Having finished the first set of Mörderin miniatures, it was time to move onto the second batch. For most of these models I continued the narrative that they might be part of the pirate crew. One that plies the space-lanes of the Warhammer 40,000 universe looking for easy targets to plunder. A couple of the models might be more suited to other vocations, but we’ll get to that in due course.
Bear-vitors
Bear-servitors musical troupe - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
I once again started with the bears, although this time around I did give them a more uniform appearance. To get things started though, I primed the models with Colour Forge Hyrax Brown as that will at least take care of all the fur. I really liked the bright and bold scheme that I gave Jester last time, so I decided to replicate this across the second batch of bears. With that in mind, I painted patches of the clothing and the drummer’s mohawk with Vallejo Scarlet Red. I then painted the alternate patches and the case of the drum with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown. From there I painted the skull puppet, jester’s collar and the rim of the drum with Vallejo Khaki. I picked out the eye patch and the noses with Two Thin Coats Death Reaper. The horns I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. For the metallics, I painted the trumpet with Army Painter Tainted Gold and any silver details like the metal collar, drum sticks and blades with Army Painter Heavy Metal.
With the basecoats done I gave everyone an all over wash of Army Painter Strong Tone to bring out the texture. The wash had also darkened the model down a fair bit so the first thing to do was to bring back some brightness. To do this I repainted over the flat red areas with Vallejo Scarlet Red, painting up the edges of the recesses while leaving the recesses themselves darker. I then repeated this process with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown on the yellow areas. To really make the colours pop, I then painted Army Painter Fiery Vermillion over the red areas, in a slightly smaller area than I have the Scarlet Red. While I had it out, I also used it to highlight the hair of the mohawk and to pick out the eyes. For the yellow areas, I used Yriel Yellow to highlight them. Continuing with the highlights, I used Army Painter Pale Sand to highlight the edges of the drum and horns. I also used this to pick out the various stitches across all three models. I highlighted the jester collar and any straps with Army Painter Urban Buff and lastly, I highlighted the fur with Vallejo Khaki.
Jӓgerin Twins
Jӓgerin Hussars - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Next up were the Jagerin, of which I had two. I was tempted to do some converting but, in the end, I was happy to have multiples of the same sculpt. I did however use the fur hats that I got as a Stretch Goal instead of their brimmed hats so that they matched the Hussars from the first set of miniatures. With the models assembled, I primed them with Colour Forge Raven Black.
As mentioned, I wanted them to match the Hussars I painted in the first set, so with that in mind I painted their corsets with Vallejo Scarlet Red and their hats with Vallejo Khaki. The feathers on the hats I painted with Pro Acryl Ivory and the skull and cross bones with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I painted the veils with a couple coats of Archive-X Reefer White, a warmish off-white colour, and the boots with Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather. It took me longer than I would like to admit to realise that these two were wearing an undersuit, and whilst I did toy with the idea of leaving the off-black of Raven Black I eventually decided that a light grey, as I had done for Rastn, would look better. To achieve this, I painted the undersuit with a couple thin coats of Two Thin Coats Carcharodon Grey, tidying up any straps with Cuirass Leather. I finished the basecoats off by painting the weapons with Army Painter Heavy Metal and any armour with Army Painter Tainted Gold.
I then gave the hats a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone and everything else a coat of Dark Tone. I kept the highlights fairly simple, first layering the red areas with Scarlet Red and then highlighting with Army Painter Fiery Vermillion as I had done for the bears. I highlighted the feathers with Army Painter Matt White and picked out the various studs with Scale75 Thrash Metal.
Urrce of the Covenant
The unsanctioned psyker of the crew - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Urrce is where I started to make some changes. I wasn’t a fan of the skull mask and obscene nest of dreadlocks. Apart from anything else I felt they’d make the model too top heavy and there wasn’t a huge amount of contact area around the neck. I decided instead to use a head from the Frostgrave Wizards II set, as they’re ladies, and found a nice one with spiked hair and a shrieking mouth. Along with the knife-like fingers, it made for an unsettling model. Perhaps Urrce is an unsanctioned psyker of some sort?
I primed the model with Colour Forge Raven Black and got to work on the painting. To start with I painted the skin with a couple coats of Vallejo Flesh as I had done for the first batch of miniatures. I then picked out the gloves, boots and hair with Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather. I painted the fur mantle around her shoulders with Vallejo Khaki and the tabards on her waist with Two Thin Coats Griffon Claw. I then painted the armour with Army Painter Tainted Gold and the blades with Army Painter Heavy Metal.
For the washes, I gave the tabards a coat of Army Painter Voodoo Shade which is a nice disgusting green colour that’s perfect for some tabards that may or may not be human flesh. The rest of the model however was given a coat of Army Painter Dark Tone. Moving onto the highlights, I ran a line of Vallejo Pale Skin along the edges of the tabard and picked out the raised detail of the fur with Army Painter Urban Buff. For the hair, I used the flat of my brush to paint the raised details with Vallejo Khaki. I then highlighted the raised areas of the skin with Vallejo White Skin.
