about, in later updates.

To finish I would like to mention that I have reached 260,346 views on my blog. Considering the slightly less frequent updating of late, I am very pleased and flattered that people have been taking such an interest in my blog. Thank you to everyone who has.

Enjoy :)

 The old Nagash from the 1990's.

 My darker version of Nagash.
I slightly repositioned his body and arms to give the impression of him walking forward and slightly to the right as his legs suggest.

Close up of the 'face'. 

In conversations with people on the Oldhammer Facebook group it was suggested that Nagashs face might be better painted more a flesh colour than bone white. So I opted for a pallid looking flesh tone.

Nagash's staff top: gold, turquoise, and bone colours, reminiscent of Khemri.

Nagash's sword, Zefet-nebtar, the Mortis blade. It is actually a lot more blue in real life, but the photograph doesn't quite capture it.  

Rear view.

Scale photograph of old Nagash and a Tomb Kings Tomb Guard.

Morghast Archai.
These are quite newly produced miniatures, 2015, and are part of the Age of Sigmar 'Grand Alliance of Death'. I have painted them up more Khemri in look to match my Tomb King-equse 'Death' army. 

I had fun painting these, but found that they were a pain to assemble beforehand.

Front view.
I like the armour plates, which whilst are meant to be painted black/dark, I painted gold.

Rear view of the wings and the lost spirits conecting the Morghast to the base. I do like the screaming souls on it, nice idea.

Close up.

The other Morghast.

More screaming spirit wings.

Skull face and armour.

Scale shot with the Tomb Guard again.
The Morghasts are quite large miniatures and look quite impressive.

Cairn Wraith. 

To keep with the Tomb King feel I added a death mask from the Tomb Guard set (minus the eagle on top) and painted the robes as a shroud. I did intent to add Egyptian Hieroglyphics to the robes, but I think it looks fine as it is.

Close up.

Next week might be on any number things I am currently doing, probably Tomb Kings or Death Miniatures, but I do have the Snakemen still to finish.