Daemon Derby

Greater Daemons.  Warhammer just wouldn’t be the same without them.  The ultimate bad guys, they personify literally any facet of bad human behaviour, and we can all identify with at least one (Nurgle with Slaanesh rising in my case!).

Somewhere in the pile of shame we all have a greater daemon or other big chonk that we’ve thought about painting but have never gotten round to caressing with our paintbrushes (that’ll be the Slaanesh rising!).

What better subject matter for a ScaleCreep challenge! 

Sit down, pour yourself a glass of something strong, and open your heart to the ever loving embrace of chaos.

Spevna

Asslessman

Hey peeps, so, the other day, my buddy Mustafa came to us and started talking about building this huge crazy ass island where we'd all live with rivers of molten lead, storms of paint and in this wonderful commune I'd be in charge of making bread and he'd do the kebabs while listening to bagpipes 24/7.  My immediate reaction was "HELL YES, I'M IN !"

Now it somehow went slightly differently and I may have not been paying full attention, the real plan was to build greater demons.  God I love greater demons, they're huge, they're cool, they do nasty shit on the table and more importantly I had 3 out of 4 Rogue Trader greater demons painted and needed a 4th to complete a set!

Moreover, this guy had been converted for years and had been primed for months (since lockdown here in the land of the bread) so that's the kind I submitted to paint along my brother: 

As you can see it's quite a fiddly model hanging from the tip of the foot with long thin arms and delicate biomechanical tentacle/wings, you can also see one tip is missing from being dropped just before starting to paint it...

Funnily enough, the Lords of change and Tzeentch in general seem to be quite misrepresented because suspect the colours often associated with them didn't age well and are somehow tricky to do gracefully.  I know some of the guys are going to paint some and that's really cool but I know I wanted mine to be darker, more subdued and fitting with my renegades generally so I kept their signature black as a base and added colours but with light desaturated glazes over grey, that makes him/her/it considerably less flamboyant but also (I hope) significantly more creepy and frightening.

All in all, that makes me the proud owner of a full pantheon of chaos greater demons for Rogue Trader (that's niche but that's the way I roll) and a happy painter!  Now I just need to figure what to do with all those baguettes... :/

Sean – There are two demons inside me

When this challenge was proposed, like most of them, I at first didn’t think I was going to do it.  I then remembered that I had a Bloodthirster, Great Unclean One and a Lord of Change in my “collection”, but of course I couldn’t find them.  I did locate a “Demonic Lasher” from Reaper as a backup, but then went in search of a Keeper of Secrets.  The last of the four Greater Demons of Chaos that I did not have.  After being outbid on a 4th or 5th edition model I found a 3rd edition one for sale and bought it.

True name: Hldepher Ioethlcogaoq’  Used name: Blisterspume Pinch Axe

I had an idea about purplish skin, but went through a few missteps to get there.  It turned out ok, but a little darker than I had envisioned.

Early on I couldn’t figure out what was going on with the lower right arm. On closer inspection I realized that the original owner had glued on another left arm.

I also thought that the bump on the demons right buttock was a boil, but maybe it’s the nipple for the missing left breast.

Supplemental demon

So, as I said at the start I had this Reaper Demonic Lasher, which is the spitting image of the Demogorgon from the AD&D Monster Manual.  I had forgotten that this was sculpted by none other than Bob Olley.

High off the completion of the Keeper of Secrets, I got excited to paint some more.  Funnily enough, completing projects makes me want to paint more.  I had tried, and failed, to use contrast with the KoS so I decided to try again with the Demogorgon.

I decided to go back to the Realm of Chaos, but picked the True name, Dhaemmoe Cogoon’n and rolled the Use name Wobblemaul Reaptear.

I really like this figure, it is very evocative of the original artwork and will make a great addition to my demon menagerie.

Spevna 

James, aka “Crooksy”, aka “Captain Crooks”, aka “The Sandwich Whisperer”, did an absolutely wicked daemon prince conversion recently.  As soon as I saw it I thought, we need a daemon challenge!!

It has outgrown its narrow confines, and as you can see it now includes all manner of big guys.  They are all imbued with all sorts of magical and ethereal energy so fair game!

I needed a daemon prince for a game I’ve got coming up next month so saw this as a good excuse to get one painted.

I decided to go with this guy that I got for working on the first Pantheon of Chaos Kickstarter. 

He’s based on a cracking piece of art from the first Realm of Chaos book.

I decided to make him look as nasty as possible as I want him to be part of a Nurgle army, but still wanted to keep as much of the detail as possible.

Allow me to present Gadjaz Plaguegaze.

Bulldoglopez - Change we can believe in...

Tzeentch is my least favorite Chaos power. Magic is dumb. Birds are stupid... but this model is FUCKING RAD!

