Saturday 29 June 2019

CCXXV. Witch Hunters: Completed Warband





The other half of my Witch Hunter Warband is armed and ready.  

WITCH HUNTER CAPTAIN

 


Driven by fanaticism, Witch Hunter Captains are obsessed with cleansing Mordheim and bringing the justice of Sigmar to all. Carrying the edict of the Grand Theogonist himself, they have the divine right to judge and execute warlocks, witches, Chao sworshippers... in fact all who dare to oppose them.

The head of the warband was converted from a last generation plastic Empire state trooper with Perry knight arm swap. The hood and beard were sculpted, keeping him in theme with the rest of the guys.

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WITCH HUNTERS

 


Witch Hunters are members of the grim Order of Witch Hunters, dedicated to eradicating Chaos and all its minions. Usually they prowl the Old World individually trying and executing the enemies of Sigmar, but the situation in Mordheim requires them to band together.

Like their leader, these are state troop bodies with Perry arms, and sculpted heads.

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WARHOUNDS

 


Witch Hunters often keep packs of ferocious hunting dogs. With their huge jaws and powerful bite, they are perfect for hunting down (and tearing apart) any heretics, mutants, deviants and witches.

The warband's hounds are three metal Warlord mastiffs and one Celt warhound.

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GAOLER

 


Like my Flagellants, this is a reworked older mini. The big guy was a Folda Ghoul Gaoler in his former life.

Rules profile for the Gaoler, written by Tuomas Pirinen for our MordheimMMXIX campaign:






30 gold crowns to hire +15 gold crowns upkeep

Servants of the Church, the Gaolers have the duty of extracting confessions from witches, heretics, soothsayers Chaos worshippers, idolators, fornicators and blasphemous poets in the cells under the great temples of Sigmar. Forbidden by the scriptures to spill blood, the gaoler instead is a master of inflicting terrible pain with fire, iron rods, and ingenious devices of persuasion that break bones and internal organs of those put to question. The are taught how to inflict excruciating pain with just their own massive bodies.
Gaolers are recruited as children and brought up with absolute loyalty to the Church and firm faith that their terrible methods of interrogation are for the greater good. Massive men (and it is rumoured, even a few women) are selected for their size and strength in youth, and they are an imposing, forbidding sight. By decree of the Grand Theogonist, they are fed from the kitchens of the church and encouraged to gain massive bulk and strength, which is useful for their grim work. Gaolers’ faces are hidden by hoods or bay forbidding masks, as the Holy Law decrees that the justice facing the heretics must be faceless and impartial.
In Mordheim, the services of Gaolers are much in demand by the grim order of the Witch Hunters, who have many heretics to try and interrogate. Few have survived the terrible embrace of the Gaoler and lived to tell the tale.

May be hired: The Witch Hunters can hire a Gaoler

Rating: Gaoler increases the warband’s rating by 18 points, plus 1 point for each experience point he has.








Weapons/Armor: Gaoler can be armed with a heavy chain of keys and locks (counts as a flail) or with two hammers/clubs. Gaoler wears no armor.

SPECIAL RULES

Torturer’s Grapple: Gaolers are experts at inflicting pain and restraining heretics. Instead of using his normal attacks the Gaoler can make one grapple attack that deals no direct damage in melee. Instead, if the attack hits, the target must roll under his or her strength (with -1 penalty) or become immobile and writhing in indescribable agony, unable to do anything at all (fight in melee, use items, cast spells or shoot) until in the beginning of the next melee phase provided he rolls under his strength with -1 penalty again to see if escape is possible. If successful, the model can act as normal (though it still counts as being in melee with the Gaoler).
Other models in Gaoler’s warband can attack the grappled enemy as normal, but the Gaoler cannot do anything else except hold the target. Enemies not alive and/or immune to pain (such as Undead or Daemons) are not affected by this attack, and neither are any Large models who are too large to grapple.

Devout: As long as there is a Sigmarite Priest in a warband, the Gaoler will not leave it even if he is not paid his upkeep cost, though he will not fight in the next battle until he is paid, as he has to pass on a tithe to the Church of Sigmar.

Inured to pain: The infernal heat of the torture chamber, devout self-mutilation and the massive bulk of the Gaolers give them a degree of resistance to pain. All Injury rolls against the Gaoler suffer -1 penalty. Ignore Injury results of 0 as if no damage was done at all.

Hatred: fired by the sermons of the senior priests of the Cult of Sigmar, the Gaolers hate all the members of Skaven, Possessed, Carnival of Chaos and Undead war bands.

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Making of this warband coincided with me discovering some thematically fitting music. If you like the idea od metal heavily infused with medieval flavour, check out Apocalypse Orchestra's The End is Nigh. Went through the album several times while converting and painting the Witch Hunters (with some, also fitting, sinister dungeon synth in between).

Mordheim MMXIX logo was designed by Tammy Nicholls.

Thursday 20 June 2019

CCXXIV. Witch Hunters: Warrior Priest and Flagellants

Now that I am finished with the Cult of Excess and Self-Indulgence, I'm moving on to their perennial foe: The Cult of Repression and Mortification of the Flesh... 



