The Crimson Court - Warhammer Underworlds

When my good friend Lewis of The Die is Cast! suggested us both painting up the gorgeous Crimson Court warband from Warhammer Underworld as a mini-challenge around 10 days ago I was initially apprehensive - I'm out of the painting groove currently, with no real reason as to my lack of enthusiasm for it! I picked up the boxed set when I was in Leeds for a work conference and ultimately decided that I'd give it a go!

Here they are - they're somewhat lacking the "Crimson" aspect, maybe more of a Puce Court? It doesn't quite have the same ring does it?! I had the colours of House Bolton in mind for these and I'm pleased with how they turned out! I may return to them some day to add some further definition to the greyish white hair and maybe some additional shading on the armour, but overall I am very happy. The figures are honestly gorgeous, with weirdo batboy being my favourite, followed by the hulking mace/polearm wielder! I wish I'd kept some elements separate for painting, so if you find yourself with these guys mid-assembly, DEFINITELY keep the cloak on the big guy separate!

Let me know what you think, and be sure to check out Lewis's brilliant blog for his painted version!

Cursed City: The Blood-Born

So, I was one of the folks that was lucky enough to get my hands on Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - I pre-ordered it through those lovely chaps at Mighty Lancer Games. I literally can not remember the last thing I pre-ordered from Games Workshop, so that should give you an indication of how much I loved the look of the box. Here are my first finished miniatures from it!

When it came to putting the box together I decided to create scenic bases for all of the figures - breaking up small model bricks into more interesting shapes, gluing them to the bases (to fit with whatever scenic parts the miniatures incorporated) and then carefully chipping the edges. I then followed this with fine gravel and sand to finish them off.

I generally love the contents of the box, I love the lore, the atmosphere, the heroes and the villains. That being said, my least favourite miniatures in there are these three - the Vyrkos Blood-Born, young vampire servants of Radukar the Wolf.

As for why, It’s hard to pin down. I like the concept - freshly created vampires, still slightly feral (note the wolf-paws for feet!), graceful and lithe, the turned youngsters of the noble houses of Ulfenkarn. Is it the hair? I know it’s over the top but I like that it adds a sort of anarchic/punk aspect to them. The weapons? No, they’re very nice swords. The clothing?

Nope.

Oh well! Despite not being my favourites, they were still a pleasure to paint! 

I’m very pleased with the red vines crawling up the ruins - I imagine that these are an effect of the city's domination by the vampiric overlord - the death magics that he wields corrupting even the plant life of the once fair city, roots and tendrils from the plants seeking freshly spilt blood and gore. That’s my excuse to paint them such a vivid red - that, and my love of the red weed from War of the Worlds.

Finally, I also painted one of my favourite parts of the box - the unlucky zombified kitty! I painted him orange to match my lovely ginger tom Leon. In hindsight, the orange blends a bit too much with the bloody bones that are on display - I’ll go for a paler colour for the other one from the box to add a bit of a contrast.

So where does that leave me on the ol' Hobby Bingo board? Only with my first bloody line! Huzzah! By my reckoning I'm at 140 points - probably less than I'd have wanted to have been at this point in the year but probably more than I finished in all of last year! Here's to many more squares crossed off!