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A WIP shot of Ximun, the Shaman for my Mordheim warband. Really love the Empire Battle Wizard kit, lots of great bits in there. Especially the serpent staff top. Very fitting for a worshipper of Shornaal the Serpent! Want to add a couple of other bits to him possibly, but will mostly be using the paint job to make sure his allegience is clear. The head is from the Flagellents sprues (another great kit for bits!) and he has a chaos star hanging chain from the Marauder Horsemen sprues.

where did you gett that staff?

It's a part of the Empire Wizard kit. Great isn't it?

es) its cool) I want to see it painted)

Hopefully won't be too long away!

I'm a little disappointed. The weather and time have conspired to ensure that my Mordheim warband won't be painted in time for the start of the Mordheim campaign. It's a shame but at least they'll all be built and ready for battle.

This is Ekaitz





Parts of the flail are from the Flagellant kit (getting lots of bits from that for Mordheim it seems!). I really liked the look of the staff/flail so chopped it up to fit to the arms holding the regular flails for the Marauders. The head is from the Marauder Horsemen. He needs some GS work and a few little extra bits added on to give a bit more character to the model.

This is Imanol





The Halberd is one of the metal ones from the bits pack from GW for the Chaos Warriors, just cut down the hand a little to put it onto a marauder flail arm. The head is another Marauder Horsemen one.

Here are the heroes Argider, Ximun, Ekaitz and Imanol together.





I'm particularly pleased that they rank up! Seeing as I'll be using the models in my fantasy army as well that was quite important!

I've written some background fluff for the warband to tie it into the campaign at my gaming club. There are four parts. This is the first.

*

The Chronicles of The Enslaver

Argider’s father had condemned his tribesmen to death. He’d refused to bend the knee to the new self-proclaimed King of the Diatchi. Disobedience was not tolerated by this king and his armies had descended on the tribe’s holdings. The Chieftain, Argider’s father, had been slaughtered by the armoured riders. The men-folk were brutally slain, the women-folk enslaved and the livestock plundered. Argider and a handful of fighting men had survived and slipped away from the scene of carnage unseen.
They’d made a make-shift camp and then the inevitable leadership dispute had reared its head. Argider had staked his claim as his father’s heir but his claim was sullied by the foolish actions of his father and others had questioned his ability to lead as a result. Indolbika, a lieutenant of his father’s had also claimed leadership rights and at dawn they would duel to settle the dispute.
Argider had slept lightly so far that night. But as his body gave up on its vigil he descended into a deep sleep.
Visions poured into Argider’s head all at once. He saw a ruined city in the Empire of the southmen, he saw war in the streets and then he saw only darkness. But from the darkness stared two glowing orbs. The eyes bore into his soul and then a disembodied voice whispered to him.
“Argider, Argider, Argider,” it hissed. “Devoted Argider, it is I.”
“Who?” The question formed in Argider’s mind.
“The Glorious One!” The whisper rose to a furious shriek before dying back down. “My armies have marched in Lanshor’s name for centuries uncounted. Beloved Lanshor, Shornaal, Slaanesh. My prince, my lover, my father.”
“You are Elazar?” Argider asked, his tribe had long venerated the Daemon, indeed by their legends Elazar had once been a child of the same tribe in the distant past.
“Yes.”
“And those visions?”
“Ah, beautiful Argider. You will perish tomorrow; Indolbika will slay you and lead what remains of your father’s tribe. In turn Indolbika will perish and your people will be no more. You are weak and cannot triumph in this.”
Argider’s mind reeled at this prophecy.
“I can give you the strength to beat Indolbika,” the Daemon’s whisper continued. “But more than that, in time, I can give you the will to rule over men and the force to enslave those who will not be cowed.”
“And the trade?” Argider asked, his thoughts playing over his inevitable demise and not on protocol.
“I want your soul, your obedience, and your love.”
“They’re yours,” Argider swore, he didn’t need to consider; there was no alternative to a pact with the Daemon. “But what of these visions.”
“Now ruins, it was a city built on excess and sin. My blessed Prince by rights should own such a city and I seek what lies within. In this instance, the few may succeed where the many would fail. Defeat your rival and lead your men south into Sigmar’s Empire and to the ruined city, Mordheim.”

*


Next on the list are the two henchmen. They're carrying axes, daggers and bows. Yes bows! Looking forward to making them, not often I get to see a bow!

