I'm in White Dwarf (again)

I finally got my hands on the february issue of White Dwarf (the mag's been sold out in every hobby store in Stockholm). Apart from the rather nice feature on The Fracture of Biel-Tan, this month sees a new installment of Blanchitsu with yet another look at some of the retinues from the Pilgrym game. 

And lo and behold - this time the focus is on my Black Ship crew along with Migs Alpha Legion. I'm very pleased with the article - the pictures turned out great and the text really gives you a good understanding of the faction and their agenda. 

 

This marks the fourth time in as many years I'm featured in WD if my calculations are correct. Yay for me!

 

Pilgrym at Warhammer World

Good news everyone!

In what can only be described as the perfect culmination for all our Pilgrym efforts, Warhammer World in Nottingham have graciously decided to showcase all the models that took part in the game (including Lazaros and his cronies), along with the amazing board Migs built for the occasion. 

The minis will be on show December 3rd – February 26th 2017. Here´s what WW has to says about the display:


Some collections of miniatures stop you in your tracks. The special combination of attention to detail in conversion, technical ability in painting and overall concept all come together to create something admirable.
What makes The Pilgrym even more impressive, is that it was a seven month collaborative project undertaken by friends from around the world. These miniatures and 4×4 foot gaming board all embrace the Blanchitsu style, carry the touch of their individual creators, yet also pull into one cohesive display together. Miniatures by John Blanche will also be included in the display, so it’s a very unique chance to see this distinctive style.
The Pilgrym gaming board and miniatures will be on display in the Warhammer World Exhibition Centre so you can see for yourself the detail and character in each of these carefully crafted miniatures.

Warhammer World: Discover the Pilgrym - a stunning guest display

Pilgrym report #2

The Wier bros. have written an excellent report from the Pilgrym game. It's up on Iron Sleet, and is accompanied by lots of pretty pictures in glorious technicolor:

https://ironsleet.com/2016/08/19/an-exchange-of-hands-the-final-moments-of-the-daylight-wall-anomaly/

Pilgrym: Battle report

The Pilgrym write-up is finally up on Iron Sleet!

 Migs has gathered tons of photos and notes from the sprawling game and have done a great job turning them into a comprehensible story. Head on over to Iron Sleet and give it a read. I think you get a pretty good picture of just how crazy and tumultous the game was...

Iron Sleet: The -P- game

Pilgrymmage

Wow. What a trip. 

I just got back from Nottingham and a Pilgrym event that can only be described as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

Formulating any coherent account, apart from superlative ridden tirades about how awesome everyone who contributed to this is, is completely beyond me at this time. In other words you'll have to wait for a true recap.

I can say that Lazaros and his cronies did rather well - as a matter of fact he managed to abscond with the pivotal Pilgrim. Not only did that grant me the "victory" (though I think everyone who played were winners) but as a price I recieved a rather nice gift...

Thank you John, Migs and Pete for making this happen.

Comtessa Sarastra of House Granicus

In just a few days the ambitious Pilgrym project will reach it´s conclusion in Nottingham after half a year of frantic planning and modelling in basements and workrooms scattered across the western hemisphere.

I´m leaving for England in about twelve hours and just finished the last member of my Black Arke crew - the navigator Comtessa Sarastra of house Granicus.

She really feels like the perfect mini to cap off my part of the project. Eldritch and otherwordly she towers over even Lazaros himself.

Here´s Lazaros and crew in a group shot. I´m quite pleased with how they look all together - the more limited black/red palette makes them a lot more unified than my retinues usually are. I´m sure there´s a lesson to be learned here somewhere...

And here´s my small contribution to Terras teeming masses of pilgrim NPCs. They´re just two but I think that they compensate that with an abundance of character...

Now I´d better start packing! I´ll be back with a report from the game itself soon.

Psykonaut II

 I decided the psykonaut needed a buddy! 

Painted in record time no less - about three episodes of "Salem" (45x3 minutes). Bam!

Now I only have to paint the navigatress and the crew's ready to take on Terra! 

