Ghost Stories – Part 10

I’ve always felt that the dreadscythe harridans were a little bit naff. The concept of savage ghosts with jagged claws is suitably terrifying in and of itself but Games Workshop, in their wisdom, clearly felt it wasn’t enough. Instead they kept adding things, striving for something unique that they could put their stamp on, and ended up over-egging the pudding. It was bad enough that they gave them a contrived back-story about them all having been doctors (and seriously GW, haven’t you done the evil doctors thing to death by now) but then they decided that they would all be female as well. Of course conveying femininity isn’t easy when all you have to work with is an animated sheet with enormous claws, but rather than rise to the challenge they decided to make do with putting flowers in their hair. Here’s one of the studio models so that anyone who isn’t familiar with them can see what I’m on about. 

I had intended to let the murderous-stabby-lady-doctor-flower-power-ghosts pass me by, but I got the chance to buy a single one rather than a full box and talked myself into it on the grounds that she would bring variety to my Nighthaunt warband. What better time to get her painted than Fembruary? 

I replaced the skull of the original model with the head from the zombie kit (also from GW) which I think makes her look a bit more scary, and – to my eye at least – makes the flowers look less out of place.

Ghost Stories – Part 9

I really like the Bladegheist Revenants, in fact they’re probably my favourite Nighthaunt models. I love the sense of movement that they’ve been sculpted with, there’s something almost fishlike about the way that they appear to be darting through the air. Needless to say I had to include some in my Nighthaunt collection so here’s a brace of spooky fellows.

I actually like these so much that I bought a whole box of them so expect to see more of them showing up here once I get them assembled.

Ghost Stories – Part 8

Were you thinking that, upon your untimely demise, you might escape the pitiless and spiteful judgement of Age of Sigmar’s death god Nagash? Well just don’t bother! Callous jailers in life, the Spirit Torment are employed in undeath to imprison souls in the dank oubliettes and dungeons of the underworld. Rogue souls which escape this fate are hunted down without mercy – and pointing out that you are, in fact, still alive and feeling healthier than ever is considered no excuse. The huge padlocks carried by these malevolent wardens do double duty, as a cold iron shackle with which to imprison wayward ghosts and as a bludgeon by which those still enjoying the benefits of their mortal flesh can be “encouraged” to join the undead legions a little earlier than they intended.

I really like these spooky looking models and now I’ve got into the swing of painting the tattered robes of the Nighthaunt he was fairly quick and easy to paint. There’s no escaping the will of Nagash!

Ghost Stories – Part 7

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but some of my absolute favourite models in the Nighthaunt range are the Glaivewraith Stalkers, the sinister, animal-headed ghosts that hunt down those who have earned the ire of the death god Nagash. I painted one a while ago for my Nighthaunt Warcry warband but I’ve got a few of them kicking around from the Soul Wars boxset and these two, with the dread inescapability for which they are famed, have drifted slowly across the painting desk until my paint-stained fingers finally succumbed to the inevitable and I got them finished.

I do find these ghosts very relaxing to paint, especially when things are busy as they are just now, so I imagine there will be a few more showing up here sooner or later.

Ghost Stories – Part 6

I do enjoy a good pun so discovering that this ghost who flies around hitting people with a bell is called an Extoller was almost enough to make me paint him by itself. 

This model is intended to serve as the leader of a squad of Grimghast Reapers but as these come in squads of ten and I only own the four that come in the Soul Wars boxset (and I don’t even know where all of them are at the moment) he’ll be restricting himself to serving as an alternative leader for my Nighthaunt warband in Warcry. He’ll also be another entry to the “Paint The Crap You Already Own” challenge from Ann’s Immaterium.

Ghost Stories – Part 5

A couple of weeks ago I painted up a warband of Nighthaunt for Warcry. By the time it was finished I had seven Chainrasps, almost enough for a squad should I ever fancy expanding the collection into an Age of Sigmar army. Of course if I wanted to do that I’d need another three, and sure enough here they are. 

Horus Heresy fans will recognise this one for its famous impersonation of Iron Hands’ primarch Ferrus Manus! 

And here we have them, a full squad of ten little ghosts. 