We kick off the campaign on Sunday with a race to the gates of Mordheim I believe. The campaign is set later than the original game with the varying races seeking to control the city. There are 6 Warbands present. The first through the gate wins the first game and gets first pick of their starting location on the Mordheim campaign map. Argider The Enslaver may have to be Argider The Sprinter for that game!

[quote="Elazar The Glorified]We kick off the campaign on Sunday with a race to the gates of Mordheim I believe. The campaign is set later than the original game with the varying races seeking to control the city. There are 6 Warbands present. The first through the gate wins the first game and gets first pick of their starting location on the Mordheim campaign map. Argider The Enslaver may have to be Argider The Sprinter for that game![/quote]


Lol, good thing you don't have Dwarves . If I brought my Dwarves there, I would just take them off the table and say, " Meh.... you guys can go ahead. I don't have much of a chance."

Lol, two of the other warbands are Dwarves as well. From what I understand it's not just going to be opposing warbands trying to slow us down though. There's apparently 2 routes in a shortcut that's obviously going to be more dangerous and the main gate. Will let you know how it goes!

one more time nice job)

I particularly love the cake. Hope nobody ate the toppings (my dog would...)

Thank you!


Thanks, hehe, no thankfully nobody choked on a fanatic!


Right here's the first henchmen, he still needs some work (and the arrow flight from the one in his hand came off as I was photographing him so that needs to be fixed). All the pics I'm posting here will probably look different when they're painted as I keep adding new little bits on and fixing bits.

Martzel








The Chronicles of The Enslaver

*

“Argider!” Indolbika roared as he stepped from his yurt. The sound of it caused Ximun to wince; the after effects of the narcotic he’d brewed and sampled had left him with a splitting headache. He rose from his position next to the fire to meet the hulking Indolbika. His duty as Shaman meant he must oversee the combat between the rivals for the position of chieftain.
“Silence!” Ximun snapped at the warrior. “It is dawn; he will not have forgotten overnight that you have contested his leadership!”
Ximun watched Indolbika pace back and forwards; he’d clearly brought forth all his anger to direct at Argider in the coming battle. Indolbika knew Argider well, as did Ximun. As advisors to his father they’d watched the chieftain’s son reach manhood. Whilst not soft Ximun knew that Argider was no real match for Indolbika. Indeed, Ximun had often wondered why Indolbika had never contested the previous chieftain over his leadership of the tribe; Indolbika would most likely have emerged victorious. Ximun knew that Indolbika was angry, as they all were, they had lost everything and clearly Indolbika wanted to gain some small measure of vengeance for that loss against Argider.
A few tense moments passed as the pacing continued. Then Argider emerged from his yurt, suited in his armour and a helm on his head. He walked towards the fire in the centre of the circle of yurts weighing his axe and sword in his hands as he moved.
Ximun was taken aback by the sight of the young heir. His somewhat awkward gait had been replaced by the tread of a confident warrior and his eyes burned with an intensity that he had never seen there before. Indolbika too was surprised by the transformation and his stance changed subtly as he held his two-handed sword in a more defensive pose.
“Shaman?!” Argider roared his question, his sword held out at arm’s length towards Indolbika.
“Begin!” Ximun shouted, taking a step back eager now to see the duel between the two warriors.
Argider launched into the attack raining a flurry of blows at Indolbika. The greatsword wielding brute was not a man used to being on the back foot and took action to try and reverse the tide. He stepped round a thrust from Argider’s sword and rammed his shoulder into the would-be chieftain, sending him tumbling backwards. Argider sprung to his feet in an instant but Indolbika was upon his quickly trying to cleave him in two with a swing of his blade. Argider jumped back from the attack and tried to circle round Indolbika, the larger man reacted by swinging the sword in an arc in front of him, aiming at Argider’s head. In a flash though Argider rushed Indolbika, stepping under the wild swing and hacking into his hip with his axe, in another movement Argider rammed the point of his sword up into the chin of his opponent, killing him in an instant. Argider turned from the body holding his bloodied weapons aloft.
“This warrior’s soul belongs to Elazar!” He bellowed to the heavens. He turned to Ximun then. “Shaman, see to it that his remains are left behind in his yurt, spare him from the crows at least. After the ceremony we’ll burn them all. We travel light from here on out.”
Ximun nodded and waited until Argider had returned to his yurt before he barked orders to the remaining tribesmen. He returned to his own yurt. With a new chieftain to appoint there would be great revelries this day and Ximun would need to finish his brew.

