The Court of Spades, part 6

Sourshanks the Grail Pilgrim woke in the makeshift camp alongside his fellows as the bright morning daylight shone through the green forest canopy and dappled the pale canvas of his tent. / Sourshanks the Crypt Ghoul grunted to himself as he stirred in the fetid boneyard. Sickly moonlight glinted on the wet slate tiles of mausoleums and autumn leaves.

After taking breakfast and breaking camp they followed the trail of the Grail Knight they sought, singing chansons about his exploits as they went. / After picking the last of the rotting meat from broken bones scattered in the mud the pack of Crypt Ghouls crawled through the dank forest darkness, hissing and gurgling at one another angrily.

The pilgrims stopped regularly to take repast and swap anecdotes about the knight, seeking to outdo one another with tales of his deeds or boasting of a time when he supposedly spoke or gestured to them. / The Ghoul pack wandered aimlessly through the night. Stopping and starting at random and fighting occasionally over scraps.

The pilgrims gathered any of the Grail Knight’s discarded effects they came across. They will equipped themselves with bits of armour, bent swords, and broken lances. / The Ghouls gathered any discarded effects they came across, and stripped the corpse of any unfortunates they killed and ate. They will equipped themselves with bits of bone, sharp stones, and rotten cloth.

If the knight should fall during his travels the pilgrims would make a grisly prize of the corpse, using it as the centrepiece of a sacred reliquary. Care of this reliquary was of paramount importance to the pilgrims and they bore it with great honour. / The Ghoul pack sometimes hoisted aloft the remains of one of their victims, tied to poles like a grisly banner. They briefly cared for these macabre reliquaries as if they held great importance and bore them solemnly for a few days, then cast them aside and forgot about them.

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Lockdown landed just as we were in the middle of moving house so most of my hobby supplies (specifically my bits boxes and unbuilt kits!) are in storage and inaccessible for now. I have been pottering along with projects based on what I do have to hand and getting distracted (and frustrated) by planning projects that I cannot possibly work on (The Necrons in my head may never come to pass so they have taken up a disproportionate amount of time in there!).

So I have been looking at the things I have and while I am enjoying turning the Warcry starter scenery into something more suited to the Harrowmark, I needed something smaller to work on as a palate cleanser in between. I found a partial Crypt Ghoul sprue and the remains of a Coven Throne / Mortis Engine kit and the Court of Spades popped back into my thoughts.

It's been over two years since I last made anything for this warband, and the Ghouls have been sat in a box since then waiting for some ideas of what to do with them - I didn't want to make them as "men-at-arms". I fished them out when I got the Warcry cards for Flesh Eater Courts last year to round-out the warband, but I couldn't think of how to make them unique, so they went back in the box again.

Then the other night I had the idea to make them into FEC versions of Grail Pilgrims - who deludedly think themselves the devout followers of a holy cause. Hooded robes made of ragged, rotting cloth seemed like a relatively easy greenstuff make! So over the course of three evenings I assembled, based and greenstuffed the 7 Crypt Ghouls I have, and I have added the Warhammer Underworlds warband to my (ever growing) wish-list, with the intention of giving them similar robes when I can get hold of them. I also made them a reliquary as an objective marker.

I'll try to get some paint on them soon.

Dark Skies Over The Harrowmark - part 6 Gallowmire

Gallowmire is a ruined city in a deep valley seven leagues rimward from Wortbad, that probably dates back to the Age of Myth. The citizens of Gallowmire were once wealthy and traded goods with other cities in Shyish; Stonewarden, Overmere and Shadespire. The treasures from those days long-gone have mostly been looted and stolen, but a few may remain, hidden in the undergrowth or in forgotten cellars.

Gallowmire was abandoned long ago, it was overgrown and almost lost to the malignant forests of the Harrowmark. Recently it was rediscovered by sky-pirates and used as a hideout between cruises. But something ancient has been disturbed there...

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I have finished the first of my Warcry Ruins, I want them to look overgrown and tangled with trees so they fit in with the overgrown forest look of the Harrowmark. I will mix them up with Citadel Woods and my forest shipwreck on the Warcry board I plan to make from an A1 cork notice board.

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I also started work on my second Warcry ruin, with the stairs added to its base.

Update: photos of the completed second ruin added.

