Hobby Update: Varangur Bloodsworn

These are the units that got my nice little 1000 point Varangur project off the rails. For reasons unknown, after I figured out my desired list, and gathered up all those models, I started hobbying on these guys instead. I don't know just what I was thinking.

I seriously don't know what I was thinking. Repaints? Over fresh sprues? Sheesh.

Infantry units in Kings of War tend to have a lot of gradations, and the Varangur are no different. In looking at the army list and my available plastic, I realized that the Bloodsworn and the Sons of Korgaan would probably give me the most trouble, as I didn’t know which unit I would actually want to run, and all I had at my disposal to represent both were Chaos Warriors.

I decided that any Chaos Warriors with big weapons would be the Sons in some form, and anything else (sword-and-board, in this case) would be run as Bloodsworn. Since the Bloodsworn were less numerous than all my halberd-toting Chaos Warriors (and had a cooler name), I decided that they would get a special paint job.

I dabble very casually in Magic: the Gathering, and decided to use a favorite card, Elesh Norn as an inspiration. In my head, the fluff would be that the Bloodsworn are young, aspiring warriors, a step up from the vigorous warbands, but a step down from the blessed Sons. These warriors take a vow of violence, and set off in white armor. When the armor is sufficiently sullied (preferably with the blood of their enemies!), the survivors are reborn in their tribes as Sons of Korgaan.

I started repainting these in January, and finally finished them up in early March. They should stand out nicely from the rest of my army. And yeah… sorry, I’m just getting around to posting about them now. I still have a bit of catching up to do with blogging.

Ready to go crack some skulls.

Despite being unscheduled, and expanding the project more than I intended... These units ended up being nice test units. Multibasing is working nicely for the Varangur so far, and is something I want to continue with. All the bases for this endeavor are pretty much done (just need to add a snow effect and the models), so I think it will turn out nicely.

Additionally, I experimented a bit with two hobbying techniques. The first a different snow technique. My old technique doesn't hold up over time (the glue turns that pallid yellow after about a year and a half). I tried a legit mix of paint, glue and baking soda this time, cut it with a little water, and I gotta say I like how this turned out. I'll continue experimenting as I go, and will likely do up a revised snow-basing post after this is all done.

Highlights!

The second technique was exploring highlights, via the cloaks. A red and a pink paint, and a red shade effect. I don't normally fuss this much, but it turned out pretty nice this time around. I'll have to explore this more.

All in all, this was a good test unit to work on, as it turns out.

As mentioned above, these guys were done in early March, so... I have a ways to go before the blog is up to date. Most of March and April has been spent hobbying on the a bunch (30) Chaos Knights, to be run as Mounted Sons of Korgaan. I've have been trying to batch paint them... which has ended up being a lot of work.