A Kind of Magic

After I'd kitbashed my Battle Nuns of New Antioch for Trench Crusade, I pondered proxying a Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent warband using my ubiquitous Tzeentch Daemons, who have pulled bad guy duty in many a setting.

I decided against this and decided to be a bit more creative, but I have taken some inspiration from the Changeling and some Tzeentch bits from my bits box to kitbash a Sorcerer.

The model I used as a base for this kitbash is a Stormcast Knight Arcanum that I picked up dirt cheap in the first issue of the Stormbringer partworks magazine.

It is obviously a magic user, which suits the Sorcerer and has a larger frame than most models, making it more suitable to occupy the necessary 50mm base, and a simply head swap with a Crooked Dice cultist head (wearing and appropriate goat mask) started the transformation.

Next came the Tzeentch bits.

According to the limited reading I've done, Sorcerers appear to be fallen angels who cannot (or do not make contact with the ground. Given the stance of the Knight Arcanum, I decided to have her standing on a floating platform made from a large book (from Kairos Fateweaver's staff).

I appreciate that this decision pushes the aesthetic towards Tzeentch, but it did solve the hovering problem.

Another facet of the Sorcerers is that they can produce additional arms holding the items that they need and here the Pink Horror sprues provided: a pair of arms spouting flames; a hand swap with a wicked looking blade; a hand clutching a clearly corrupt book.

I also added a couple more scrolls to fill the gap where I had removed the Knight Arcanum's sword, just to lean into the magic book theme.

When it came to painting, I tried to work within the same palette I'd used for the rest of the warband: reds, browns, beiges, etc. I used more red than on the other models to indicate the status of this being in the pantheon of Hell.

I also enjoyed drawing writing into the open books, something that fortunately worked better in the one in her hand than the one she's stood on.

All in all, I'm quite pleased how my Sorcerer has turned out, although I think that I'm increasingly seeing that my attempt to tackle a Blanchitsu style is really limited to just the colour scheme.

I'm also aware that if I ever get round to playing Age of Sigmar, I could potentially use this model as a Magister on a Disc of Tzeentch.

I now have about 300 ducats of the 700 I need for a starter band, but I'm not sure where my next kitbash is coming from. There are options, but I need to firm up what I'm going to do.

Acquired: -98

Painted: 149

Lead Mountain: 406

The Road to Hell

"I'll just look at this Trench Crusade video," I said.

"I'll do a little kitbashing for fun," I said.

"It's only one warband, where's the harm?" I said.

In a move that will surprise absolutely nobody, I've started another warband for Trench Crusade.

This time I've opted to cobble together a few miniatures to represent the fantastically named Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent, which are fundamentally the denizens of hell.

I made this choice for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the game features a holy war between Hell and humanity, and although there is plenty of reason for everybody to fight each other, I figured one of the hellish factions made for more than appropriate opposition for my battle nuns of New Antioch.

Secondly, after the last kitbash session my bits box and backlog are mainly fantasy focused, and so the demons of hell are easier to imitate than the military humans of the Heretic Legion and the Cult of the Black Grail would need Nurgle bits whilst my GW daemons serve Tzeentch.

The first model I put together is this rather simple kitbash based on a Heroquest zombie. All I did was trim it off its chunky base, clean up mould lines and give it a head swap.

The helmet is from a Bretonnian knight, trimmed of its frippery and slotted easily onto where the zombie's head was. However, removing the model's chin had left a scar on the chest, which I covered up with the noose rope from a GW zombie sprue.

In game, this will be one of the Wretched, enslaved souls trapped in Hell, who are doomed to eternal torment and to be expended as disposable cannon fodder.

Next up was a model that I've made no changes to and is actually a 3d print done using a free sample file from Arbitor Miniatures. It uses a support system the company calls Advanced FDM using resin style supports to facilitate more dynamic and interesting sculpts with less scarring.

I printed it as a test to see if I wanted to invest in more of the models, with the intent of adding it to my Rashaar or Strigoi for Carnevale as a Hybrid or Thrall. However, despite printing really well, the finished model was just too big and chunky to scale well with Carnevale.

However, upon further inspection I realised that he was about the right size to serve as a Yoke Fiend, one of the bestial servants of Hell. Whilst he probably isn't bestial enough, the scale works, so I may end up adding a horn or two later.

A more conventional looking Yoke Fiend has been easily achieved with this Warhammer 40k Beastman that I was given when I went with the family to Warhammer World last year. Whilst my daughter tried her hand at painting a Stormcast, I was kindly given the model of the month to stab at with an appalling starter brush.

