Cut Off a Head

This week: our Two-For-One All-You-Can-Be-Eaten-By diner special!

Up from the depths
Thirty Stories High
Breathing Fire
His head in the Sky

Thanks to the power of Leofa  magnetism, this cracker can be reassembled in a matter of seconds to form the other Dark Elf thunderstomper, the Kharibdyss.

And Godzookie

I slightly prefer the sculpt for that, the weird spider/eel heads are very nice. And hydras are clearly a difficult thing to model - nice though this one it, there's something subtly wrong in there somewhere. I can't put my finger on what, exactly. Head-to-neck size ratio? Body shape? Something, anyway. I've yet to see a hydra model that's totally won me over, even if this one beats the older droopy-headed one into a series of cocked hats.

I worry terribly about those whips, they're awfully frail. I suppose that's elves for you.

I like big monsters (and I cannot lie) - the scale suits my trembling hands slightly better, for one thing. Obviously that meant trying to flair it up a little, and painting who-knows-how-many tiny green semi-circles on the scales took up an entire painting session on Wednesday night.

Whipcrack away whipcrack away whipcrack away

Ms Whippy here was removed from the base temporarily while I was painting it, the better to get the details in. Wish I'd taken her pictures before gluing her back on, the camera had real issues focussing on her round all those spikes.

Her and her twin brother have mirrored hydra scale coats on. Nice models, those, if you took them off the base they'd make great individual characters with very little alteration needed.

Painting Guide:

• Upper Body - Abaddon Black. Snot Green crescents on the larger scales, then a wash of Nuln Oil, then a direction drybrush of Hellion Green. Same on the handlers' black clothes, although I didn't use Snot Green on them, just black and then drybrush.
• Underbody - Death World Green, washed heavily with Agrax Earthshade, then drybrushed with Camo Green followed by Camo Green + White Scar and topped off with a lick of Rotting Flesh. Again, same on the handlers' green bits.
• Underunderbody - Not sadly visible in any of these shots, but there's a blue stripe along its belly! Temple Guard Blue with a Nightshade wash, then Skink Blue and Spacewolf Grey highlights.
• Talons, teeth, etc - Bleached Bone washed with Agrax Earthshade, then Tyrant Skull and White Scar drybrushes.
• Dribble - The hydra has Wild Rider Red drops of firey liquid, highlighted with Trollslayer Orange and Bad Moon Yellow. The Kharibdyss (gods that's annoying to spell) has Bilious Green with Green Ink wash ones. Both had gloss varnish on over the top. 
• Mouths - Hydras have Xereus Purple gums with Tentacle Pink layering, then Deadly Nightshade tongues with Skink Blue drybrush. The other guy (I give up) has Scab Red maws with black and brown washes. 

SAY MY NAME! SAY IT!

To control these savage jollies, a character was in order.

Used to have two eyes. Then he decided learning to fight with a barbed whip would be cooler. 

This is a conversion of an old Reaper model, which gives it the top status of being the only lead model in this army. The whip is green stuff (pretty obviously) with a little superglue round the tip to make it look like a sting. It's also got wire inside it, as the first attempt was kind of floppy. You don't want your beastmaster standing there apologetically claiming it's never happened to him before. He was already painted, but as a black-skinned drow. Didn't take long to reskin him and touch up some previously sloppy details.

In my head, he's a High Beastmaster, even if they only come on mounts. So either he's a Low Beastmaster, or he's a Dreadlord, possibly with a Hydra Blade.

This lot was a real joy to paint, not least because it wasn't purple. A case of many heads making light work, perhaps, so I'm a little a-head of schedule. Necks week, reckon I'll paint something that isn't dark elves. Top (head!) of the queue is something Workshop-topical at present...

[Speaking of heads, now that I wasn't looking for it I found that errant Warlock bonce. Capital.]

Late Edit - The Hydra was out again tonight, doing proxy duty as all my models are obliged by law to do. I took the opportunity to get a new shot of it, showing its lovely blue tummy and some more of the fire effects