Warhammer Quest Darkwater (Pt. 1, first characters)

 Here we go for yet another new project!

As the kids have shown more interest in fantasy settings rather than sci-fi ones, I've been looking for ways to channel that enthusiasm (while chanelling my own!). This new Warhammer Quest Darkwater box was quite an obvious choice, as it got everything we could hope for! The minis are ubercool and it looks like a better, easier choice than a full scale Warhammer army.

And so it all started. First thing I have to say as a disclaimer: apparently this game is set in this Age of Sigmar setting, of which I know barely anything (and I don't have any wish to learn more). So my minis would be fitting in the good old reliable WHFB setting. I can live with all the Nurgle thing (which looks ace, of course), but I thought I had to put some additional work on the characters. You'll see what I'm talking about:

Let's start with the Knight of the Manticore. It looks like it fits in that Cities of Sigmar thing and, while I'll admit the design is pretty cool, it doesn't really work for me.

Let's start the change

Ohhh, you see where I'm going...

Right, a Bretonnian knight! Well, it is kind of obvious, if you know me. I really coulnd't see but a Questing Knigt (because this is... well, Warhammer Quest!). The conversion is pretty basic. I wanted to change the axe with a sword, but the kids told that they preferred the axe, so nothing else to say.

Unless...

What's this?

Oh, didn't I tell you? My bad (Giggle). A friend of mine, knowing I was to embark on this project, commissioned me to paint his own set. So I had the chance to so some other stuff.

No kidding, I'm doing every mini twice

He liked a Song of Ice and Fire vibe more than Bretonnia, so we finally took a Baratheon approach:

That horned llama on the chest is supposed to be a deer

I also took yellow, but in another different direction

 

Look at the scale creep. Glups

Look at the finished result:

 Next one is the sorceress mini. I haven't read the lore of the game or the characters in depth, as I prefer to make my own version of it with my ideas and prejudices, not the ones from the box. I only know that she is supposed to make the sword she's wielding with the very water of the jar she carries.

Whatever. My character will be a Bretonnian Sorceress

My pal didn't want that for his mini, so we studied the options.

 

No sleeves, no Bretonnian lady, more like a forest Dryad or Naiad

The good thing about this mini is that the long skirt is not a single solid piece. On the contrary, it is hollow and even the legs are sculpted:

Peekaboo. Most hentai thing I've ever done in this blog

So this could be done. Now the mini looks lighter

My own, on the contrary, went full Bretonnia

My pal's mini got a pair of small antlers

I respected the sword made of water for him

For my Sorceress, I added some detail to the dress:

Next one, the only mini that didn't need a conversion for me! The Dwarf!

Well, I've been informed that Dwarfs exist no more in Age of Sigmar, now they are.. what are they called? Duard-what? Edwardins? Ok, cool. As you please.

Fili and Kili. As they should have been depicted in the movies

Little thing to say, I'm afraid, as the mini is superb by all means:

 

Last one of the batch, the Knight lady. I insist, I haven't read their background, so I don't know a thing of these characters. At first I toyed with the idea of a warrior lady in the Empire, but didn't find the way to make it work properly. It was my pal who opened my eyes. Do you see that torn armour? Those falling pieces? It's screaming "undead"!

Oh yeah!

But for my own mini I went a step further. I got to think too much. How could an Undead be part of my band of good guys? Vampire Counts don't often make friends with the living. So if an Undead was to fight for Good, it meant that... Hmmm... It meant that it was once a brave hero, bound by an oath beyond death. This knight (he or she or them) was a living saint and now is a undead saint.

First idea

 Of course, a Saint needs a halo, a crown of light...

Time to cut pins

I only hope the kids don't touch that one much

So these are the Undead guys:

And finished:

 Some final group shots!

My minis

My friend's minis

 This is all I got for now. I still have three other characters (well, six) to do! They will come, they will come...

Fifty shades of Grey...tchin

 I guess by now you have already seen the new WH40K Edition box. It's of course a... homage to THE box. The mighty Second Edition box. Blood Angels and Orks in Armaggedon. What can I say, I'm pleased that this is a thing, but well, I cannot be at ease with those new minis.

Have you seen the Gretchins? Have you seen them? I'll try to elaborate my opinion:

 Stung as I was by this bad taste joke of a mini, I took the only rational path one can take, the only one left. The only one, I say.

To paint all the Gretchins I have unattended

 50 great glorious Gretchins!

I know that as soon as you have seen that pic you have already discarded any trace of words such as "rational", "logic", "sanity" and some other expressions that are meaningless to me.

Fifty indeed

The first decisions involved general appearance and palette. Of course I was deep into Red Era, I wanted these to match my Orks and there would be no point in painting them any other way. I doubted if I should paint them all in a coherent way or more in different patterns. I chose the first option, not to have a colour explosion. I thought I could keep them colourful enough, yet not over the top.

You get the idea

 The thing is that the Codex (if you have to ask what Codex I'm referring to, I'm afraid this might not be your blog of preference after all, sorry) allows units of 10-40 Gretchins. I have 50. Would it be better to have two 25-Grot mobs or just ignore the Codex and have a single glorious large mob of 50 Gretchins?

Well, though I'm biased towards the second choice, I am keeping my options open. Though they are essentially the same, I painted 25 with a black helmet and 25 with a red one:

Cousins

This way I can take any of both options, making them recognizable at tabletop distance if I need two mobs, but keeping them visually coherent if I prefer just a large unit.

