Aleksandr Kurganov, Krell, and the most disturbing gnome...

 Aleksandr Kurganov, Chief Commander of the KST.  This is a massive, and heavy, model.  I chose the metal version for this one and it plunks down on the tabletop with authoriTAY!

Shown with a Nurgle Terminator and Assault Marine for comparison.  I like that he is shorter than the Space Marines but still imposing.

 I split the difference on positioning on the base.  The left foot overhangs the base a bit but shifting him too much farther over and the cloak would have become a weapon in it's own right!

He's on a 40mm beveled base like the Terminator and is pretty stable on that.  I went with a Grey and Red scheme to fit in with some incoming Inquisition troops that I'll be working into the campaign fluff.

 This cape has a lot of room for silliness.  I did some stark shading but decided against freehand for the moment... I'm kind of torn between inventing a House Kurgan Sigil and waiting to see what Raging Heroes comes up with in that regard.

 Reaper Bones I Kickstarter.   I really just signed up for everything with the idea that I'd be using it to fill out a long neglected FRPG collection as my interest in Tabletop Roleplaying was perking up. 

In one random bag that I pulled out of the massive Kickstarter box was this... Gnome... pleasure cultist?  ... Inquisitor?

In spite of being perhaps the most disturbing Gnome miniature I've ever seen it was a lot of fun to paint and gave me a few ideas for story lines... I was a bit inspired by the Penny Dreadful character with the outrageous and, I assure you , completely natural..... hair! 

 Yeah... chaps!  pimpled, warty, gnome buttocks... oh my!

It did get a Slaanesh-esque sigil on the hood but otherwise but otherwise a plain utilitarian purple color.  I thought about designs and stripes but thought they might obfuscate how outrageous the miniature really was.










The Gnome spending some quality time with Warlord Krell...

Krell is still missing his back banner and is on a round lipped base instead of his original square one.  I think both of these minis are being added to the pile of stuff for Carnevale. 

Have fun and beware of gnomes in chaps!

Kurganova Yaga Coven

 Baba Yaga and Arushka join Shashenka and Tarja to complete the Yaga coven.

I finished Shasenka and Tarja a while back so I'm really excited to finish these two and complete my Elemental Coven.  Mind you the Elemental Coven is a construct for the campaign at home and not an official organization as far as I'm aware.

 Each of the Yagas, as I envision them,  has an elemental specialty Arushka Is the Wind Witch and was worked up using the Reaper Vampire Skin triad on the garments and Vallejo flesh tones.  Gold is vallejo Gold and Secret Weapon Flesh Wash Rustungs Farbe from Gamecraft for metal highlight..

After working on some War Machine models, and playing a lot of Star Wars games, I stated thinking of the staff as a "Force" weapon and went with blue force blades.  Vallejo sky blue, Secret Weapon Blue Wash Vallejo foundation white highlights. 

Both Arushka and Baba Yaga got the blue blades while Tarja and Shashenka's weapons are coded to their element and the blades are not well defined.  I may backtrack and give these two more distinct blades and, in keeping with the "Force" theme may have them color coded to the element instead of defaulting to blue.

 Baba Yaga started ans an Earth Element in the aspect of The Crone.  Armory Olive Green, Reaper Vampire Triad, Reaper Blood and Fire Triads.

She got a tech upgrade along the way and some metal armored cables help give her more of a techno magi feel.

This model is metal and very sturdy while Arushka is resin and seem a bit on the fragile side.

 Another view of the complete coven... although I seem to have botched the focus on poor Baba Yaga...
 

Back to the painting!

Raging Heroes, Carnevale, Rackham, and GW works in progress.

 A lot of stuff in progress... very little finished! 

A lot of legacy stuff that I discovered loose and was too OCD to skip.

The closest thing to finished in this batch is this Rackham mini.  I really love this line of, sadly, extinct miniatures. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be ... a gorgon... or a vampire... I painted it to use either way in a truly willful display of indecision!