Needless to say, I wasn't delighted with the outcome, so the opportunity to repurpose the model was grabbed with both hands. I needed to de-40k the model so I removed it's laspistol, holster and various grenades, replacing them with a few more fantasy bits and pieces, including a pair of severed heads.

With all of these I've used a range of contrast paints to have another go at a vaguely 'Blanchitsu' style, focusing on browns, beiges and reds. I think this is a more successful attempt than my nuns, but I've realized that I've forgotten to slap some Typhus Corrosion around their feet to grubby things up.

The final model for now is a bit of a different beast. It's not a kitbash in any way shape or form, and is in fact a single massive chunk of metal (which includes a hefty hidden 'pudding' base). The model is actually a Giant Cockatrice from Grenadier Miniatures that I have had for around forty years. 

In Trench Crusade I'll be using it as a Locust, which it looks nothing like. However, it not only fits the rules of a fast moving flying beast on a 60mm oval base, but also there are biblical references to Cockatrices being created by servants of evil, and so I think it fits into a more medieval interpretation of the Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent quite well.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with my progress so far. At the moment these four miniatures represent less than half the 700 ducat starting warband, although given that most of the other models are larger, I might be halfway through numerically.

What I like most about this project is finding homes for models that have sat unloved and put of place amongst my other projects. I'm hoping to make use of a few more similar lost souls before the end.

Acquired: -99
Painted: 147
Lead Mountain: 407

Habit Forming

One of the aspects of this hobby I enjoy the most is making use of miniatures in ways they weren't intended. Call it what you will, kitbashing, converting, proxying, 'cheaphammer', I've never been keen on the limiting concept of having to use miniatures from a specific range to play a game.

It's one of the things that draws me to miniature agnostic systems like 7TV, Five Parsecs From Home or, in this case, Trench Crusade.

I've not played Trench Crusade, I didn't back it's massively successful Kickstarter, I've only recently paid any attention to it and I don't know if I'll ever play it.

However, I had come across enough videos of people kitbashing miniatures for it to learn that whilst there is an official line of 3d printed miniatures, the game actively encourages people to use what they want.

This I like.

A few days ago, apropos of nothing, I began to consider how I could throw together a warband from my backlog that fit reasonably into the aesthetic of WW1 meets the Crusades with an unhealthy dollop of Hellraiser.

A quick scout through the bits box turned up the closest thing I had to WW1 miniatures in a sprue of Bolt Action desert British I got on the cover of a magazine along with a few other bits and pieces left over from my Soviet army.

Although the light machine guns and men in shorts weren't appropriate, bolt action rifles and submachine guns are directly transferable assuming that an opponent wasn't going to get prissy about specific weapons in a game where the gates of Hell have opened.

I then added these to some spare Frostgrave soldiers and wizards and accidentally started an all female warband. The addition of an ancient (and small) metal paladin and some metal ninja and gas mask heads got me to a place where I could create models to represent a group of warrior nuns fighting on behalf New Antioch, essentially an analog to the Crusader kingdoms.

As the aesthetic of Trench Crusade is heavily influenced by 'grimdark' and the work of John Blanche, I decided to try a couple of new things when it came to painting.

The first was to begin with a zenithal highlight, something the internet raves about, but I didn't really see the benefit. Perhaps it's due to me using black as my main colour or I just did it wrong, but it didn't seem to have an effect and just made elements like faces too dark for my taste and so I ended up falling back on my usual approach.

The second thing I tried was to go for a 'Blanchitsu' style, using a limited palette and lots of grime and dirt. Again, I'm not sure how successful I've been as I opted to keep the wimples a pure white (rather than cream) as I feel this is the element that sells the 'nuns with guns' vibe I'm going for.

However, I am quite pleased with what I've managed to throw together, and should the opportunity arise to play Trench Crusade (whose rules are free to download) I can.

My headcanon for the warband is that the armoured warrior (the Lieutenant) is a Joan of Arc figure (explaining her small size) whose visions have lead the sisters from her convent (a Trench Cleric, a Sniper Priest, 2 Shocktroopers and 3 Yeomen) to the front line.

Will I do more for Trench Crusade? Possibly, if the mood takes me. I have a bit of silly idea to use some Heroquest models to create some of Hell's minions in the Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent. However, silly doesn't seem to fit with Trench Crusade, so maybe not.

However, I have used up some miniatures that were languishing in the backlog and at least tried to step out of my comfort zone. On top of that, the rest of the desert British sprue has been added to my WW2 bits box, and so no longer counts as needing to be painted (besides, I've used almost all the arms)...those are the rules that I've just made up.

Acquired: -98
Painted: 143
Lead Mountain: 411