The summonings of the Crimson King.

Despite the lack of blogging I have been busy painting. Last week I spent idly glueing skeletons, but this week I decided to get some serious painting done. Having several days off this week I managed to really get stuck into some serious painting, completing 60 Skeleton Warriors, 20 Grave Guard, a Necromancer, and the Crimson King himself.

As I detailed in my last blog update I am basing the army on the theme of the story and background of the Crimson King. I have painted the army with that in mind, using the shield designs from the White Dwarf #377 article, and also painting the spear staffs red to give the army a Crimson King feel. To give the army a more Age of Sigmar/spooky feel, I have painted the bone on the Skeletons with Nihilakh Oxide. I kept the painting style quite fluid rather than very precise to give a feel of the ebb and flow of animating magic running through the Undead.

In addition I managed to paint the King himself, using the plastic Tomb King miniature used in the article, which was orginally including in the Warshpinx kit. I mounted him on a Mortarch mount conversion, which is to be an alternative, more supernatural, reincarnation of the Crimson Kings Warsphinx mount. I will use the Crimson King model as an alternative model for Arkhan the Black, to lead the army. I like the idea the Crimson King coming back from distruction, and with greater powers, like Arkhan.

I still have several elements of the army to finish off. I am repainting blades and armour on one unit of Black Knights to match the rest of the army, and I have another unit of them to paint. I would like to paint some more Skeletons, and convert up more Tomb Kings/Grave Guard. I am currently working on the Mortis Engine.

Enjoy :)

 The weeks painting!
Sorry about the terrible photograph.

 Side view.

 Other side view, showing the shields.

 The Crimson King riding his flying dread abyssal mount.
Like the original Tomb King Warsphinx I have painted it a Crimson red. 

 The right side, showing the Warshpinx/beast in full leap.

 The Crimson King giving orders to his army.

 Left side closer up, showing the scrreaming trapped skulls!

 More Skulls!

 I swapped the Abyssal beast head for a spare Warsphinx one, and then added an Orc jaw bone to the end to fill the gap and add length.

 Here kitty, kitty, kitty... :)

 I am painting and converting a Mortis Engine, and so I had the Necromancer spare. So I stuck him on a 32mm base, swapped his head for a Tomb Kings one, and now have a Necromancer who looks like he is floating in a spooky way.

 Close up.

 20 Grave Guard.
I added a Tomb Kings standard, and kept the same paint scheme as Skeletons to tie-in with the rest of the army. I did'nt add the shoulder armour to keep them looking lighter and more suited to hot climates. I love these miniatures, they were fun to paint paint, look great, and the helmets remind me of the old Citadel C17 Skeletons from the 1980's.

 Command group.

 Grave Guard.

 Skeleton warriors with spears.
I have copied and based the shields on the original article miniatures. I did however want to keep at least one element of red on each shield.

 More Skeleton warriors with spears.

 Skeleton warriors with swords.

 Regimental leaders.
On a couple of them I have swapped the sword arms for Tomb King Khopesh arms.

 Skeleton standard bearers with old Tomb Kings standard heads.

WIP
Sneek peek of the Mortis Engine.

Next week more Undead!

AOS: Tomb Kings/Death army conversions.

I am taking a break from Oldhammer and returning to an abandoned project: my Age of Sigmar (AOS)  Death army.

With the new AOS Soul Wars coming soon I have decided to dig up (if you excuse the pun!) my Undead. I decided to collect a wider Death army, with emphasis on the Deathrattle aspect. To give my army a theme and distintive look I have decided to combine the current GW kits with old parts left over from my Tomb Kings army. I was, and still am, less than happy that GW dropped the Tomb Kings, so I see this as a way of still carrying on the Tomb King theme in the AOS world.

My army theme is loosely based of the Crimson King, previewed in White Dwarf #377. The backstory is that Imrathepis of Numas, also known as the Crimson King, was an arrogant and warlike king who usually rode atop a Warsphinx. He met his final end taking on a horde of Ogres in the mountains, his army ground to dust, and his mummfied body smashed to pieces. I like the idea of through great magics he is finally reassembled and seeks vengeance in other realms, and I love the paint scheme used in the White Dwarf article (see below).

With that in mind I have been converting up some of my Death miniatures with the tomb Kings bits. Skeleton warriors have been given Tomb King Shields, and the Black Knights Tomb King head swaps, shields, and spears. In addition, this week I have finally got around to converting up some of the big beasts for the army. With the Mortis Engine, I have again added more Tomb King parts. I have also converted a Mortach riding beast, combining it with the upper torso of a Necrosphinx. I plan to use it as both a Necrosphinx if I field it in a Tomb Kings army, and a stand-in Zombie Dragon when used for a Death army. The third conversion again has it's basis from a Mortarch riding beast. I have combined it and War Sphinx parts to create a Warsphinx riding mount for the Crimson King, or another Zombie Dragon mount in the Death army.

I am on holiday again from this weekend, so I hope to get a lot of these painted, and more! I want to have a modern, portable, gaming army finished soon, and so have a motivation to finish this project very quickly.

Enjoy :)

 The Crimson King article in White Dwarf #377.
I like the slightly later, Iron Age as oppossed to Bronze Age, look of the army. I think it fits better with the AOS Death army.

 The King himself atop his Warsphinx.

 Tomb Guard.

Skeletons.
I will be using the current GW Skeleton models, with old Tomb King shields.

 The Mortis Engine.
It's a big model. I have added a variety of Tomb King shields, heads, and spear arms.

 I have replaced the plain skulls with the Tomb Kings headress ones on the lower skeleton spirits. On the upper one I have used the horned skulls from the new Citadel Skulls box set.
I have also replaced the Necromancer (see below).

 Close up of the Tomb Kings face masks.

 Tomb King style Knights.

 Tomb King shields.

 Instead of using the Necromancer which comes with the Mortis Engine I am going to use the dismounted Necromancer miniatures, with a Tomb King head swap and the addition of a Tomb Guard blade on top of the staff.

 The Mortis Engine Necromancer.
I have conversely converted him to be a dismounted Necromancer. I have done a simple head swap, and then stuck him on a 32mm citadel base. I like the idea of him floating in a spooky, ethereal way.

 The Necrosphinx.
I have converted this useing the upper torso of the old Tomb Kings Necrosphinx, and the body of a Mortarch riding mount. I love how this conversion has come out, it gives the Necrosphinx a feeling of flying and menace.
I will add more skulls and items to the base at a later date.

 Close up. I thought that the skull head would tie-in with the skulls in the body.

 The body.

 I replaced the original tail end with the sting tail from the Necrosphinx.

 To cover where the saddle should go I added a skull plate from the Necrosphinx kit.

 Flying!

 The Warsphinx.
This was a simple conversion. I used a spare 'rock' from the Zombie Dragon kit to act as a stabiliser for the whole model, and to give it a greater look of it flying. In addition it made the models back more lever so that the howdah, from the Tomb Kings Warsphinx kit (aka 'Warkitty'!) is more level.
I will put the plastic Tomb King miniature, representing the Crimson King, in the Howdah.

 The left side.
Again, I will be adding more skulls and items to the base.

 Close up of the head.
I used the Warsphinx head, pinned onto the neck, to give it that extra Tomb King feel. The end of the jaw was missing, so I added an Orc jaw from Citadel skull set to give it that little bit extra.

Rear view.

Next update will be on painted Death army units.