WARRIOR PRIEST



Many powerful fighting men have come from the ranks of the faithful. The Priests of Sigmar are no exception, and the military wing of the cult is feared and respected throughout the Empire. The Grand Theogonist himself has granted the Warrior-Priests an edict to cleanse Mordheim of Chaos filth. With fire burning in their eyes, the Warrior-Priests stride into battle, chanting aloud the Deus Sigmar, the praise of the patron god of the Empire.



My Warrior Priest was based on an (OOP?) Empire Warrior Priest with two hammers. I replaced the arms with Perry knight arms, and the head with a helm made of a Stormcast head and putty. I got rid of a few minor details to reduce the clutter. The conical shape of the helm is reminiscent of the capirote, a type of pointed hat worn by flagellants and other penitents (still used to this day in processions around Easter in Spain). Wish I'd thought of this myself, but I took the idea from the upcoming videogame Blasphemous. Wanted to use that on a miniature from the moment I first saw it.

Francisco Goya: A Procession of Flagellants (1812–1819)


 

FLAGELLANTS



Flagellants are fanatics and madmen obsessed with the end of the world. They are often men who have lost their families to war or the ravages of nature, and have also lost their minds. With insane persistence, they travel the length and breadth of the Empire, preaching their view of the end of the world. With their rousing speeches, Witch Hunters can muster these dangerous lunatics to fight in the streets of Mordheim, where no sane man dares tread. Flagellants are extremely dangerous opponents in close combat, for they have the strength of madmen, and their bodies have become inured to pain because of self-mutilation.


These were made of Empire Flagellants and a  Warrior Priest. They are the same models from my earlier project, that was also a cult of Sigmar, but in AoS. Gave them a little putty makeover and a full repaint. 


The rest of the Warband coming up next. In the meantime, I urge you to check out one of the boards we'll be using for the Mordheim MMXIX campaign, built by Kari: LINK (there are more pics on his instagram profile). It's spectacular.

Mordheim MMXIX logo was designed by Tammy Nicholls.

Tuesday 11 June 2019

CCXXIII. Cult of the Possessed: Warband Complete







Calling this warband done and ready to raid the City of the Damned for that sweet wyrdstone... And find the mysterious Moon Child. If you're curious about the other warbands, Echoes of Imperium has a new post with everyone's updates here: Damnation Ascendant

THE MAGISTER


Magisters lead the covens of the Possessed. They havebeen granted magical powers by their patron gods.They are fanatical followers of the Dark gods, utterlydedicated to bringing Chaos to the world.


The Magister minis was converted from a Void Sorcerer model from the Shadows of Brimstone: Masters of the Void set. Not exactly familiar with the range, I got the mini last year from one of the people who attended my painting workshop. Got rid of a bunch of face tentacles falling down the mini's chest, sculpted a new head and replaced one of the hands. Looks good with the other cultists, and definitely reads as their spiritual leader.

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BEASTMAN AND POSSESSED

 


I originally intended to have only one Possessed, as I imagined the cult gathering around this character through whom a Chaos daemon speaks. Like a prophet. however, I've been warned multiple times that only two heroes would be a huge disadvantage for my warband in the campaign, so in the end I relented and made another. There was an alternative option for adding more heroes: the Mutants. However, I wanted to avoid Mutants since the usual mutant look fits even less in my vision for the band, and I did not have a good enough idea for what else to do. This Possessed conversion was based on a Bloodbowl Pestigor, but with a Space Wolf head (and putty for all the hair). Didn't need to strip him naked as the trousers were all torn to rags, which fit well as it was. In general, it's the same idea as with the first: a dirty madman with matted hair and beard. This one, of course, has a different demon sigil as he is inhabited by a different entity. Pestigor's running pose was great for him; I can imagine the dread one must feel seeing this hulking thing sprinting towards them...

The third Beastman's body came from a Plaguebearer. One arm is from Tzeentch Horrors kit, the other from a Goblin Town Goblin. The head from a Bloodbowl Pestigor. 

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Yes, the glow of the demonic sigils in the scenic shots at the beginning of the post was enhanced digitally. 
Mordheim MMXIX logo was designed by Tammy Nicholls.

Sunday 2 June 2019

CCXXII. Cult of the Possessed: Beastmen

Been a while since the last update on the MordheimMMXIX Possessed. Two new members ready to join the mad rabble.

Beastmen are mutated monstrosities that infest the forests of the Empire: massive horned creatures with an inhuman resistance to pain. The destruction of Mordheim brought many Beastmen into the ruined city to prey upon the survivors. They readily ally with the Magisters of the Possessed warbands. 


The concept is based on satyrs of classical lore, and on depictions of demons in medieval and renaissance art. 


The conversions were based on plastic beastmen Gors. The heads come from Space Wolves, and the arms from Goblin Town goblins. One has a Gryph Hound tail. Had to strip down everything the gors were wearing, and there was a good deal of sculpting required to join the bits and add new details.