Sunday 20 January 2019

Mordheim Hired Swords


Happy 2019! I'm following with interest the Mordheim 2019 project initiated by Echoes of Imperium. For me, this year is gonna be less Mordheim-ish after I finished a few warbands last year. Nonetheless I couldn't help but feel swept along in the current of 2019 excitement so I put together a couple of one-off kitbashes to start off the new year.




Hired Swords are a great excuse to make a solo Mordheim mini with a lot of character, that doesn't have to match up with a complete warband. Dictated by what I had in my bitz box I decided to build a Pit Fighter and a Dwarf Trollslayer.

Hired Swords art from the Mordheim rulebook
You can see I stayed pretty close to the Pit Fighter illustration by David Gallagher that accompanies the Hired Swords roster in the Mordheim rulebook. At one point I did consider giving him a closed Gladiator-style helmet but I simply couldn't patch one together with the bits I have, and the Empire head I went with has such a cool face I didn't want to obscure it in the end. The spiked ball on his morningstar is from a non-GW metal knight that I acquired at some point years ago – even despite being a 54mm model its own morningstar is a much better fit for this guy (a Chaos Marauder flail made him look like a Gobbo Fanatic).

"Bonebreaker" Burt Borsi
For the Trollslayer, I worked around an old Beastman Gor toro, cut off at the knees. The old plastic Gors are very burly, just the right proportions for a stocky dwarf. The head is fixed together from a Beastman Ungor upper head with a beard from an Empire soldier. A lot of Green Stuff holds it all together, with sculpted ears, nose and neck. I figured any roughness in my sculpting will just help him to look more battle-scarred. I did toy with the idea of a classic Trollslayer mohawk but in the end I liked the brutal no-nonsense look his bald head gave him.

"Three-Trolls" Snorri
I had fun painting some tattoos on Snorri the Trollslayer. Some are runic, some just scribbles. Makes him look like he's had a long and storied past. He's also got a stinker of a black eye.



This was a nice way to ease into 2019! I've got to finish painting my #Kitbashember Necrons and my Relic Lizardmen but I'm already chomping at the bit to start another project– something lunar that's not Gloomspites..... stay tuned...

Hek

2 comments:

  1. Stellar work! The head on the pit fighter is an excellent choice (and I appreciate the classic weapons too).

    The sculpting on the slayer is great, although I imagine it to be mostly green stuff by the end!

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    1. Thanks! I should have thought to take a photo at the green stuff stage. In short: his pants and shoes, most of his back, his ears, nose and neck are all green.

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