*

To finish on a WFB note instead of a Mordheim one... All the bits I need for my character on chariot have now arrived. I need to decide whether to do him or to carry on with the BSB for the painting competition at my gaming club next month. I reckon the BSB model may be a better mini for this sort of thing but can't decide one way or another with any conviction at the minute. Does anybody else have any thoughts?

he looks nice) I like the konvert)

Thanks for posting the pics Elazar. For some reason your Chaos warriors (even unpainted) seem a little bit more imposing and scary that the standard GW chaos pics. Why is that !?!

PS. I cannot see some of the pics, they are coming up as "image" text.

I agree with sig) they look more scary)) and more cooler)

Thanks for the comments guys. Really glad you like them. Not sure quite how they're looking more imposing and scary than the standard GW pics, must just be a happy coincidence but very glad you both think so!
As for the pics issue, I seem to be having problems with ImageShack on that front lately. Random pics keep not loading for a period of time before randomly fixing themselves and then another couple will start the game. Not good. Hopefully these pics won't do the same!

Henchman Bikendi




More fluff...


The Chronicles of The Enslaver

Months had passed in the icy wilderness of the north. Argider’s tribe had grown somewhat in that time. They’d made an existence raiding rival tribes as they travelled south. They took slaves, food, livestock and anything they found of worth ready to trade these with the next tribe they came across. The name of Argider quickly spread amongst the tribes and whilst it made them more wary of his raids it attracted outcasts and younger tribesmen eager for glory and their numbers swelled. At the core of his now much larger tribe Argider still had his shaman Ximun and his lieutenants Ekaitz and Imanol, two veteran warriors who helped keep the younger tribesmen in their place.
Eventually the cold of the north began to give way and Argider knew that they drew near to the southmen’s Empire. Argider’s dreams led him to the city each nightfall. He knew now instinctively the path he needed to take.
Further months passed. The last portion of their journey had, had to be cautiously slow. They encountered a few patrols but these were quickly dealt with. The surprise of seeing a warband of northmen appear of nowhere, this deep into the Empire gave Argider’s men all the edge they needed.
Within time the towers of half-ruined city walls became visible and Argider knew they’d soon reach their destination. He summoned Ekaitz and Imanol to him once they’d made camp and Ximun attended too.
“We’ll go ahead of the other,” Argider explained. “They can follow behind once we know how the city is defended.”
“Do we know anything about this city?” Imanol asked.
“Only what Elazar has shared with out lord,” Ximun answered curtly. “The city is Mordheim, and Elazar seeks something here beside the city itself.”
“Fine,” Imanol accepted the shaman’s answer, there was clearly no point in further questioning. “I’ll get a hunting party ready to accompany us in.”
Imanol went back to the main camp, barking orders as he went.
“We’ll go at first light,” Argider said and dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

There were more dreams that night as Argider had expected there would be. He saw the ruined city, he saw bloodshed and madness and then Elazar spoke to him. He hadn’t heard the Daemon Prince since that first dream.
“Argider The Enslaver,” it whispered, an apparent joy at the title with which it has suffixed Argider’s name.
“Master?” Discourse with the daemon unsettled Argider’s mind on so many levels and his tone failed in hiding this fact.
“You have done well to come this far Argider but this all been a prelude,” the daemon whispered to him, its piercing eyes staring from the darkness in his mind. “Others have come to the city. It is a joyous, endless cycle! The city draws in the proud and the greedy, ensnaring them with beautiful, dark promises of wealth and power. Some might pretend their goals are nobler.”
“What others?”
“You’ll see soon enough, my Argider,” was the daemon’s only answer. “You must not allow them to take this city. Use them or destroy them as necessary. They are all weak and do not recognise this place for what it truly is.”
“And what is that?
“You’ll see soon enough, my Argider.”

We had the first game of our Mordheim campagin. I'll post some more fluff later on that will cover this game but it'll interest thepowner238 to know that Dwarves actually won!

Right, last bit of fluff for the minute!

