Thursday, May 24, 2012

This Month's Hobby Projects

I apologize for posts falling behind.  Millennium Games is will be hosting a 40k lock-in event in addition to their normal monthly tournament.  One event is 1250pts and the other is 1500pts.  This combination of events has inspired me to test out a list concept I've been drafting and tweaking for nearly a year now.

I needed a change from all the organics and flesh tones that have dominated my Tyranid and Dark Eldar projects recently.  I haven't laid a paintbrush on my Grey Knights since last October either, so this month's tournaments and hobby projects would mesh nicely.

I won't get into the lists this far before the events, but I will show you a couple test models since I've slacked on battle reports.  Here's a model I've been working on to serve as Grand Master Mordrak:


He's not nearly finished as you can see by the weapons and hammer arm, but it's a good start I'm very pleased with.  For this model, I have tried some new airbrushing techniques as well as intense battle damage which is also a first for me.  The guy has been through some epic battles so I figured he would be pretty beat up, right?

Mordrak's ghost knights are mainly what inspired this project as I've seen some neat conversions around the internet.  Remember my discussion about how important inspiration is in my life?  I needed some inspiration for my ghost knights before tackling them.  I love some of the things others have done with undead looking apparitions, but I needed to give them a twist of my own.

What ended up inspiring this hobby project the most were the balrog from LoTR:


And ghost rider:



I felt the balrog lent itself to the "stealth" aspect of the ghost knights.  I love how it was nearly invisible in the shadows except from the inner flames leaking out.  The ghost rider gives me something more human to model the knights after and some lighting ideas for the armor.

Here's the final test scheme I came up with:


The sword matches the rest of my GK army.  Hopefully you can see how the balrog and ghost rider inspired the rest of the model.  This guy has the most airbrushing I've ever done on an infantry model.  The lettering and highlights are brushed in by hand on his armor and skull.

I started this project with some prize money from the past two events so the true test will be getting both lists ready in the 4 weeks from last month to this month's tourney.  I have a lot more done than I've shown you here, but I've gotta spread out my hobby posts a bit.  In all, I need to paint and base a total of 13 new models for June's events so stay tuned to see if I can pull it off.  Lists, theory, and tactics for these armies will also follow shortly.  I also hope to get one practice game in the week of the tournament so I'm hoping to add 7 battle reports by the end of June.

4 comments:

  1. I love the ghost knight - its a novel approach and looks appropriate to me.

    G

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  2. The ghost knight looks awesome. I almost always see them portrayed as a typical white/green style ghost and this is very unique. I do think the Inquisition may have something to say to Mordrak about the Burning Skeletons he has following him around.

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  3. The same inquisition that employs daemon hosts and daemon blades? Hah! At least the ghost knights are fallen grey knights.

    I agree the fluff is a bit off, but the unit and its mechanics are really interesting to me. They would have been better off calling them Mordrak's retinue and just say they are on an orbiting strike cruiser.

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  4. Pretty neat looking models, man. Keep up the good work. I think you have a good amount of highlighting in the skull but the teeth should perhaps all be at least lightly done in the brightest color to better set them off.

    Keep it up.

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