This model was partially painted with the skin a dark metallic gloss green and enamel blue boots.  I kept the original color scheme and adjusted shades and textures to suit my taste... primarily lighten the oppressive skin, making it ... not... metallic, and not gloss... same with the boots.... still blue but a different shade and texture.  the rest was an experiment in a quick, translucent nightgown.  Based to fit in with an old undead army of mine and added to the troop tray.

 Next up are some legacy Skaven Poison Wind Globadiers.  These were also acquired from a friend and were painted in very bright, almost glow in the dark, colors in gloss enamels.  We've been playing a bit of Mordheim on the computer and the Globadiers are the Bevie! favorites!.







All I did here was paint in some ropes, repaint all the base colors to get rid of the gloss finish drop a wash or two on them and weather up the air tanks a bit.  They are still a WiP but are close to finished.  I did leave the clobes exactly as originally painted though... the original painter did a really good job with them!

Onward into legacy mini land!  Krell, a model I've never really liked... and likely farmed his banner-pole out for a conversion some years ago, returns in all his chaotic, skeletal, glory!  He's not yet based and a replacement banner-pole is being kit bashed together.  Always fun to have an undead chaos warrior around.

 A more recent model that is nearing completion is the Kickstarter Exclusive Strigoi from the Carenvale Kickstarter.  It's a great pose of the Strigoi climbing the walls or vaulting a fence.

 These models are very old school, inspite of being relased within the past year or two.  I kinda like the rough hewn look of the Strigoi and the scultor did a good job of capturing the horrific aspects of Vampirism.  The Strigoi are not at all the glamorous vampires of the modern tradition but cleave more closely to the older and more monstrous tales.

 Early days on the only male character model for Raging Heroes TGG1 Kickstarter.  Aleksandr Kurganova, patriarch of the Kurganova clan and commander of the KST.

I got this model in metal and its huge, heavy and beautiful!  So far its just the cloak and the basic armor being worked but he'll wind up rapidly as the cloak is the majority of the mini.

 Some WiP views of Arushka.  She's from Raging Heroes and is a KST Yaga.  I refer to her variously as "The Wind Witch", "The Angel of Victory", "The Mad Winds of Despair", or "Aleksandr's Fury""


 She'll be an elemental specialists with Air, or Wind magic and is a bit touched.  All magic is perilous to health and spirit but riding the winds is, of the elemental magics, the most perilous to the mind.. Arushka pays the price!

The model is in resin and is a bit flexible so I may need to stiffen the join at the base a bit... or maybe not!  The flex seems to act as a shock asorber so I may just let it ride.
















Last up today is the lower half of Baba Yaga.  She's the Crone, Earthmother, and Wolf Lord of the KST.  Model in metal for strength in the pose. 

There is also a whole pile of rats adventurers and villains from the Reaper Bones I Kickstarter and a handful of legacy skaven also being processed.  I also got a Tabletop World Townhouse and a  Mantic Abyssal Dwarf Iron Caster on Dread Abyssal primed up and in the queue.

Now if only I could find some packages od 20mm and 25mm square bases,,, hmmm...

Cheers!

Tarja and Shashenka: Kurganova Yagas

 So.. here I was painting up Tarja and Shashenka, two of the Kurganova Yagas,  when I was inspired (probably by the very personality driven sculpts) to write up a bit of background fluff to guide me on my themes!  So.. here are Tarja and Shashenka and a close encounter with One Shot Blondie.









One Shot Blondie stopped short and held up a fist.  The pack of children known affectionately as "The Lulus" stopped instantly and in complete silence.  Blondie had been their guardian and commander since before the evacuation.  She wasn't effusive, and rarely spoke other than to tell one of the kids..."its gonna be all right sweetie"  The Lulus loved Blondie and hung on every word, every gesture, so  it was no surprise when the typically precocious gaggle of children froze like statues at Blondie's signal.  Blondie scanned the woods with a sniper's critical eye and whispered to the only other adult in the group..."Yagas... Bernie keep them here."  Nurse Bernadette nodded in silence.  She'd keep The Lulus here for five minutes and then fall back to the rally point.  In these haunted woods rally points were frequently noted and she'd likely run into Mimi the Radio on that interval.  If Blondie wasn't back in five they'd need some help.