Not so many after all, if you think of it

 OK. This was the hard part, the dull one. To get these fit. Oh, BTW, note to self: I have to buy an electric drill. Making holes manually on all those autoguns was... challenging.

But if you have been following this humble blog for some time now, you may have a righteous question, or at least the hint of an intuition. Am I suffering to have 50 identical minis? Or 25/25 identical minis?

No. A hundred times no.

You can see that I have presented them in rows and columns, and it serves a purpose. I painted different motifs on the helmets following the columns:

Five by five

Besides, I cheated, there are columns where I didn't paint anything!

Then the same process on the rows, but this time on the sleeves:

Only four rows, the fifth one is clean!

This way I have made sure that there are not two identical minis. All of them are slightly different, if just by tiny touches here and there.

Now my soul is in peace with the universe.

I added a few random checkers here and there, just for fun, and to add more visual differences, but with no distinctive pattern this time.

You can say I got wild with that, huh?

The keen eye may have spotted a different Gretchin among the crowd. Right, in fact I only got 49 plastic minis, the fiftieth one is this metal Grot:

The Waldo of Gretchins

 Time to show some group shots. First the black helmets:

With Waldo the Gretchin

Then the red ones:

The closest to Red Era I could get

 What about having them all together?

50 Gretchins walk into a battle...

 The last pic includes a fat leader, the not-Grom I painted long ago, because you always look better when you take a pic next to someone fatter than you.

I insist, they are not that many...

Well, this has been quite a trip through the Valley of Insanity, but in the end I think they got the right vibe. I should really see what Ork stuff I have painted by now and build a proper 2nd Edition army list...

Starting a new adventure: Warcrow

 The title may have given me in. Right, I'm getting myself into a totally new project. "How can this be even happening?" I hear you mumbling. Well, long story short, I took the kids to a hobby event and they were on the "Ooooh! Ahhh! Shiny" side of the spectrum. They got their eyes on this game, Warcrow, brought by the same people from Infinity, the guys from Corvus Belli. Yes, I've noticed; "Corvus Belli"... "Warcrow". For sure their IP will be easy to remember.

I digress. The Suberlings really got into the aesthetics of these minis and I saw the chance to get them into the hobby, starting with minis of their own liking. Sooo, here we are! (sigh)

But now, what's Warcrow all about? Is it just a fantasy Infinity? Well, you can certainly see the minds & hands behind, but it wouldn't be a fair comparison. It takes place in the world of Lindwurm, where magic comes and goes in cycles depending on the arrival of a mystical celestial body called... the Warcrow (dun dun dunn). Magic is returning, ancient powers are waking up, everybody mistrusts everybody else, and naturally this means (no relation with actual events along present or past history whatsoever) heavily armoured people start solving diplomatic disputes with axes and halberds.

Yes, it has this kind of Infinity vibe, in a subtle way. No hackers or ninjas (yet), but you can feel the clean aesthetics, dynamic poses and the way factions seem to have very distinct personalities. Oh, and tactical stones, sure thing.

Both my kids liked human factions the most. So humans it is. Let me start with the Hegemony of Embersig. They’re basically a young, expansionist empire mixing humans, elves and all sorts into a disciplined military machine dressed in black armour and gold trim. A bit of Roman Empire, a bit of dark fantasy conquistador, a bit of “we are definitely the good guys, please ignore the marching columns”. Very stylish lot.

Starting with the leadership, these are a special character, named Dragoslav Bjelogríc, a Hetman of the Black Legion, and a Black Legion Bucklerman Sergeant

Moustache boys. No, definitely not Mario Bros.

The Frostfire Herald, i.e., an Elven Mage, and a War Surgeon.

The pic is bad (as usual), but you should be able to spot the 'Plague Doctor'-like mask

The muscle of this warband are the Bucklermen, the regular troops from the Black Legion:

As with any ultra-dynamic minis, it's almost impossible to find their golden angle

You can see this is a more skirmish-oriented game. This is all you need to get a functional warband:

We're dark, ominous and terr... I mean... We're the good guys!

Taking good pics of such dark minis is tricky!

We can move on to the other human faction, Feudom, which feels much closer to classic feudal fantasy:  knights, oaths, religion, honour and all that lovely medieval business. From the little I’ve read, they seem to lean into the whole crusader-kingdom aesthetic rather heavily. I wouldn't say a Bretonnia copycat, but certainly in that 14-15th Century Burgundy vibe, as described by Japanese videogame designers.

Here you have the  warrior ladies: Morgane de Jauffret Syzigian and Verena of Aurtigard:

(Yes, I had to look up for the names)

The banner bearer and the Knight of the Sacred Relic:

Wouldn't like to mess with that grimdark crusader. Don't know how can he even lift that hammer

Finally, the generic troopers, the Guisarmiers:

(The "guisarme" is the long halberd)

 Again, a manageable warband to run reasonable skirmishes:

Agincourt on steroids

Just a proof that I painted the rear parts too!

 

Well, what a start of a project, huh? I still haven't read the rules, but at least we have a couple of warbands to give them a try.

You know, the thing is that these were part of two separate starter boxes, so I have two other warbands to assemble, now the non-human factions. I still have many other stuff to do before, but at least the kids now have enough to get started!!