Friday, 19 April 2019

"Hexgorger Skulls Exist Purely To Destroy Magic."

"Hexgorger Skulls are the physical manifestation of Khorne's hatred of the arcane arts."
These two multi-part plastic 28mm scale models of Hexgorger Skulls can be bought as part of the Judgements Of Khorne boxed set by "Games Workshop", and "are the physical manifestation of Khorne’s hatred of the arcane arts." 'Summoned' by a "friendly Khorne Priest" during "the start of your Hero Phase" the miniatures are approximately 80mm tall from bottom to dome, and can cause wizards to "subtract 2 from casting rolls... while they are within 12 inches" of either piece.

Initially undercoated with two layers of "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand, the skulls were heavily shaded using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and then enthusiastically dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand. The pair of 'spell-eaters' were then treated to a lighter dry-brush of "Vallejo" White before having their hollow interiors 'stained' with a watered-down 'soup' of "Citadel" Abaddon Black; which was poured in through one of the sockets and carefully swished around.
Bleeding Icon WIPs - The Judgement of Khorne has been spattered with lots of gore
Both pieces' blood streams were simply pigmented using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. However, as I wanted to try and suggest that the gore occasionally splashes around the Hexgorgoer Skulls' eyes (and nose), some extra Carroburg Crimson was haphazardly applied over these areas too. Later I went back over these 'spoilt' parts with some more "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand and White, delicately dry-brushing these colours over the spatter.

For the spiked skull I decided to follow the official paint-scheme by 'picking' the projections out with a little "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. But preferred to simply apply a heavier dry-brush of "Vallejo" White to the tips of the horned skull. In addition, I used some "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna as a base layer on both of the Khorne Judgements' foreheads, before carefully applying Gold, then later, "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, to the emblem of their Blood God.
Grey Knights WIPs - The space marines has been repaired (where bare plastic is showing)
Having had so much fun painting these Hexgorger Skulls, I have perhaps unsurprisingly quickly moved on to painting the next of the models from this "Age Of Sigmar" kit. The Bleeding Icon was somewhat easier to assemble than the skulls, predominantly due to it the two-part ensemble not resting its entire weight upon a couple of somewhat tiny water spurts, and resultantly has been able to withstand some far heavier dry-brushes (which usually provides a quicker finish).

Finally, inspired by some recent "Warhammer 40K" gaming, and the promise of much more to come, I have dug out five plastic Grey Knight space marines I once bought second-hand from a wargaming store for fifteen quid. Sadly, time has not been kind to a couple of the figures, as I have subsequently had to replace some broken weapons, and being pre-built I am stuck with them being an Interceptor Squad rather than my preferred Strike Squad. But I am still highly enthused by the team fighting off the indefinite advances of Bloodletters alongside my Tactical Squad of Black Templars...

18 comments:

  1. All things Khorne pleases me and these are no exception. I still have my old metal 1st ever grey knights .. painted purple somewhere.

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Phil. I certainly own the older metal Grey Knights, but not the one I believe you're referring to. I might try and find them at some point too, as at least one is now a Grey Knight character model.

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  2. Oh and the gun barrels have all been drilled, this is why the dice gods favour me !!!!

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    1. LOL!! Sorry, my space marines are a drill-bit free force!! :-)

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  3. Oh my word, they are wonderfully disturbing!

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    1. Cheers Michael, glad you like them. I think they'll make good objective markers too for Khorne in "Warhammer 40K".

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  4. Great work on the skulls Simon, nice progress on the Khorne symbol. Interesting grey knight models, they look more standard marine than I’m used to seeing

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    1. Thanks indeed, Dave. Just putting the finishing touches to my Bleeding Icon, and I know what you mean about the plastic Grey Knights - still their teleporters are rather unique-looking, imho.

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  5. I find players either Love or HATE (with a passion)spells and spell casters. Yet are always happy to have a "heal" in the form of a spell!

    The skulls look jolly good and are possibly the best things your painting prowess has created so far.

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Clint. I think these particular pieces would be useful as objectives or just disturbing scenery tbh too. I've not tried a game with Endless Spells yet, so I don't know how effective they are in game.

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  6. I really want a larger version of that first one as a paperweight :D

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  7. The skulls even more impressive now they're finished, but the Icons are reallt stunning "stand out" pieces.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Joe. Glad you like the Judgements of Khorne, they're great minis imho.

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  8. You aced these ones Simon, especially the skull!
    And Grey Knights, you gonna hunt your own freshly painted daemons?

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    1. Cheers Wouter. That's extremely kind of you to say. Yup! I've got some serious zeal for some Grey Knights and Inquisitors to start hunting my Khorne daemons.

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