Trusting the Lulus to "Mad" Nurse Bernadette Blondie ghosted forward.  In spite of the pink Minnie Mouse ears that she referred to as "Neko Mimi"  and the loud colors that she wore to cheer up the Lulus, Blondie practically vanished from sight when on the hunt.  It was one of the tricks that she was teaching the Lulus, and one that they derived endless pleasure from, Bernadette put a rubber gloved finger to her lips, stifling the collective gasp of amazement that Blondie's vanishing act was certain to provoke, then chopped her hand quickly downward.  The Lulus performed their own vanishing act.  It wasn't as instantaneous or dramatic as the one their mentor was famed for... but it was fast, quiet and thorough.  Fifteen seconds later the only person visible to the casual glance was Nurse Bernadette.  She was sitting on a fallen tree as the focus and bait to complete the Lulus' camouflage... this was the sort of thing that had earned her the title "Mad" and the very sort of thing madness that was required to earn the trust Blondie placed in her.  The Lulus would be safe until Blondie returned or Bernadette wouldn't have to worry about answering for it.




Some of the other Jailbirds whispered that Blondie was a Psyker with a chameleon ability.  The Jailbirds had no real psykers of their own and the idea that Blondie might be augmenting her famous skills with some witchcraft was quietly popular among the outcast Jailbirds.  Fortunately for the Jailbirds the gossip held a grain of truth.  Blondie had mad skills... really good trade-craft... and she was a null.  Being a null made her odd and off putting.  She didn't mix with the unit she supported other than with the Lulus and Bernadette.  She just felt wrong.  Most people chalked that feeling up to the immense body count that the notorious "One-Shot Blondie" had racked up.  No one was that efficient a killer without paying a price.  The upside to being a null was that real psykers could not sense her.  She was invisible to Witch Sight, and many psykers relied almost exclusively on Witch Sight in the field, while conversely Blondie could 'feel' the presence of psykers herself.  She'd honed this ability over time and could track her prey with precision.


Stalking her prey Blondie moved silently, but at speed, fixing on her targets.  "Yeah" she thought "targets..."  One Yaga was bad... two was a nightmare...  and these two felt familiar.  Yagas were the Kurganova house psykers.  They tended to manifest elemental powers within the family.  Earth, Air, Fire, Water.  The current slate was full with four masters led by the immortal Baba Yaga who could use any elemental power and aslo manifested Death Magic.  If core Yagas were here, instead of lesser 'trash' witches, Blondie needed to know it.

Coming to a halt she saw a unit of Kurganova Storm Troopers setting up tents for the night.  Through her scope she searched the camp for sign of the Yagas.  It didn't take long to find them.


"They are close!"  shouted Shashenka, punctuating her ire with a burst of flame that seemingly leapt from her yellow eyes.  Shasenka was the famously hot tempered, Pure Blood, Kurganova Household Firestarter... a psyker and Master of Flame.
"...and they will still be close in the morning sister." came the measured, icy, response of Tarja the Water Witch. Tarja was the elder sister and was tired of Shashenka's displays.  "We will rest tonight... we will rest here... and we will rest now." she hissed then spun on her heel and stalked toward her tent.

One-Shot Blondie sat completely motionless.  She decided that taking down Tarja would be the best option.  Shashenka was impulsive and would descend into a blind rage and pursue Blondie...  allowing  Blondie to kill her in short order.  Having determined a course of action Blondie lined up a shot on the Water Witch... then the Howling began...

Blondie froze... as did everyone in the Kurganova camp... That was a hunting howl...  one of the Kurganova Werewolves was on the hunt... three more howls voiced together... shit!  it was a pack!

Blondie moved with fluid grace and trained speed.  The hunting pack would keep the Yagas contained for the night but the Lulus were the likely target of the pack.  Blondie would make sure that the wolves had other things to worry about and trust Bernie to find Mimi and call in the cavalry.

It was gonna be a long night.