"Violent Faith" - Taddeus the Purifier

Taddeus is a Ministorum Priest 

brought to the Blackstone Fortress by a holy vision 

seen in the burning remains 

of a particularly impertinent Imperial Navyman.

- Warhammer Community

It's that time of the week again; time for The Art of Caesura!

Do your heretics need purging? Then you need to call Taddeus the Purifier!

Ol' Tad the Pure (and no, it's not "Thad", though I - along with much of the internet it seems - thought it was Thaddeus for the longest time) is the latest member to join the "heroes" plundering the Blackstone Fortress.

Taddeus is another character in Blackstone Fortress who has quite a large role in Darius Hinks' tie-in novel of the same name. In the novel, (it's not much of a spoiler because it happens very early on) we learn that he is one of the few characters who has previously already made it deep within the Blackstone Fortress and so, in the current timeline of the story, Janus Draik employs him as a guide of sorts. 

I wonder if this is a reference to the extra prequel mission "Traitor's Fane" in White Dwarf December 2018 where Taddeus and Pious Vorne delve deep into the Fortress in search of a lost relic. Or rather, if this mission was inspired by the novel. 

Anyway, Taddeus is a great model, I love his "read this book or I'll thump you!" pose, and I tried to keep his colour scheme close to the "official" version. The pale robes accentuate his priestly position while the red detailing will tie him in with his fiery buddy. 

The gold detailing highlights this characters opulence especially compared to his acolyte...who we may meet in an upcoming post...

I would usually paint a character like this with Ushabti Bone, but I wanted him to be even brighter than that, so I kicked it up a notch and used the off-white Wraithbone as the base colour instead. 

The red was Mephiston Red mixed with a touch of Contrast Fleshtearer's Red. I shaded the gold and purple seals with Druchii Violet before giving much of the model a once over with Agrax Earthshade. 

I'm fond of his right hand, which I painted with the very bright Vallejo Silver to distinguish it from the Leadbelcher of his mace. I figured that he would keep his bionic right hand in good kip with holy oils and unctions between battles. 

I'm not as fond of his face, which I tried to make nice and piggy-pink. I started with my S75 flesh set, but wasn't really getting anywhere, so I started over by building up from Bugman's Glow and am a bit happier with the result. 

I also like how his rosary beads (which you can see in the image above) turned out. They are simply Vallejo Metal Medium over Grey Seer and then shaded with thinned Nuln Oil. 

Finally, the writing on his book worked pretty well, I used Contrast Black Templar + Wraithbone in almost a glaze consistency. 

Thanks for tuning into another week of Blackstone Fortress, I'll see you next week for more on The Art of Caesura!

Reading: Blindsight (2006) - Peter Watts

Watching: Parks and Recreation - Season 1

Next Week:

Boo!