"Huggy D" - The Hungering Darkness

"Before the Breach opened,

there were many powerful creatures,

and the Hungering Darkness was one of them,

though it had a different name then..."

Malifaux 2E Rulebook

Hey team, time for another week's The Art of Caesura!

Boy, it's been a big week! Two great friends got married (I had the honour of having a wee guitar session at the after-reception), I started another new job - the nature of my work means I start something completely new every 3-6 months which is cool, exciting and a bit daunting for the first week or so. Also our car has been in the shop all week. This last bit is a bit of a shame because my beautiful new beer kit and bottles are at the postal depot, but I can't quite get out there with my bike.

Anyway enough life biz. I hope you've all been well, and if not, I hope you get better soon. 

So this week we're going back to something that I thought this blog would be much more of! Malifaux. I really love the minis and lore of Malifaux - an alternate Victorian era with magic and all kinds of mayhem. This week I painted up a model who's a bit of a big deal in Malifaux.

The Hungering Darkness (which has to be one of the coolest names ever), or Huggy D as he's affectionately known by the Malifaux community, is this daemon-thing that has possessed this gambler-guy, Jakob Lynch, so that it can peddle its mind-control drug "Brilliance". Plus he's no sap on the board either, he can deal loads of damage and re-incarnate himself. Sounds amazing, right? Unfortunately he's also plagues by having a model that is almost universally maligned. His model is inexplicably a mix between a larva and a deep-sea fish. Not quite what I would envisage when I hear Hungering Darkness...but more on that another time. 

I don't own this image

So, how ugly is this guy really? Well, pretty hideous, but I think the model itself has a lot of potential. Most people take the name literally and paint this guy black, or purple - the colour of the Neverborn (the daemons in Malifaux) but after having tested the technique on The Hybrid, I capitalized on the whole larval look.

But I kept his maw super dark to give the impression that he literally devours you with darkness. Yum. 

I base-coated him (by hand, my spray paint is still being a bit glitchy) black, then undercoated him a nice reddy-brown working up to Ushabti Bone and even Scar White on his teeth. I gave an all-over wash of Gryphonne-Sepia and a partial wash of Agrax Earthshade (my first use of it!) into the crevices, then highlighted up the high points using plenty of Lamian Medium. After that I used about 8 layers of Nuln Oil on his cute little arms. I was trying to get a similar effect to the mini I'm going to show you next week - let me know what you think, and I'll give you my thoughts next Friday. 

Looking at him again I think I might have been subconsciously influenced by the texture of the aliens in Independence Day. I obviously slathered him in liberal coats of gloss varnish, I think it really pulls the look together. I then delighted in setting him on this Secret Weapon base, slithering out of a "Foul Sewer" great eh? 

I had a ton of fun with this guy and hope you enjoyed having a goo. See you next time on The Art of Caesura.


Listening: Make You Better - The Decemberists 
Also Listening: The Wrote and the Writ - Johnny Flynn
Watching: Ghostbusters 2016


Next Week:
An illuminating mini...