"Her Screaming Essence" - Thorns of the Briar Queen - Part III

The Briar Queen was once a death mage of formidable power, 

a great enemy of Shadespire whose undead armies 

breached the city walls and threatened to tear down 

all that the Katophranes had built. 

Only after unthinkable bloodshed was the Briar Queen defeated, 

captured and sentenced to an eternity of imprisonment 

and torment in the Nightvault, far beneath the city streets.

- Games Workshop

Enter if you dare to The Art of Caesura!

And now, after two weeks of looking at The Thorns at her side, I bring you The Briar Queen!

This is such a cool model! Something I (and I think a lot of hobbyists) enjoy about Warhammer Underworlds is that you can paint a few models that you wouldn't normally have a "reason" to paint. 

I wasn't about to start a new Nighthaunt army, but I wanted to have a go at painting the ghosts, so this was the perfect opportunity!

As I mentioned before, I painted all of the Chainrasps together, but painted their Queen separately. This was just so I could lavish a bit more attention to detail and blends. 

The majority of the colours were the same as previously described ("skin" began as Nihilakh Oxide (man, I need to look up the spelling of that one every time!) with a very thin 4:1 Lahmian Medium:Nuln Oil wash. This was highlighted with a mix of Gauss Blaster Green + Lothern Blue + White Scar. I focused my highlights out towards the tips of her fingers. 

Her skull was Skeleton Horde, but where on the Chainrasps I left it at that, for her, I recess-shaded with Agrax and highlighted with Ushabti Bone, adding white for her fangs and tip of her "nose". 

Like with the Chainrasps, her wispy bits (sounds lewd!) are Space Wolves Grey with highlights of The Fang mixed with white. I built this highlight up as a glaze using more layers than I did for the rest of the gang to really push the smoothness of the blend. 

For her veil I just used Apothecary White (a really handy shade for white!) with subtle glazes of Grey Seer and then White Scar on the prominences, and less dilute stippling around her "face" to add some texture.

The vines are Militarum Green and Creed Camo for the leaves. The vines got a wash of 1:1 mix of Biel-Tan Green:Seraphim Sepia and the leaves were washed with pure Biel-Tan. Both were highlighted with a mix of Warboss Green + Ushabti Bone. 

For the titular thorns I started with Skeleton Horde, washed at the bases with Druchii Violet and then highlighted with Ushabti and white (sounds like a drink).

The roses were Fleshtearer Red washed with Druchii Violet and highlighted with Screamer Pink with Ushabti Bone added (instead of white to avoid an overly cutsie pink appearance).

Every queen needs a crown, and hers started as Nazdreg Yellow (I'm getting better at these Contrast Paint names!) over Runefang Steel (same as her dagger handle). I gave a gentle recess shade wash of Agrax Earthshade, and also used this where her crown meets her veil to create some shadow. These were highlighted with Retributor Armor and then Stormhost Silver (most sparingly!)

The gems on her crown, on the end of her veil and the beads around her waist were Leviadon Blue (which definitely has a purplish hue to my eye!) highlighted with a mix of Screamer Pink and Altdorf Blue (I always find this makes a nice neutral purple), with more and more white added in for the gemstone effect. I then finished them with a lick of gloss varnish. 

Her bodice / corset was my new brass recipe of Snakebite Leather over Runefang Steel. I didn't have to shade it at all, and only gave the gentlest of highlights with Runefang Steel and then Stormhost Silver. 

And there we go! I think she stands out nicely from her Chainrasp minions by being a more elaborate miniature with a lighter colour palate, while still clearly belonging to the gang. 

I think the Briar Queen gives a nice example of lavishing a little more time on the leader model without making them totally at odds with the rest of the gang.

Let me know what you think of The Thorns. See you next week on The Art of Caesura!

Reading: Finding Gobi - Dion Leonard

Listening: Ready for Love - Pixies

Drinking: Wiklow Wolf Oatmeal Stout
Gaming: Mortal Kombat 11

Next Week:

Yuletide cheer...