Another Harlequin and a Genestealer Patriarch

 

This week, I painted another harlequin. I've not done one for a while, and it was a real pleasure to be painting checks and doing bright colours again.

It occurs to me that I've collected most of the old metal harlequins from the original metal boxed set. Perhaps I should try to get the whole lot. I think that would be quite cool, and they're all excellent models.

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I decided to have a go at bulk-painting some old plastic Space Hulk genestealers. I seem to have absolutely loads of these miniatures. Like the old plastic termagants, they're monopose models. They're really good sculpts, with lots of detail, even if they are sticking their tongues out like so many of the goofier tyranids.

I used contrast paint for the purple and blue, over a standard white undercoat. I found it quite annoying, as the damn stuff refused to cover properly. I ended up highlighting the armour and skin (somewhat roughly). I'm not sure that the contrast paint did much that a heavy wash wouldn't have done.

I also dug out a very old Genestealer Patriarch model. The patriarch is a weirdly-coloured, bloated monstrosity worshipped by deranged cultists and hell-bent on dictatorial power who, whilst foul, is merely the slave of a much greater threat to humanity. So purely a fictional creation.

While some might have made the leader of the genestealers into a bigger, meaner genestealer (as GW did later with the broodlord), the patriarch is a fat, saggy-looking creature wearing the sort of gold chain favoured by town mayors and 1980s rappers. I have no idea why, but it works in a bizarre way. To emphasise his size, I put him on a slightly raised base. 

Here's the patriarch with his identical spawn:

A few Mordheim loonies

Here are some more random people for Mordheim. 

Our first weirdo was made from part of a plastic skaven, which I got in a job lot of models. It was missing some bits, so I added some of my own.

He got a head from an Empire wizard and a right arm from an Empire pistolier. His bag was made from a kroot part, as were the grenades on his belt. I painted them to look like glass bombs, full of some noxious potion. I extended the strap on the belt and finished off the model's armour with green stuff.

I considered painting the model with a sooty face, as if his guns had backfired, but I didn't think that I could do this convincingly. He was painted to fit in with the Middenheimer unit that I've been making. 

This is Gustav, a former clockmaker who survives in the ruins of Mordheim with his customised guns.

 

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 I like beastmen: they look like something from a medieval picture of Hell, rather than the Doom-meets-Buffy feel of some of Warhammer's demons. They used to have their own army book, which contained a lot of different sorts of goat-people and even a reference to a centaur trying to roger a unicorn.

These models have taken a break from unicorn-bothering and are looking for someone to smash. They're converted from plastic Blackstone Fortress models, which largely involved removing their guns and chainswords and giving them swords and shields instead. The shields are old skeleton shields, and have a nice decrepit look. I also removed some grenades and holsters from their belts and covered them with armour and pouches.

I reckon these guys would be called something like Grutt Manbasher or Krub Meatbeater, and would spend a lot of time grunting and bellowing.

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I also painted a ghoul, who is an old metal model. He's much more cartoony than the other ghouls that I've made for Mordheim, but I like his nosferatu-type look. He's got purple pants, to fit in with the rest of the undead.

The Last Exodite Dragon Knight - And The Whole Squad

Having made four Eldar Exodite dragon knights, I decided to make their leader. While most of the squad are riding small dinosaurs, like Jurassic Park's velociraptors, this chap would have something weirder and larger, perhaps a bit like oviraptor and other strudithomimids.

Some models are a pleasure to make and paint, and others... aren't. For some reason, this miniature just seemed to go on and on. By the time that I was trying to get his torso to stick to his legs for the fourth bloody time, I began to suspect that I was cursed: doomed, like the Ancient Mariner or one of those guys, to assemble the same bloody miniature forever.

Anyhow, at long last the wretched thing got finished. And, actually, I'm really pleased with him (for now, before he falls apart again). 

As with all the dragon riders, this chap was based on bits - mainly metal - that I bought from GW Mail Order many years ago. I stripped it all, dismantled it, and started again. 

The dragon's body comes from a steed of Slaanesh. The head is from an old Dark Elf hydra. The arms are from plastic genestealers, with a lot of the tyranid detail sanded off. They were drilled into place and I sculpted shoulders and scales from green stuff. 

I'm not sure where the rider's upper legs came from - some kind of plastic knight, perhaps. I sculpted some thigh pads out of green stuff. His lower legs were cut from an old swooping hawk. The upper body is all new to this miniature. 

The head and chest come from an Eldar jetbike pilot. The right arm and rifle are from the first (and awful) plastic Dark Eldar, trimmed and green stuffed to look more like an Eldar weapon. The left arm is from a modern Dark Eldar wytch. I made his sabre from a filed-down Grey Knight sword, which looked surprisingly like some of the older Eldar swords.

A pistol on the rider's thigh was from (surprisingly) a 40k beastman that I turned into a Mordheim fighter. I added some little bags from the bits box to help hold his wobbly body together. The base was decorated with an old High Elf doodah and some steps made from plasticard and blended in with DAS clay. I don't know why these guys are riding around steps, but there you go - the Eldar are mysterious.

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Phew! I'd forgotten what a slog it is to convert metal models. All that hacking and pinning! Still, I'm pleased with the results. The Eldar project has been a challenge, and my painting has improved because of it. This particular unit has been one of the highlights for me: partly because I'm pleased with the results, partly because the dragon riders unit is so characteristic of 2nd Edition 40k, but mainly because elves riding dinosaurs in space is cool. 

Here's the finished leader.

And here is the entire unit.

Right then, what next?!

Chequered Knight

 Progress on the last, and most complicated, of the Exodite Dragon Riders has been slow, partly because I've had trouble finding all the bits that I need. It's getting there, though.

Anyhow, for a bit of light relief I repainted this guy, who is a conversion I made a while ago. He's got a body from a very old metal Chaos chariot driver, an arm from a plastic Chaos warrior, and a hammer from a Sigmarine. I'm not sure where the shield comes from, originally, but it's very old. 

Originally, his armour was black, but I decided to liven it up with a chequered pattern.