Friday 25 May 2018

"At First Glance, Karsus Doesn’t Seem Like Much."

"He's neither as durable as Garrek nor as deadly as Saek."
This 28mm scale multi-part "push-fit" model of Karsus The Chained is part of the "Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire" starter set sold by "Games Workshop", and can additionally be used as part of Garrek's Reavers unit for "Age Of Sigmar". "With a ranged attack and the ability to attack multiple fighters at once" this cruel warrior is "one of the warband’s most dangerous fighters" and "a key component to many Khorne Bloodbound strategies."

Primarily undercoated with "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone to help mask the model's vivid red plastic, the former slave's trousers, neck collar and leather wrist bracelet were painted with "Vallejo" Black, whilst his thigh armour and shoulder plate, were both treated to a combination of Heavy Sienna, Brass and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. In addition, Karsus' chains, which are made from the shackles he used "to choke his masters to death", as well as the "many-notched axe that has claimed countless skulls for Khorne" were given a layer of "Citadel" Ironbreaker, before being shaded with Nuln Oil and dry-brushed with (more) Ironbreaker.
Targor WIPs - The Khorne Bloodreaver just needs his flesh to be shaded and his many scars 'picked out'
The mortal fighter's belt, numerous straps, weapon handles and boots were 'picked out' with some "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and Strong Tone Quickshade. Whereas his bare flesh was pigmented using "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone with a splash of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. As a final touch I used a thin, carefully drawn line of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone to 'highlight' the killer's heavily scarred Chaotic Khorne symbol which had at some point been hacked across his torso.

As a last step, and in order to ensure the model matched  my Chaos Host for "Age Of Sigmar", I painted its highly-detailed base with "Citadel" Doombull Brown, Rakarth Flesh and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. Disconcertingly, because I steered away from the Nottingham-based company's official red-armoured paint scheme by replacing it with burnished brass, it was only at this point that I realised I hadn't used and "Vallejo" Heavy Red on the miniature at all; a colour which is ordinarily universally seen on all of the Blood God's butchers. However, hopefully such an oversight won't be all that noticeable when Karsus The Chained is on the tabletop with his fellow frenzied devotees...
Flat-Top WIPs - This heroic resin warrior has had all his metallic areas layered, shaded and dry-brushed
With just one of my Garrek's Reavers left to finish, it shouldn't come as any surprise to know that I have made some significant progress on my "Shadespire" miniature of Targor as well. To be honest, I've been avoiding painting this particular model as it's my least favourite of the Khorne Worshippers, on account of the sculpt's pose striking me as being a little too similar to that of Gorebeard himself. However, having persevered with the crazed bezerker's fiddly leather straps, stitches, skull trophy and leg armour, I am now in a position where he simply needs his mutilated flesh to be shaded/highlighted before being ready for a gloss varnish...

Having recently started re-watching some classic episodes from the animated television series produced by "Filmation" called "He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe", I was rather inspired and pleased to recently locate a copy of this Out Of Production (OOP) sculpt of Flat-Top from a private collector. A good likeness of the Heroic Warrior, Ram-Man, I've set to work trying to replicate the palette "Mattel" used for their action toy of "the human battering ram."

26 comments:

  1. Great work on the last two reavers Simon, you're not ramman looks like a cool model to paint

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    1. Thanks Dave. It'll be good to get the Bloodreavers finished and on both the "Shadespire" and "Age Of Sigmar" tabeltop soon. I'm looking forward to having Ram-Man painted, albeit I don't yet have any concrete plans as to what system I'll use him for.

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  2. Karsus is a great fit to your existing Khorne crew. Targor though... I think I will be chopping off that bloody silly topknot from mine - seriously, bloody, silly.

    Ram Man was one of my few fav's of the MotU good-guy line. Much like my Transformers, Action Force, Star Wars, MASK collections, I was always far more enamoured by the baddies though, so Trapjaw for me - just wish there was a good sculpt (ANY sculpt infact) for him out there...

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    1. Cheers Dai. Targor is a bit silly-looking, but that's why I've painted him last. Glad you like Ram-Man, and you say you're a Trap Jaw fan eh? Well in that case you might like another mini I've picked up from a private collector ;-)

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    2. O you tease! Pick me up one too! :P

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  3. Excellent job on Karsus. Ram Man looks fun to paint!

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    1. Thanks Simon. I like the "Shadespire" minis enormously, but they are time-consuming to paint. Looking forward to Ram-Man getting some licks of paint :-)

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  4. Wow the posts are coming think and fast! faster than I can comment on them in fact. Karkus is a great looking miniature, he'd make a good addition to a Frostgrave warband (an Evil one especially). As you said yourself, I too am not that keen on the Targor figure though, and I agree with Dai on the topknot issue.

    Ram man is a great sculpt, however and a bit "beefier" than mine, he should paint up a treat! does this mean you'll be adding some more "He-men" to your collection in "Forgotten Heroes" month ;-)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Spookily I was contemplating cutting off the top-knot myself, but obviously all the Targor game cards show him with it, so it'd be a bit disconcerting matching them to a mini without one; plus I already have a bald bloodreaver with Karsus.

      I'm hoping to keep the "Masters Of The Universe" down to a minimum tbh, Roger, as I can't do any distractions currently - far too much to paint. So it'll just be Mister Freeze's Ice Zombies for "Forgotten Heroes". but I'm sure a few more "He-Man" minis will creep onto the blog from time to time ;-)

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    2. Careful they're addictive!!

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    3. Indeed they are, I have a few 'one-off' sculpts to showcase over the next few weeks as a result ;-)

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  5. More minis to admire Simon, you’re in fire mate

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    1. "*on.... man I hate this iPad at times...." - LOL Andy. Thanks, got a bit of a backlog to post about over the next couple of weeks :-)

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  6. Flippin 'eck Simon, you seem to be on a bit of a "push"!
    Mind you, with the Reavers almost done that's understandable :-)
    Great work as always, and an inspiration to us all.

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    1. Thanks Greg. No push, just plenty of enthusiasm for the minis I currently have in front of me, that's all. I've now finished Targor so looking forward to getting some "Shadespire" in at some point soon :-)

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  7. My word that's a large chopper! ;)

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  8. I do like your Shadespire warband enormously. A different take from the GW paint jobs, but they do capture that brutality that warriors of Khorne should have brilliantly. Great job well done. I quite like the next guy too, top knot and all, so I can't wait to see his screaming face painted up! Very inspirational good Sir!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I'm hoping to have Targor varnished and based over the weekend and ready for posting at some point soon. Then it'll be on to the next unfinished project...

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  9. The reavers are really coming together as an awesome looking unit an well worth the time you've spent on them imo.
    Ram-man, I rememebr as a large plastic toy my sons played with along with their He-Man figures.

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    1. Cheers Joe. Very much appreciated. That Ram-Man you remember is precisely the colour scheme I'm hoping to replicate with my paint-job :-)

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  10. Excellent stuff Simon! You are just cranking through models right now - if I could do a quarter of what you putting out I wouldn't have such a backlog right now :)

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    1. Many thanks indeed, Ivor. I'm certainly getting quite a few mini-projects progressed currently. It'll be nice to get the "Shadespire" Warband finished, as that has been a long-time coming :-)

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