"Plunder the Sartosan Coast" - Manann's Blades Command

The mercenary company of dark repute 

that is led by Edvard Van Der Kraal 

takes its name from the quixotic 

and violent sea god of the Empire.

- Warhammer Wiki

Avast land-lubbers, hop aboard The Art of Caesura!

To celebrate "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" tomorrow, today we'll be looking at a very scurvy scallywag: the champion from Manann's Blades.

I really liked the idea of The Dogs of War in Warhammer's Old World. They were a ragtag army of mercenaries of every race. Aesthetically, they seemed like the sculptors' chance to really let loose. I still love Ruglud's Armoured Orcs and wish I had picked them up when they were still in production. 

Anyway, after the Preyton over the past few weeks, I had been digging around in my box of old Forge World minis and found this fun little guy. I actually didn't have any clue who he was before I got started, but just loved his character, pose and peg-leg. 

I started by making a new round base for him by gluing some old sprue into a slotta base. 

For my colour scheme, I thought it would be fun to pretend that one day I would have the time to put together a Tempest's Eye Cities of Sigmar army (because they work closely with Kharadron Overlords). So I painted him in the same colour scheme as my Barak Mhornar KO. 

Recipe:

Base colours:

Beige: Ushabti Bone

Blue: Stegadon Scale Green

Copper: Screaming Bell

Steel: Leadbelcher

Look at those luscious blue blends!

Shades:

Beige: Agrax Earthshade

Blue: Nuln Oil

Copper: Agrax Earthshade

Steel: Nuln Oil

A nice lumpy, grumpy face.

Highlights:

Beige: Ushabti Bone, add White Scar

Blue: Sotek Green, add Lothern Blue, add White Scar on the edges

Copper: Hashut Copper, add Stormhost Silver

Steel: Runefang Steel, add Stormhost Silver

The actual colours themselves were the easy part, because like I said, I just used the same recipe as my Kharadron Overlords. The tricky part was figuring out where to place each colour.

Transferring the colour-scheme from the coloured armour panels of the KO to the cloth of this dude (brimming with details) was trickier than I expected: should this ruff be blue, should that poof be beige? That sort of thing.

Looking at the finished pictures now, the only thing I would have changed would be the colour of the kerchief around his neck. I think if I was to go back, I would paint it blue instead to give more contrast from his pale skin. I had painted it beige because it is visible at the sides and back of his neck and I wanted to give some separation where it meets his blue cloak. But I think the face would have popped more against a darker surrounds. Live and learn. 

For his skin, I used my Pale Flesh recipe (Cadian Fleshtone -> S75 Basic Flesh then mix in more and more S75 Pale Skin) to give a bit more vavavoom, I gave him a harrowing gaze with a glaze of diluted Druchii Violet around his eyes. 

To make him properly hardened, he needed stubble which I created by glazing a mix of Nuln Oil + Drakenhoff Nightshade heavily diluted with Lahmian Medium. 

And finally, for that windswept (and rum-soaked) look, I ruddied up his cheeks with heavily diluted S75 African Shadow. Painting this undiluted onto his lips. 

For his dandy feather, I started with Ushabti Bone, shaded with Seraphim Sepia and then highlighted with a mix of White Scar and Vallejo Metal Medium.

The exposure got a bit messed up in the picture above, but I kept it because you can get a better angle of his face. Below you can see the peg-leg that attracted me to the model in the first place!

And with that I bid you YO-HO! I'm off to plunder, but I'll see you next week on The Art of Caesura!

Reading: The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colourblindness - Michelle Alexander

Watching: Tenet (2020) - Christopher Nolan

Listening: The Great Chinggis Khaan - The Hu

Next Week:

Abominable...