The Pilgrym: Kirill Blokhin, Acirgeon of the Church of the Red Athenæum

Rip and tear.

The Pilgrym event is getting closer and closer to a reality, and I have been trying desperately to finish converting the last few members of the Church.  Today, I wanted to share with you one of these models, a character that my brothers and I have been working on for a while, both in concept and model execution.  The entire design process was sparked by rediscovering a classic piece of John Blanche’s art from the Confrontation era.  The central figure in the piece, a sanctioned bounty hunter, always held our imagination, a crazed ganger, reminding me of one of the Droogs from Clockwork Orange.  The creepy frowning mask, the clean tunic and pants, the axe at his belt, the machine pistol in hand, and the noose around his neck, all make for a compelling character.  We set out and create a character in his image, and Kirill Blokhin, the Church’s Acirgeon was born.

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 7: Orruks in Age of Sigmar and Warhammer Quest!

Orcs/orks/orruks are back!

This episode is focused on the orcs arrival in  Age of Sigmar, in the form of the Orruk Ironjawz.  We talk about the new Ironjaw models, and discuss how the image of the orcs has changed over the years in Games Workshop products. Special mention is given to Brian Nelson’s key role in defining how they look today.  We also speak briefly about the newly revealed Warhammer Quest boxed game, marveling at the surprising diversity in the models included in the box.

Index Astartes Apocrypha: Impressions

Index Astartes: Apocrypha

To help celebrate 30 years of Space Marines, alongside releasing the Imperial Space Marine model, Games Workshop also released a hardcover book, collecting a range of early Space Marine material called Index Astartes: Apocrypha.  I was fortunate enough to get a copy of the book, despite its limited print run (it is available in a digital format on the Black Library, however), and figured I would let you know what I think of it via pictures!

Orruk Megaboss: Unboxing and assembly impressions

This beakie looks outclassed...

In my mind, the orcs/orks/orruks really came into perfect form when Brian Nelson started to sculpt them, starting with a few Warhammer Fantasy models, then moving to Gorkamorka (Mad Max-style gang warfare game), before finally sculpting the majority of the 3rd edition Warhammer 40,000 range.  He was able to take the somewhat comical humanoid designs of Rogue Trader and 2nd edition Warhammer 40k and completely revitalize them.  He turned the orcs/orks into more simian-like creatures with long arms corded with muscle and hunched postures.  Beyond the orcs’ frame, Nelson gave them a very distinctive facial structure, with a flattened nose, small beady eyes and a pronounced lower jaw.  A lot of these features were already part of the orc aesthetic, but Nelson was able to combine those elements into something very distinctive and unique for Games Workshop. Brian Nelson made me love the orcs.  A number of other sculptors have handled orcs for Games Workshop since Nelson’s reimaging, but none ever fully captured their essence like he did.  The last few Warhammer 40,000 orc releases seem more like imitations of Nelson’s greatness, never quite reaching the same heights (despite being very good).  I had long hoped for the day that Nelson would return to sculpting orcs, and when I saw images of the new Orruk models for Age of Sigmar, my heart lept.  After seeing the expressive faces on the models, and the careful attention to scale, I knew that Brian Nelson must have had a serious role in their creation.  As it turns out, Nelson’s first sculpt for the Orruk range was the imposing Orruk Megaboss. Such was my excitement about the model that I was at my local hobby shop to get it the day it was released.

The Pilgrym: Bronwen vox-owl

Burn the Witch.

While I am still hard at work creating more members for the Church of the Red Athenæum, I realized that I never posted any finished pictures of Roland's owl companion, Bronwen.  I painted Bronwen to look like a Great Horned Owl due to his pronounced ears/horns.  What do you think?