Kruleboyz Corpse-rippa Vulcha with riders (to be honest I wanted to go with Squak! as a title, but thought I'd be a bit too short...)

As mentioned in the previous post I've finished a Kruleboyz Corpse-rippa Vulcha (or big bird, as I call him) as well as both its riders. Let's start off with the bird carrying Gobsprakk, Mouth of Mork. Or 'mage on big bird'. This is a rather powerful, named character, shaman-type that sort of binds all the different Kruleboyz groups together (in the grand narrative of things). He also looks like particularly cantankerous for an Orc. 

"Could you stand still please? I promised my pet canary a treat..." 

When I saw the first few pictures of this new model I knew one thing: I had to have it. So I got it. Even though I haven't finished painting what I already have (and I'm the first person in Warhammer this happens to ;). The concept of an angry Orc riding a very angry bird just checks of boxes in my mind. I have to admit I wasn't aware these boxes were there to be checked of, but here we are. It rather astounds me no one else has done something like this before (at least to my knowledge). The closest things to vultures I can recall seeing in miniatures are the Carrion from the Tomb Kings, especially the very peculiar first generation of those. 

I've used this model (half painted to my shame) in a test game, it has some diabolically nasty anti-magic rules that can ruin another wizards day. Quite a lot of fun (well it would've been if I'd managed to roll higher than 5 with 2 dice (D6).)

Anyway, enough waxing lyrical about the general awesomeness of this concept. Lets get into some details. I'll go crazy and start of negative. This model features a design choice that really made me cringe. It has options for two configurations: the shaman or a regular nob. Now usually GW either gives you two separate riders or they have a team of crack model designers sculpt one body with some convoluted options for you to pick while building. In this case you get almost two separate riders,. Almost? Well the feet are shared. Just the feet. It seems a bit skimpy for an expensive plastic kit, but it gets worse. If you follow the instructions, early on in the build you need to glue the feet to the saddle (the Orc's feet to be sure, not your own feet. (When in doubt, never make yourself part of the kit you're modeling (<- free pro-tip right there!))). This gives you a devil's dilemma: do you glue a rider on its mount before painting (NO!), or do you paint a rider without his feet, knowing they'll never glue on properly and will look severed from the ankles down during battle? (No one, will see this, but deep down, you'll just know and it'll make all your dice rolls come up 1). 

As with the ground based shaman, the airborne one has a grot holding a lot of stuff too.

I went with option c) and cut the plastic metal bar holding the feet together apart. Then I gave the shaman a pair of well fitted plastic feet. After getting these properly stuck I pulled out a random (Space) Ork boy out of the 'to be painted - never' -box (in my defense: it's a very honest classification system). I briefly watched the little space monster's face flash with hope and joy, then I cut of its feet and gave them to the second rider for this model. Its not a very nice thing to do, but properly Orky I say.

The bird has a warlord rider (Killaboss) option too, and you get to use its other head. It comes with a useful standard pin to make swapping without magnets possible (until the pin snaps (and I think that won't be long)).

It works. At least I think it works. Even though it does make him the only Kruleboy in the army to wear shoes. Imagine the conversation:

'Wot you werring shoes fer boss, you a stuntie?'

Stab, stab, stab...

You could point out that stabbing is not the same as conversing, but I would not point this out to someone willing to stab loyal followers over innocuous shoe-related questions. Ah orcs, they make everything simple AND narrative. Also, Games Workshop: I AM available to write more Orc dialog if you need in depth and (above all) cutting lines...or should that be piercing wit? (Why yes, I have been fully trained by Captain Smirk).

I applied a little magnet to a tender location on both Orc riders, and stuck another one in the saddle, making it possible to switch between the different versions of this model. 

I promised myself I'd also talk a little bit about colors. I used my trusty old airbrush to give the bird Corpse-rippa Vulcha a very easy VMC Hull Red (brownish red color) coat over a black and white zentihal prime job. With the Hull Red drying I sprayed on white to mark out the feather tips. I wanted these to be bright red. Building up a light dusting of white to bright white at the very ends at the wings and tail gave me a proper base to work from. I then used a hair dryer to dry the paint (patience is something that happens to other people when I'm in the mood to splash paint on miniatures). I then took VGC Bloody Red (I love this red) and sprayed two light layers over the white, giving the first layer a hairdryer treatment to dry. With the Hull Red and Bloody Red in place I added VMC Nato Black to the legs and the center of the wings. I just sprayed from the hand, attempting not to hit anything important. I could've used masking materials, but I was lazy.