These aren’t the last ghosts on the painting desk either so expect to see a few more pop up soonish.

Ghost Stories – Part 4

With the ghouls of the flesh eater courts ready to take to the battlefield it’s time to finish painting their Nighthaunt adversaries. Again only one model was required, in this case a Myrmourn Banshee. 

I really like these models, although it took me a little while to find a way to make my chosen colour scheme work as well on her as I wanted it too. Now that I’m happy with it I quite fancy turning my attention to the rest of her sisters. 

Technically that’s the warband completed, in fact I’ve already painted more Chainrasps than I need, but I’ve been enjoying working on the ghosts so whilst I was about it I finished up two more.

Of course this means I have far more Chainrasps than I need for the warband but there’s no harm in that, indeed I’m well on my way to completing my first squad of them. Here’s the warband that will be facing the ghouls at some point in the next few days (as usual don’t give yourself eye-strain, click on the pictures for a closer look). 

And here’s the entire Nighthaunt collection so far.

 Next I want to try and clear a few part-painted miniatures off the desk – starting with something that’s a bit orc-y, but also a bit unusual for me. I’ll leave you guessing, but hopefully not for very long… 

Ghost Stories – Part 3

I ain’t afraid of no ghosts – although actually, I probably should have been. Before I tackled the Spirit Host model several people warned me what an absolute nightmare it is to assemble and you know what, they weren’t wrong! Lots of tiny fiddly joins, lots of weight resting on very small connection points – generally they were a huge faff but I got there in the end. After that painting it was easier, it wasn’t quite a case of “just dunk it in a bucket of Hexwraith flame and call it done”, there was also all the careful highlighting that came after – along with holding my breath and praying that none of those fiddly joins broke (again…). Still a lovely miniature but a real exercise in frustration at times!

Now whilst I think I’m quite justified in worrying about building and painting more Spirit Hosts at least I had no need to fear the (Grimgast) Reaper, which turned out to be very straightforward to paint and which I hammered through in short order.

With these two done I’ve just got a Banshee to fill out this warband, plus the Crypt Infernal to complete the ghouls and we’re golden. The weekend is looking a bit busier than planned but all being well I should find a spare hour or two to attack them, otherwise they’ll be my focus for an evening or two next week.

Ghost Stories – Part 2

Since I finished painting those three chainrasps a couple of weeks ago I’ve been toying with the idea of putting together a ghostly Warcry warband. However, before I can do anything of the sort I had a problem to deal with. You see, those ghosts that I posted a mere few days ago were actually started many, many months earlier. How did I paint their tattered robes? What colours did I use, and in what order? Did I write it down, and if so where did I put it? So many mysteries, and so few clues to help me solve them!

In the end I just grabbed a test ghost and worked it all out again from first principles, ending up with something that I think is a fairly close match.

That done I turned my attention to the Dreadwarden, the leader of the new warband (and the leader of this nascent squad of chainrasps, should I ever paint enough of them to make an AoS army worth considering).

Here’s the whole swarm of little ghosts so far, ready to pour out of their open graves and carry off the souls of whomever has disturbed them (or whatever it is that ghosts get up to).

Lastly for today I wanted one of the Glaivewraith Stalkers. These are probably my favourite thing in the Nighthaunt range and, for my money, one of the most ironically “Warhammer” models ever made, real classics despite being relatively new. Naturally getting at least one for the warband was a must.

With these done the bulk of the warband is finished, although I still have a few other things to finish up. My partner and I kicked around the idea of a ghosts vs ghouls game sometime around Halloween so I’ll aim to finish up both warbands over the next couple of weeks.

Ghost Stories – Part 1

I’ve really liked the Nighthaunt range since they first appeared and I managed to nab myself a bargain on the ghostly half of the Soul Wars box but until now I’ve not got around to getting any of them painted. The other day I spotted these three Chainrasps lurking in a box and decided that now was as good a time as any to tackle them at last.

I’m not sure when we’ll see any more of these ghosts but I do have quite a few waiting for attention and these were remarkably quick and easy to paint so I’ll dig out some more sooner or later. At the very least it could be that another Warcry warband beckons.