"No Matter the Odds" - The Emperor's Champion

It is the duty and honour of the Emperor's Champion

 to seek out the champions of the enemy 

and challenge them to single combat. 

Few can stand before such a heroic warrior.

~ Games Workshop

Welcome All to the Art of Caesura!

Last week's teaser for this week "back to the future" shall now be revealed to have multiple layers of significance: we are bringing our attention back to the futuristic world of the 41st millennium, but I also brought a model that I painted a few years ago, back up to modern day. 

So, after that cryptic intro, what are we actually talking about? Well only one of my favourite models: The Emperor's Champion!

The first miniature that my then fiance (now wife!) bought for me was the "modern" (current) version of the Emperor's Champion. In my youth I'd painted the metal model (the one holding the Black Sword in both hands) and had always admired the heroic pose of today's model. 

I originally painted this model I guess about 4 years ago. I spent ages on him, and was really pleased with the result. And then I tried to seal him. I used Purity Seal and it totally fucked everything up. I was one of those unlucky few for whom the sealant "frosted" the miniature. I was devastated. I looked up different suggestions (coating him in Lahmian Medium) but they didn't work. I remember almost feeling ill over it, so I put him away and didn't really look at him much. 

Painting the new Primaris Marine last week got me really excited about Black Templars again, so I dug out the ol' Emperor's Champion and spent this week trying to fix him (my original photos are on the left-hand side and the updated ones on the right). 

Last shots of original paint-job (post sword-straightening)

re-working the Armour of Faith

From the get-go I decided that I didn't want to strip the paint or totally re-paint him; I like that there is history to the paint job. Although my original highlights came out too subtle (on camera anyway) I wanted to keep them too - I chose not to "update" my grey highlights to the blueish-green of last week. 

before (left) and after (right)

When I received the model, there was a bit of a bend in the Black Sword. I had  tried to straighten it with hot water, but it didn't really work. Now, years on, having worked with many different resins, I felt more confident heating it with a blow-dryer. It worked like a charm!

before (left) and after (right)

I tried to fix the "Armour of Faith" by stippling most of it (in a zenithal fashion - with the lightest colour on the top of the head and backpack) and alternating inks. 

I re-highlighted his holster, Iron Halo, all metallics (rivets, backpack detailing, rosarius, and Black Sword) and re-worked (inked and highlighted) his loincloth.  

 

before (left) and after (right)

I fiddled around with the Black Sword and ended up repainting it altogether. 

Small details saw an update, like the facets of the gems holding his loincloth up changed from silver to bronze as I felt that worked better with the warm red stones and bronze of the rozarius. I glossed the purity seal to make it look more like wax and changed his eye lenses from red to yellow. I actually like the red (and it had the bonus of being a unified spot colour with the gems, seal and inside of loincloth) but I still think the yellow works, and draws more attention to his face.

Finally, I cut him off the ridiculously small base that he originally came with and gave him a new one. 

 

When I was telling my wife about my idea for this project she made the point that to tie in with his knightly look, he should be on a temple-like base with moss. I think the flagstones really fulfill this look, and as a final nod to the introduction (waxing on about going back to the future), I used some of my original flock that I used to use when I was 12 or so (remember when we used to paint the rims of the base Goblin Green, cover the top with bright green flock and call it a day!?) and toned down it's vibrancy with some Seraphim Sepia. 

After all this, I admit that from a distance he looks largely unchanged, but for me, the change is immense. The Emperor's Champion is now a model I'm proud of again. I love that this significant model for me (first one my fiance gave me) has been given new life, and has been imbued with even more history!

Thanks for joining me for this update to a sentimental model on The Art of Caesura!

Watching: Blade Runner 2049

Listening: Fireproof - The National

Next Week:

Mad Dok...