I could've persevered and gone with edge highlights for the feather pins, but (looking at the results) I'm happy I didn't. 

With the basic colors for the feathers set, I carefully edged highlighted my first feather and flight pin, only to realize I absolutely lacked the patience to do this on the entire model (edge highlighting takes a lot of time and my highlights tend too look as if I've attended the 'Drunken Sailor School of Straight Lines' so it's not time well spent). I quickly adapted my plan and switched to a careful drybrush with a stupid color I was quite sure I shouldn't use (I think I used Tyrant Skull Dry to be honest). Amazingly it worked. The trick to proper looking drybrushing (in my very humble opinion) is to keep three things in mind. One: you have to make sure the brush is really dry (otherwise you're overbrushing). Two: you need to move the brush in gentle circles on larger surfaces (otherwise you still get the same streaking pattern overbrushing gives you). And three: you need to apply only the lightest possible touch of the brush to the model. If you keep those three things in mind, you'll still get a bit of the dusty drybrush effect, but it won't be very pronounced. As long as you stay away from flat surface (tanks) you'll be fine. For feathers and furs drybrushing simply can't be beat (at least not as far as I'm concerned). 

As with all the Kruleboyz, blacklining was needed to differentiate the human skin saddle blanket from the back of the beast itself.

Most of the colors of the rest of the model match the scheme in the rest of my army, so if you're curious click on the Kruleboyz keyword below this blog and read more about it. A bit worth mentioning (as I spent a lot of time worrying about how to paint it) is the rotten tree. I ended up googling images of rotting trees and concluded they tend to look grey on the outside and rather yellowish on the inside (actually I concluded you can basically use any color you want and find a reference picture proving it exists in nature, but I liked the grey/yellow look). I ended up painting the tree with the very dark Wyldwood contrast paint (instantly regretting it (my default reaction to applied contrast paints)). Then I overbrushed the dark color (after letting it dry) with multiple layers of Baneblade Brown, slowly adding light grey to the brown to give the tree character. I painted the exposed inside of the tree with Zamesi Desert (just like the shields of my Kruleboyz). Then I streaked lines of the Baneblade Brown with grey mix to give the rotten wood character and tie it in with the rest of the tree. I used a sepia wash to tie the inside together (and selected drips of Agrax wash to add more shadows here and there). I'm quite fond of how the tree turned out. 

I love this close-up (I also ran out of pictures so I was forced to reuse it in this post).

A last mention should go towards the base. I think I've written a bit about basing these Kruleboyz models earlier, but why not add a few extra words here too? I want my Kruleboyz too have an old school base look. Not the lazy 'sand and Goblin Green'-lunacy some madmen have embraced ;), but the 'where are your model's feet?'-madness you occasionally got after one of the studio members escaped into the woods and brought back materials. I applied a thick coat of home made texture paste to the base and let it dry. Then I applied a thick layer of PVA and filled it with bits of Icelandic moss and colored sponge (I have green and autumn colored sponge from Woodland Scenics for this (I think you're supposed to use it for tree canopies)). Both these materials look okay on their own, but really help give the flat base a bit of body. After applying clumps of sponge (and adding some tufts if they are within reach) I glob on static grass by grabbing it in clumps with my tweezers and pushing the clump on. Then I turn the entire base upside down, let the excess fall off and blow on what sticks to make it stand up (a bit). After letting this dry, I apply a second layer of watered down PVA (it helps everything stay stuck a bit more). I sprinkle dried green tea with lemon and Rooibos tea on this layer of PVA to get the fallen leaves effect on top (use new tea bags, do not dry out used to bags, they go moldy). I also painted a random bunch of skulls from the brilliantly named 'Skulls' box by GW to give it that 'Warhammer has skulls'-vibe and that's it. I look forward to pushing this vulture on the table going 'Squee!'. Come to think of it: Is that the sound a vulture actually makes? (As far as I know it's 'What are we going to do today', but that's neither here nor there... 

One of these nozzles is worn beyond use, the other is brand new, can you tell which is which?

I really had to add a final bit of unrelated nonsense. Know the feeling that your airbrush nozzle has worn down and it's time to replace it? Ever wonder what would happen if you just went crazy and kept on using it? I think I can safely say I've used my H&S nozzle above and beyond its practical use (it should also make my airbrush behave appropriately again ;).