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