O Holy Knight

With my version of Venice in the grip of criminal guilds, debauched nobility, aquatic eldritch monstrosities and undead fiends, here to put the religion back into Christmas, whether you want it or not, are an Avignon Guard and his Reliquary Page.

Amongst the list of unpleasant factions at war in Carnevale, the zealous and unforgiving Vatican forces are not only presented as unwelcome invaders and thoroughly corrupt, they also seem to be ultimately responsible for the whole mess.

These new additions to my nascent Vatican forces are not official TTCombat miniatures, but as I've said previously, despite having a really nice miniatures range that isn't overly expensive (certainly when compared to Games Workshop or Modiphius), it's a really easy game to proxy, with the most difficult aspect being matching the more true scale proportions of the models, rather than getting models that look right.

My interpretation of the Avignon Guard bypasses the true scale issues by covering up all his features and being somewhat larger than most people.

It's fairly easy to spot that that the base model for this kitbash was a push-fit Stormcast Eternal from Age of Sigmar I had knocking around. I simply filed down the shield and shoulder guards, gave him a Bretonnian helmet and swapped his spear for a greatsword from a Frostgrave sprue (the sword handle is still the spear haft) and popped him on an appropriate base.

I'm leaning into purple and white as my faction colours for the Vatican, and so the shield and scabbard brought some vibrance to what is essentially a simple undercoat and wash.

It's interesting how much I like this miniature once the obviously Stormcast elements were removed, and we're I ever tempted to paint a Stormcast army, I'd probably perform head swaps on the whole force. Not sure I'd bother with smoothing all their shields down though.

The Reliquary Page is a young boy in the service of the church who is carrying holy relics which serve to motivate other Vatican troops and provide in game bonuses.

It says a lot about the church in this setting that they are happy to send unarmed (the hatchet is for chopping wood) and children into dangerous situations with nothing to protect them, and their skilled warriors are wreathed head to foot in armour - mind you, they've sent fully armoured knights to a city full of canals, so I'm not sure they've really thought any of this through.

The model I used is an old metal figure, which needed its pudding base carefully removed, with a couple of plastic accessories added to his back to represent the relics.

I kept the painting simple as I wanted to convey the fact that this boy is a merely lowly servant of the church who is exposed to extreme danger and has to spend every waking hour in the company of Catholic priests.

I'm not sure he's having the happiest of childhoods.

I was initially concerned that the rather chunky Avignon Guard might look too big, but put next to the rather tall Inquisitor and Executioner, he fits in well.

If anything, the Reliquary Page is too small, but I can explain that away by him just being small for his age, probably because he's underfed.

Combined with the 25mm scale of the Talisman Inquisitor giving the impression that he's also an adolescent, this group is now suggesting that all of these characters have spent their entire lives in the service of the church.

The eagle-eyed amongst you with very good memories might also have noticed that I've brightened up the paving slabs beneath the feet of the whole gang.

I've done this because I wanted to give them something more than flashes of purple to tie them together, but it also suggests the perceived purity of their corrupt institution. I did something similar with the Patricians with more varied colours and really liked the effect it brought to the whole group.

All that remains is to say Happy Christmas to both of my readers, I hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow and Santa thinks you've been good enough to deserve lots of toys.

For me, I do know about one thing I'm getting which is hobby related, but anything else will be a nice surprise.

Acquired: -58

Painted: 396

Lead Mountain: 620

Disclaimer - All views expressed about the Vatican and the Catholic church expressed in this post are definitely just about the fictional version of both presented in the Carnevale tabletop game setting and bear no relation to any real world organisations...no matter how similar they are in name or actions, both historically or in the present day.