Some could say that I took the opportunity to play around with vibrant colors and smooth transitions.. others would say I CARPE'D the DIEM right by the glittery magic balls!!  LOOK AT THIS BEAKYMAGICBOI!!  HE'S GOT BLUE, HE'S GOT PURPLE, HE'S GOT ORANGE!!  EVERYTHING YOU EVER DREAMED OF AND MOOOOOORE!!

The concept was that this Lord of Change is constantly shifting color from blue to pink to orange to purple and back.  I blocked in the base colors and transitions using an airbrush and then got to work painting in the transitions using wet blending and glazes.  It was a bit tricky, especially when it came to the orange and pink parts - I think this has more to do with color selection.  I will choose another orange paint next time I attempt this.  Overall I'm happy with the result.

CA-CAW!!

TheOttoVonBismark

This was a good opportunity to paint up a model that has been in the pile since the early 90's.  It's an old Leviathan model which is still available here from ScotiaGrendel.

It's a rough but fun sculpt and is big enough to have table top presence without being awkwardly big so as to hinder game play.

This beastly character is certainly a Balrog inspired model what with the flaming sword and a fiery whip looped about the shoulder.

As I have been painting Beasts of Chaos recently I decided to paint this model in the same style so that it could function as a patron deity of daemon for this force.  It makes for a good imposing centerpiece for this force.

 

Blue in VT

Hi all, Blue in VT here...Long time Scale Creep creeper, First Time Scale Creep poster!

Last month I was bemoaning the fact that my wolf rider project had stalled and that my painting mojo had fled me.  Luckily Crooksie encouraged me to participate in Mus's Greater Daemon Challenge...and I jumped at the chance.

Not one to play Daemons in games very often (ever) I had never painted one of the classic Greater Daemon figures...though I have several in my collection unpainted.  When I think of the classic Greater Daemons of the 3rd edition the one that most readily pops to mind is the Lord of Change.

...and when I think of the Lord of Change this is the image that has always come to mind for me.

Pete Taylor's superb two headed Lord of Change which was featured in White Dwarf along with numerous other wonderful creations by this artist (who was my favorite of the old painters).

When I was collecting the parts for my own Lord of Change I hunted for the same specific parts so that I could also make a two headed Lord of Change...and what I produced for this challenge is an homage to Pete Taylor's stunning example.

Many thanks to all the Creepers for including me in this challenge and in particular to Captain Crooks specifically for giving me the nudge to get my painting going again.

Cheers,

Blue

Salem

Hi all! Salem here from The Vampire's War Diaries.  A Greater Daemon Challenge by the Scale Creep crew!  Just the motivation I needed to get one of my old greater daemons painted up, some of which I had made a half-hearted start on back in the early 1990s, many of which were "re-collectings" from recent years to replace ones I had as a kid, and others still were just random purchases because I loved the models.  So politely shoving my way in as a fake creeper, I signed myself up to the challenge.  But how to choose?  Which model will get the love this month?  I think this calls for a ..... montage!

I searched through all the candidates, and even started cleaning up the Balrog, but none of it was really inspiring me.  It was not until I was putting the Balrog away, dispirited, that Nagash caught my eye; glaring at me from the "to be continued" shelf in my cabinet where I had left him after doing the assembly and greenstuff work.  A quick 3D print of a base appropriate for Kings of War, some sandy filler for base coverage, and a few resin tombstone pieces I picked up in an old Hammerlot Games Kickstarter and had yet to make use of, and I started to get genuinely excited.

Now while technically the old Nagash model is not a greater daemon, he is well known as a daemon in the sack, and also pretty much fulfilled that same "big bad" slot in 4th edition undead armies that the greater daemons filled.  Besides, who would NOT want to see him painted?  While assembling him however long ago it was, I wanted some dynamism in the pose, and to try and make him look a little less goofy.  So his sword arm got a bit like it is slashing out, I added a short neck on the poor guy, and covered his cheesy teeth with what I hoped was some sort of horror looking skin mouth thing.... ?  The plan being to paint him as skin covered, not skeletal.  More like the army book art, and less like the box cover photo.

Of course, back in the 4th edition times, I had really wanted to field a Nagash, but did not exactly have the kind of money to throw around on the official model.  What I did field was a Heartbreaker miniatures Undead Lord (now available from Ral Partha Europe) that I had converted to have the Staff and Book of Nagash.  The staff being a lance off the original Juggernaut of Khorne saddlebag, and the book was some tiny bits of paper folded inside a tiny piece of cardboard for the cover.  This guy I still lovingly use as a Liche in Kings of War to this day, despite it being a rather basic, and tired, paint job.

Slapping down the purple base coat on the large flat areas filled me with despair.  It was going on blotchy and patchy.  I tried more thinning, and less thinning, and it just kept looking ... meh ... even after several coats.  I gritted my teeth and hoped to hide all the horror in the layering phases.

Blocking in the other base colours seemed to calm down the purple horror a bit, so my enthusiasm started to come back.