The Chronicles of The Enslaver

As Argider crested the hill he took in the sight before him. In the distance were the city walls and he could make out movement along the battlements. Clearly the walls weren’t undefended. More pressing though was the presence of others in the landscape around the ruined city.
A horde of green skins were making their way towards the main gate into the city to the east. From the west Argider could make out dwarves in two parties and a band of southmen. The dwarves and men were seemingly aware of each others’ presence but not of the green skins who too were ignorant of the potential threat. It would only be a matter of time before they clashed on their approach to the city. Argider thought back over Elazar’s words and decided not to seek combat with the green skins. Perhaps their common enemies in the southmen and dwarves would be enough to unite their causes for the time being.
“We need to get through the gate,” Argider said two Ximun, Imanol and Ekaitz. Martzel and Bikendi, two young tribesmen chosen to accompany them were summoned over to hear their leader’s words also. “Once we’re inside the walls we can slay the defenders and the tribe can follow. There are others vying for entrance to the city but we’ll avoid them for now.” Argider could feel the indignation amongst his warriors at the order to avoid combat. “Send the hounds ahead and we’ll test the city’s defences!”
Imanol made a whooping nose and the three hounds they’d brought with them bounded ahead, picking up the scent of living flesh and the prospect of battle.
Argider sprinted after them in the direction of the main gate, his tribesmen following behind him.
The landscape was dotted with ruined buildings and strange rock formations jutting from the ground, Argider tried to use them to cover his advance as best as possible. The fizz of a crossbow bolt flying past him made it clear that the cover hadn’t been enough to hide them from some dwarf crossbowmen. Martzel and Bikendi turned to fire arrows back at the dwarves but couldn’t hit them and so quickly fell back in with the party as they covered the ground towards the gate.
Just ahead Argider could see two of the warhounds loping back and forth behind a rock formation. A pair of towers, clearly a checkpoint before the main gate house a couple of bowmen and the hounds had halted rather than weather the hail of arrows.
Argider and the tribesmen made it to same rock formation and took a second to take stock of their surroundings. A short distance past the two towers was the main gate which was flanked by another pair of towers with more bowmen manning them. Looking at the closest towers Argider could see the men were ragged and dishevelled looking. They were no city guard, more likely survivors of the disaster that had befallen the city who’d taken it upon themselves to defend what remained of the place they called home.
Argider nodded to his tribesmen before aiming a kick at one of the hounds, the two beasts broke from their cover and the men followed behind them, sprinting towards the city gate as the arrows began to fall amongst them.
As Argider leapt over a makeshift barrier between the two towers he spotted movement to his left. Two men leapt from the rubble and flew into the attack against the warhounds who were nearest to them. One dodged the initial attack but the other hound was caught off guard and was upended by the impact of the man crashing bodily into it. Argider charged the man, sending him reeling with a thunderous blow from his axe and the fallen warhound leapt back up to rip the fallen man’s throat out in an instant.
Argider pushed on towards the gate, dodging between scores of arrows fired from the walls. He was so close now.
“Heretics!” Argider heard the cry before he spotted the southmen emerging from the trees, heading towards the gate and his fellow tribesmen. There were a few crazed men with flails charging towards them and a man who was bearing a flaming torch who had raised the shout.
They covered the ground quickly. Imanol, Martzel and Bikendi turned to meet them. Argider cursed the southmen; he had to get into the city. He would get a chance to revel in their demise in the future, he was sure of it. Another shout went up as two more crazed men turned up from the left, prowling out of the ruins like uncaged beasts. Ekaitz roared a challenge and hurtled towards them swinging his huge flail in wide arcs as he thundered across the distance between them.
Argider pushed on, only Ximun keeping pace with him. The chieftain couldn’t help but smile at the shaman’s endurance. He wondered how much that had to do with the narcotics he manufactured. Finally, they reached the gate and drove on through to the other side, arrows raining down on them from the walls. The defenders were sitting ducks to Argider now.

*

Ximun sat by the fire, silently watching his chieftain pace back and forth impatiently. Argider had climbed the walls and helped rout the defenders to make the way clear for his tribesmen but he’d lost sight of Ekaitz, Imanol and the two younger tribesmen. Now the chieftain was agonised by the wait for the arrival of his followers. He knew they’d locate the camp if they made it through the gates…

*




An image of how the warband looked for the first game of the Mordheim campaign. They still need lots of work yet.
In the end of the game I came second. Rather humerously a warband of dwarves were the first to make it into the city managing to find another door!

I've started putting the base coat on the chaos warrior regiment as well. Here's one of the Warriors.



This first stage on the amour is a nice coat of Khemri Brown.