Monday, April 29, 2019

Mordheim 2019: Wraiths



Contrary to widespread belief, the undead are not invulnerable. Bones are scattered or ground to dust, corpses are burned or rot until they are untenable, and finally, the death of the necromancer themselves cuts all motive force. Perhaps that is the true horror of Mordheim, that these inviolate laws no longer hold any sway? That these reanimated relics of a life long past persist indefinitely, with no animating force or corporeal locus. - Naewen, savant of Thrax


While we recently created a model to represent the sorry state of some inhabitants of Mordheim, and the intangible manifestation of raw emotion, months ago we created some models to look at how the corpses and undead creatures that filled the city were affected over 20 long years. Using some Nighthaunt Bladegheist Revenants as a base, I wanted to show how the rotting corpses filling the streets slowly lost their corporeal forms. Since creating the initial two, I went back and modified them slightly, adding more nails to their backs, as well as created a third. With this post I wanted to show the finished conversions, as well as the initial efforts at devising a paint scheme for them.


The most recent wraith, created much like the other two, but with a face created from an old metal pink horror.


The original wraith design was only modified slightly with the addition of a host of nails to the tormented being’s back.


Replacing the Bladegheist Revenant’s mask with a skull, as well as removing its sword goes a long way in changing the look of the original model.


The three wraiths in all their animated glory!


I quickly built a test model with some of the remaining Bladegheists to experiment with paint scheme. I used two Technical paints, Nighthaunt Gloom and Nihilakh Oxide as the main colors, but think I will go back and modify them so that they are darker and there is more contrast.


It has been quite a long time since I first showed pictures of these wraiths, but I am really pleased to say they are finally finished and ready for paint! They were easy to create, but have a lot of malicious energy, which fits nicely with the rest of the warband. I am still in the planning stages with the paint scheme, but have been having a lot of fun trying things on the test model. I hope to be able to show some of the completed ones here soon!

- Eric Wier





7 comments:

  1. Hi Eric,

    Great work! Your Nighthaunt conversions are really nice! I like the simple but very effective way you've changed their appearance. The nails and the use of the Horror's head is just brilliant.

    Finding a colour-scheme for the Nighthaunt models is not easy in my opinion. I mean, there are some qustions. e.g. The Nighhaunts (incl. cloth) have a rather ghostly appearance. Shouldn't the weapons, chains, etc. not also be ghostly?
    I think a darker colour with more contrast will be worth a try, indeed. Considering how I would paint my Shadespire-Warband, and avoid these questions, I came to the conclusion I'll go for a Nazgul / LOTR look. Black, dark brown and rusted metals.

    Looking forward to see your finished warband and best regards!

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    1. I agree that the chains and weapons would make more sense if they also looked ghostly. That is actually part of the reason I removed all of that (chains and weapons) from the 3 models that will be in the warband. The Nazgul color scheme is a good one, and something I might consider myself. At the moment I am working on paint the clock a dark blue, but we will see how it all goes :D

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  2. Awesome. I love these models from GW (and may buy some just for the hell of it!) and the subtle conversions are great. The Ringwraiths may be first choice but what about the Barrow Wights? That is what appeals to me about these models is that they seem closer to the Barrow Wights than Nazgul. The Nazgul are pretty well described by Tolkien but the Wights are more ambiguous. Maybe painted in earthy colours with a nod to Dark Age Anglo Saxon clothing colours but muted down and of course rusty weapons.... a must! Well that's may penny for you. I'm sure what ever colour scheme you chose they will knock it out the ball park. Great inspiration.

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    1. That is a good thought about the Barrow Wights. Earthy tones would be really neat, dark and muted.

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  3. Nicely done, good idea to remove the chains, swords, etc.

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