Dark Skies Over The Harrowmark - part 5 The Cleavermaw

Kaptain Mogrum stood on the aft deck of the Cleavermaw and looked out at the forests below. The wind sang through the rigging and the ship's timbers creaked. The crew busied themselves with repairs, the bosun and the carpenter pushed their teams hard. Truly magical timber was hard to come by, so they made do with whatever they could find. Anything wooden with the slightest charm, hex or ward cast upon it was stolen and pressed into service to plug up holes in the hull.

Mogrum saw and heard none of this. He was deep in thought, studying subtle changes in the tides of invisible energies that ebbed and flowed across the Harrowmark.

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I've been adding details to the pirate orruk sky-ship Cleavermaw. There is a lot more to do still, but I'm happy with the progress so far. I need to work out how I'm going to do the mast and some rigging next I think.

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I have also started work on my Warcry starter set ruins, I'm making sure they fit in with the overgrown forest look of the Harrowmark.

This is a new area that we haven't explored before: the ruins of Gallowmire, an ancient town in a deep valley seven leagues rimward from Wortbad, that probably dates back to the Age of Myth. Abandoned and forgotten long ago, now overgrown and lost to the forests. Recently it was rediscovered by sky-pirates and used as a hideout between cruises. But something ancient has been disturbed there...

Soulblight Vampires - part 6

The depths of the Harrowmark forests are home to many strange and terrifying creatures. Horrors dwell beneath the dark bowers. Sharkan and his followers, the Wardens of the Cold Flame, are perfectly at home there. They dwell in a ruined castle that was built into the side of a mountain in aeons past. They are not lost in the delusions of the Flesheater Courts though. They don't see themselves as shining, honourable paladins. They are content to live in shadows and the dust and the rotting finery.

~ ~ ~

Vollak, The Traitor Knight.

Vollak betrayed his people as soon as he own well-being was threatened. He opened the gates he was supposed to be guarding and allowed an army of the dead to slaughter the population of a city in exchange for eternal life.

Klosolka, The Witch Knight.

The sorceress Klosolka studdied the necromantic arts for many many years before she encountered Sharkan.

Haryom, The Shunned Knight.

Haryom views mortal humans with contempt; cattle to be herded and farmed. He kills without a second thought, not considering any a worthy opponent.

Yurkenor, The Outcast Knight.

Yurkenor is bitter and angry - he was a headsman in life and was hated for it. He also hated every moment of it. In undeath he continues this work as it is all he knows. He still hates it.

The whole Wardens of the Cold Flame warband, with the leader, Sharkan the Fallen Knight and Morddrak the Thrall Knight.

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The Wardens of the Cold Flame are finished! I managed to get a few nights painting last week and finished off all of the vampires I've built (well, all bar one that wasn't working so I abandoned it). Annoyingly I have run out of Munitorum Varnish though, so they aren't quite "done" in my book. Obviously it's going to be a while until I get to play a game with them, so there isn't really a rush...

Six models are well over a thousand points in Warcry, if I pick the right "counts-as" Stormcast cards. I'm seriously considering playing them as Prosecutors - their higher speed (and Flying runemark) feel right for vampires, and the weapon options match quite well too.

Soulblight Vampires - part 5

Four more Wardens of the Cold Flame are taking shape. I don't have a lot of spare parts currently as all my bits boxes are in a storage unit (we were about to move house before the lockdown!) but a friend sent an jiffy bag of assorted things in the post and I have done what I can with them and the models from the handful of Mortal Realms magazines I have been able to find.

Vollak, The Traitor Knight.

(Wurmspat; Ghulgoch the Butcher with Fecula Flyblown's head, Stormcast/greenstuff robes)

Klosolka, The Witch Knight.

(Wurmspat; Fecula Flyblown with Ghulgoch the Butcher's head, added armour and Blightking weapon and greenstuff hood. Crow from a Nighthaunt Glaivewraith base)

Haryom, The Shunned Knight.

(Wurmspat; Sepsimus the Plaguesworn with Nighthaunt/greenstuff robes, Blightking/Bonerattle shield)

Yurkenor, The Outcast Knight.

(A Necromunda Goliath with Nighthaunt/greenstuff robes and Blightking weapon)

All 4 are on my painting table and should be finished soon-ish.