I told myself I was giving the zombies on the base a very basic paint job so as not to detract from the centrepiece - extras on the movie set, background cast, basic scenery, or what have you.  The reality is they just frustrated me and I was running out of time and mojo.

Nagash's sword and dagger I wanted to look like shards of obsidian, so they were done in a basic black with just hints of white highlights and some white streaks on the sword.  Of course with the angles I was taking the photos from all you see is a silhouette.  Yay.

Once I'd finished the basing I put him in front of the backdrop my partner had painted for me, and started playing with lamps and manual camera settings.  I was trying to go for the impression of a moonlit stroll through a graveyard.  I had thoughts of trying some airbrush OSL off the staff on to the zombie beneath it, but chickened out (and my airbrush playing up and sputtering was not helping build confidence).

So there we go.  Another childhood wish list item ticked off!  #justiceforgary

antipixi - Much Papa Love

Well, since lockdown has got me painting my Realm of Chaos Nurgle army (it's only been waiting for about 30 years!), this challenge was a must for me. 

A bucket list miniature for many a gamer is a Great Unclean One.  For me this is a major truism - I love these guys!! 

Despite the fiddly nature of all the wounds covering his body, this fellow was extremely satisfying to paint. 

So without further ado, here he is... 

 

Real Name: Kh'Ppablabloerh'Ccildekwuud'Hdath Eeiouuz'Hphaulabl'O

Used Name: Starespittle Spinechew

(Names are of course generated by the tables on page 23 of the Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness book)

The Bazpaz

Another month, another challenge.  The Greater Demon painting event didn't quite tie in with anything planned and the fact I didn't have a Greater Demon was a bit inconvenient!  Painting Sylvaneth as a force for GW, Saga or Dragon Rampant has been a medium term plan and this seemed like a good time to paint a scary tree lady demon.  I think she channels Japanese Yokai demons very well and as I have plans to paint up a Melnibonean force also, Tree elementals will fit right in.

As Cheetor reminded me, Drycha Hamadreth is one of the few hanger-ons from the Old World to survive into the Mortal Realms, albeit with some serious pimping.  Obviously travelling to the Mortal Realms was stressful so she was accompanied by her emotional support Treeman.  

The models are the best of old Marauder and new Games Workshop. Fun to paint and especially with contrast paints, which work a treat on trees and bark.  Thanks for organising Spevna!

Cheetor

I’m currently enjoying painting skaven for use in multiple game systems, so a verminlord was a no-brainer decision for Spevna’s plan.  In particular, I can see this guy being the Boss at the end of a “Nightwatch” campaign.  He has a huge table presence.

The modern verminlord is larger than the 90s version.  Much larger.  As you might expect, the 2015 verminlord is a similar size to the greater daemons of the other chaos powers released over the last few years.  That still didn’t prepare me for the sheer size of the model in hand though, but Contrast paint base coats and doing a bit every day for a few weeks got him over the finish line.  Getting the big guy completed was more important than sweating some of the details and minor errors, issues that I wouldn’t let past QC on a smaller model, but in this context, I was ok with.  Funny how that line of reasoning works.

An advantage of the modern verminlord over the classic one is that I could tie the modern model in thematically with the Clan Eshin ninja ratmen that kicked off my current bout of skaven painting.  That said, a 10 metre ratman daemon that can sneak around like a ninja is tricky to hand wave away I guess.  My guess is ninja teleportation, that I visualise a bit like how Nightcrawler from the X Men does his thing.

Excluding vehicles and terrain, I think that this model is the largest that I have ever painted to date, after over thirty years of painting toy soldiers.  Appropriately for a giant ninja daemon ratman assassin, this realisation was unexpected.  Maybe not as unexpected as my sudden desire to get my hands on a 90s verminlord, paint him and call him “Verminlad”, but YMMV.

Captain Crooks

Zoltan the Frustrated, daemon prince of Khorne, was feeling deeply, deeply... frustrated.  He was once General Zoltan the Well Endowed, Conqueror of El Habib, Scourge of the Western Desert, Father of 1000 Sons.  During his lifetime his blade had run red in the service of his dark master, and all his victories were sworn to the Hunter of Souls.  So why... WHY does he now have to put up with this...  THIS?

His hair.  It's shiny luxuriousness used to be the pride of the land - now, he couldn't do a damn thing with it.  His daemonic body - it had a bad habit of crapping skulls from every orifice (including a few that opened spontaneously across his great girth) whenever he got angry, which was always.  His axe.  It did not match the one advertised on Wish.  It was... smaller.  It had begun oxidising the minute he took it for a test slaughter and... wait, is that Mark of Khorne on UPSIDE DOWN??

A daemon prince should not have to put up with this crap.  It was bad enough that his junk had remained the same impressive size it had been when he was a mortal man, only now dwarfed by his daemon body.  This was the last straw!  The last!  The universe would rue the day it messed with Zoltan, daemon prince of Khorne!  He screamed long and hard at a small plant.  It felt good.