New Project: Mordheim Pitfighters

Things have been busy in my life this winter, between personal stuff and a promotion at work. As usual hobby stuff takes a back seat. Not specifically a negative thing, just how priorities need to work. Getting settled back into the swing of things and remembering that the hobby life is what helps me unwind. Some hobbying has been occurring and I'll write about that later as well.

While everyone's losing it over the new Necromunda: Lite, some friends of mine began playing Mordheim. After watching a few games, I thought, yeah, that's something I wouldn't mind trying out. I've done some reading and hunting for models, which makes the following a preview of what's on my bench now.

Have you been following the WIP photos I've been posting on Facebook?




Concept

Always wanting to challenge myself, I've decided to go for a Persian-styled band. Darker / tanned skin with light cloth and burnished gold accents. Dark skin isn't something you see very often in miniatures and I'd like to do my part to add a little diversity.

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What I notice as I look objectively at these examples is that the highlights still come to white and blush. The shadows are composed of stronger orange, browns and olive. So, that's what I'll try to build off of.

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My thought for larger pieces of armour and shields is to attempt to reproduce the look of a beetle's carapace, as if torn from great desert monsters and forged into protective equipment. I've still got old Citadel coloured metallic paints, so I'll be mixing blue, purple and green metallics over an area. The gold trim will be painted TMM (True-Metallic Metal) to add a brighter shine as a contrast to the rest of the model and

I'm going to try a lower contrast style as well. I've been enjoying playing with my art and I'm using this as yet one of opportunity. (More on that, the art, later.) Overall colour scheme is going to be analogous with the skin tones. [More on Colour Theory] I'll use some soft reds to add a little contrast and grey/silver metallics on the blades.

I'm choosing NOT to create something WYSIWYG for the reason that this is meant to be a quick project away from my Hordebloods. I want to create something somewhat above tabletop quality but still simple. The models themselves lend them to it as they're lower detail.

I may have tons of models I could use, but I decided to buy a some Tzeentch Cultists that have this great brawler look and are relatively simple sculpts, so there's not too many additional details to paint and slow me down. I've also picked up a Dwarf Trollslayer, an Ogre from Bloodbowl and a couple zombie cheerleaders. This way my band will be painted ahead of time with room to grow.

Kairic Acolytes, painted by Games Workshop
Other Mordheim and Black and White imagery by Games Workshop