CLXII. Abhorrant Ghoul Queen's Court: Crypt Ghast Courtier and Ghouls

These are all conversions of Spiteclaw's Swarm models, a recently released five-rat set for Warhammer Underworlds:  Shadespire. I wanted to make ghoul versions that will fit with the rest of my FEC, and that I can still use for Shadespire if I want. They make four Crypt Ghouls and one Crypt Ghast Courtier. 

Arzu, Crypt Ghast Courtier (Skritch Spiteclaw)

Ghasts are Ghoul characters, and this Skaven hero was a great starting point for my conversion. 

First step is cutting off the parts of the model I don't want. I do this before assembly, because it's easier. In this case, I got rid of the head and tail (for being what identifies him as Skaven), the weapon head (didn't like the design), clipped the cape a bit (GW has developed an excessively fluttering oddly shaped cape issue). After assembly, I usually take my dremel and get rid of all the detail I couldn't cut off or file down with a file. This is followed by gluing replacement and extra bits in place, and then, finally, I whip out the putty and sculpting tools.

Arzu's face came from a Hobbit Goblin, like with most of my FEC. Her weapon got a halberd blade from Empire State Troops. The greenish parts in the above image are putty - mostly 1:1 hybrid of green stuff and Milliput. The sculpting of the crazy hairdo had to be done in several layers. There are minor modifications on the face, and the rest of my interventions were just fixing parts that got damaged in previous steps, and filling gaps.

 

 

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Crypt Ghouls (Krrk the Almost-Trusted, Lurking Skaven, Hungering Skaven, and Festering Skaven)

Four footsoldiers to add to the existing bunch. None of the previous Ghouls were converted from a Skaven model, but I was pretty sure these would fit in well after a head swap and matching paintjob. 

This one was Festering Skaven. I really dig the pose, would be excellent for making a Skaven assassin model. Anyway, the tail and the head had to go, and I messed with the dagger handle a bit. This was the least difficult of the bunch.

Krrk is one of the two named characters in the box. In my version he is just another no-name Ghoul. 

He lost his head and tail, and later the weapon, too. I left the pet rats on his shoulder be because they're kinda cute. 

Hungering Skaven came with a flail and shield.

The flail became a mace, and the triangular shield got a change of shape. Added some laces sticking from between armour plates.

Finally, the Lurking Skaven. This one is the most problematic, because I had to do a weapon swap that makes him too unrecognisable, I think. But I simply don't envision my ghouls wealding katars or anything similar. 

I did sculpt him some Wolverine sideburns to make it up to him.

  

All Shadespire warbands come with very nice sculpted bases. I considered maybe using them for something else, but then I realised that some of the models have parts of their feet modelled on their base. I could have gone around this, but it just didn't seem worth the trouble. I used the bases from the box, and added some soil, grass and leaves to blend them with the previously existing members of the faction.

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