To help sell the idea of a psyker, I carefully painted the eyes with Army Painter Matt White before giving them a coat of Gryph-Hound Orange contrast paint. I made sure to get some of the orange on the area around the eye to make it look like they were glowing. I chose orange, as opposed to something like blue, because all the Morderin models have been painted in warm tones, and I wanted to keep things to that side of the colour wheel. To finish the eyes off, I carefully put a dot of Yriel Yellow in the centre of each of them.
Grimhilde
Grimhilde the dancer - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Grimhilde’s pose very much put me in the mind of a dancer, but like Urrce I wasn’t a fan of the skull mask that the model came with. I opted for something less grimdark but more human, again from the Frostgrave Wizards II set. Grimhilde was also the first miniature that I felt didn’t fit in with the rest of the pirates, partly I suppose because she doesn’t have a weapon. And whilst I was tempted to give her one, I do want to grow my collection of non-combatants.
Getting started on the painting; I primed the model with Colour Forge Raven Black and blocked in the skin with a few thin coats of Vallejo Pale Skin. As a dancer I felt that Grimhilde ought to have a bright and bold dress, so I fell back on the tried and tested colours I had used for the bears. I split the dress up into sections, painting alternate sections with either Vallejo Scarlet Red or Heavy Goldbrown. The trim on the dress I carefully painted with Pro Acryl Ivory and the hair I painted with Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather. With all the basecoats done I gave the model a head-to-toe coat of Army Painter Strong Tone.
From there I first layered the red areas with Vallejo Scarlet Red before highlighting them with Army Fiery Vermillion. Likewise, I layered the yellow areas with Heavy Goldbrown and then highlighted them with Yriel Yellow. I also highlighted the hair with Vallejo Khaki.
While I had it out, I used Fiery Vermillion to paint the apple, and Warpstone Glow for the stalk and leaf. For the final details, I decided the face needed a bit more detail. I used Sale75 Instant Colour Arcane Purple to add some colour around the eyes, lips and cheeks. Lastly, I highlighted the skin with Vallejo White Skin.
Queen Boudoo
Queen Boudoo, the crew’s unseen backer? - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
The last model was Queen Boudoo, which I had been putting off for a couple of reasons. Initially because of the model I got there is a really bad mold that slipped down one side of the miniature. Bad enough that I was able to get a replacement from Zealot Miniatures. I did however want to practice on fixing it. The slip was large enough that I could conceivably pass it of as a gap in the gap in the fabric of the dress. I mixed up some greenstuff and smushed it into the gap, using a sculpting tool to smooth it down and a craft knife to straighten up the edge. The result looked better, not necessarily good, but better. While I had some greenstuff mixed up, I used a pipe maker to roll out some cables that I stuck to the underside of the skull holding up the hem of Boudoo’s dress. That way they looked a little more like a servo-skull. Lastly, I decided that I wasn’t a fan of the massive collar so I left it off, its exclusion would probably make painting the face and head easier as well.
Once the model was assembled and the greenstuff and fully dry, I primed it with Colour Forge Raven Black. It took me a while to work out what colour to paint the dress. Given the gothic nature of the model, black was an obvious choice. But black is difficult to get right and can otherwise end up looking flat. Or worse, grey. I was tempted to give them a yellow dress but, in the end, settled on orange. I chose Army Painter Sunburst Ochre as my basecoat, I had used it for the first batch of miniatures as the basis for some quick gold non-metallic metal and was pleased with how it looked.
For the rest of the base coats, I used the usual Vallejo Pale Flesh for the skin and Vallejo Scarlet Red for the flowers and the trim on the dress. The judge’s wig I painted with Pro Acryl Ivory and the ruff with Archive-X Reefer White. The servo-skulls and cane I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and the tendrils with Army Painter Heavy Metal. Lastly, I painted her hat with Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather. I felt that dark brown would look better than orange.
The model has a lot of light and warm colours on it, so I didn’t want to use something like Army Painter Dark Tone for the wash only to have to work harder brightening everything up again. With that in mind, Sonic Sledgehammer’s Marine Juice wash is ideal for the job as it is a mix of Dark Tone, Reikland Fleshshade and Lahmian Medium. I gave Boudoo an even coat of it and once it was dry I moved onto the next steps.
I still had a bit of layering to do, but not as much. I started by painting the raised areas and folds of the dress Sunburst Ochre. I then mixed in some Troll Slayer Orange, about fifty-fifty, and painted in a second layer. Finally, I highlighted the edges and proudest details with pure Troll Slayer Orange. I finished things off by highlighting the flowers with Army Painter Fiery Vermillion, the wig and ruff with Army Painter Matt White and the skin with Vallejo White Skin.
Bases
At last, we come to the bases. Which were done in the same way as the original batch of Morderin miniatures, so they match. Even Grimhilde and Boudoo who wouldn’t be part of the crew, so that they matched my other Imperial citizens.
To get things started, I covered the flat areas of the bases with Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste. Once that was dry, I washed the bases with Army Painter Strong Tone to bring out said texture. From there I dabbed on patches of PVA glue and dunked the models in a tub of Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains. Once the glue had set, I sealed the scatter in place with Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant. Lastly, I painted the rims of the bases with Steel Legion Drab.