She's the groups second "larger than life" character, standing even taller than Lazaros. I was kinda conflicted about using the techpriest legs as they've already been featured on several amazing pilgrym models, but they just suited the mini so well. I wanted her to look warped and otherworldly - a bit like my old space-vampiress - and the swooping techpriest legs were perfect for that. 

Nihilatron/Null-drone

The Nihilatron, or Null-drone, is made from the sacred remains of a martyred Sister of Silence and projects a small psychic null-zone. While not nearly as powerful as a true living null-maiden it's still a potent weapon against wyrds and daemons.

The Null-drone also retains a spark of the sisters essence making it semi-sentient. This allows it to operate much more independently than a standard servoskull.

 

Psykonaut

Here's the fourth member if Lazaros Black Ark crew - a highly expendable crewman armed with a las-carbine. 

Basic crew on the blackships are called Psykonauts. Bred partly using recovered genetic material from psychic nulls, subjected to heavy conditioning and brain surgery, they are unusually resistant to all forms of warpcraft.

Captain-Inquisitor Lazaros

"He shall have a great doom upon his brow, he shall be a witch of great power, he shall be altered in the physical form, he shall be able to talk and walk with the animals” 

Captain-Inquisitor Lazaros is the master of the Black-aarke Garm's Maw and one of the Ordo Opscuros most zealous members. Originally a hard line Thorian serving as a daemonhunter in the Ordo Malleus, he's become more and more radicalised since joining the Ordo Opscuros - a minor ordo monitoring the black ships, notorious for their incarnationist agenda. He is now for all intents and purposes a devout Horusian, plying the stars searching out wytches and psykers that could serve as a Divine Avatar. A vessel powerful enough to contain the Emperor reborn. 

Lazaros has served the Inquisition for over 300 years and at this point he's more machine than man, the few remaining organic body parts are encased in a towering exoskeleton.

Here he is next to Quartermaster Clavius and the pilot Eliakim. 

The Veteran finished

Finally back to painting!

Recap of the background:

The Veteran the sole survivor of an entire stellar legion. The rest of the grand army he belonged to got wiped out in the pandemonium of the mysterious event known as the Fourth Conflux. 

He carries the weight of two million mens failure on his shoulders in the form of the bones of soldiers from the annihilated regiments. 

Tired and weary he presses on - his final mission to lay down the remains of his battle brothers at the steps of the imperial palace. 

He is his late comrades only hope for redemption in the eyes of the Emperor.

Wing Commander

Here's the second finished character for the Black Arke retinue - the crews pilot, Wing Commander Eliakim.

The cultists are modelled with a marked forward stoop. Didn´t really notice just how stooping his gait was until I had finished the model and took these pictures. I might go back and straight him up a bit. 

Here he is next to Clavius. I think the dark paintscheme works quite well on these guys. 

Quartermaster Clavius

Greetings, dear readers.

Today I present to you my first model for the Pilgrym Black Ship crew - Quartermaster Clavius. 

Clavius is Captain Inquisitor Lasaros surly second in command and serves as Quartermaster on the Black Arke Garm's Maw. 

He manages the Hold, where the unsanctioned psykers are interred, and has the honorary title of Warden of the Occlusian. 

Pilgrym II - The Questing Knight

My first painted character is up on Iron Sleet along with some backstory:

http://ironsleet.com/2016/04/05/the-questing-knight-pilgrym/

Here's a WIP pics to show the process. I tried to build a model that looked wholly medieval at first glance - an archetypical foot knight - but that revealed it's sci-fi-ness upon closer inspection. 

Pilgrymmage begins

The first pilgrym minis from yours truly are up on Iron Sleet! Head over there for the full feature:

http://ironsleet.com/2016/04/01/jeff-vader-unleashed/

Ordo Opscuros

The first glimpse of my contribution to the momentuos Pilgrym project is up on Iron Sleet. Head on over there and have a look: 

IRON SLEET: the-pilgrym-the-black-ships-are-here/