Friday 13 June 2014

The Noctelinger!



To quote from the 'Witchfinder General' rulebook, 

"Noctelinger are neither man nor vampire; but are deranged hybrid killers.  The noctelinger are used by the vampires to spread fear amongst the unruly and to dispense retribution to the enemy.  Without self-will or rational thought a noctelinger's blood lust is second only to following orders of its evil master."

Given this description the 'Hersey Miniatures' ghouls were the obvious selection given their pointed ears and sinewy frames.  Images of them also feature heavily in the rule set, actually making them very difficult not to consider as the creature of choice.  If truth be told I had been looking for an excuse to order these fine miniatures for a while now and although a little on the expensive side I knew that there was also the possibility that I would be able to use them for the ZombieTv rules as well - you see every purchase can be justified! 


I hadn’t really taken on board just how much construction they would require until they arrived, but set to the task with file, side cutters and green stuff and before long they were starting to take shape.


With regards to detailing, I stole most of my ideas from the company’s website, choosing to base them on ‘Warbases’ 30mm MDF discs, a little larger than I would normally use, but the dynamic poses and collected detritus I was loading onto the bases seemed to demand more space.  


So taken, was I, with the images on the 'Hersey Miniatures' site that when it came to painting, I was keen to try and emulate them if I could.  That said, when it came to colour palette it was Mr Finch, of 'Minis by Finch' fame that proved to be of most use.  His work on a Heresy cyclops was truly inspirational and although not a patch on his, I was glad to have his work as a reference or starting point if you will. 


The layering of paint and use of glazes obviously added to the production time and I was surprised just how long the six took me to complete, probably one of the reasons that the remaining miniatures (a Ghoul king and rather grisly mother and child) will just have to wait for the time being.


I had been looking forward to, but at the same time quite fearful of, the application of the gore; after all who spends hours painting a miniature only to shroud them in red paint?  Fortunately Tamiya Clear Red is a wonderful product and mixed with a little black to take the edge of the colour really does the job of representing the remains of some poor unfortunate!


I have to say that I’m thrilled with the results and much of that is due to the quality of the sculpts from Heresy, it was certainly worth the effort to put them together properly, now it is time to get to grips with Mr. Andy Foster's Hellhounds so we can start the next phase - The Barguests!





97 comments:

  1. Well gory!! :-D The female with the Baby...it´s hers or is she "looking after" it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Paul, the mother has 'borrowed' the baby for another poor unfortunate!

      Delete
  2. Those are, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, some of the most disgusting figures I have ever seen! Top notch job!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well what can I say they are absolutely amazing mate! Love em the skin tones, basing everything well done Michael!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Simon, that means a lot. particularly because of how long they've taken to finish.

      Delete
  4. Love the paint colours and the red gore comes out very well. They do make me think I should send for them straight away. (I am avoiding skirmish games for the moment though.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Clint and your will power is certainly stronger than mine.

      Delete
    2. More like deep pockets and short arms if I am honest. But just put an extra £50 in my paypal account!

      Delete
  5. Fabulously gruesome. Just what the good Professor recommended for Friday morning viewing :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Tamsin, we do like to brighten everyone's day!

      Delete
  6. Top notch paint on potentially difficult figures with just the right amount of gore. Very effective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Mat, I can't tell you how thrilled I am to get them off the table as I was determined to do them justice.

      Delete
  7. A very appropriate Friday the 13th blog post! Great work on nuancing the blood, seems unpleasantly real!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I'd like to tell you that it was planned, but sadly a coincidence.

      Delete
  8. These look fantastic, I want to see the others done soon as you have my full attention

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ian, I will get to them eventually, just needed a break from all the gore!

      Delete
  9. They look great Michael, I don't think I could have faced the construction myself!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, they were fiddly, but did go together rather well, the green stuff, was really there for added strength.

      Delete
  10. Excellent work Michael! The gore looks really good!

    ReplyDelete
  11. really good and spooky!
    great job with skin and blood.
    well done
    bye

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Luca, the sculpts are amazing, so much detail to work with.

      Delete
  12. Brilliantly horrifying. The gore is just right! BTW I always thought your "ghoul mother and child" was just a "ghoul with somebody's child". Chilling...

    Frank
    http://adventuresinlead.blogspot.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, the gore was a nervous moment, but ultimately it seems to have worked.

      Delete
  13. Thank you Andrew, really thrilled with these.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 'Beautiful' work, if thats the right word!? Ghouls always kinda creeped me out, I think in part coz the first character I had in D&D got killed by a ghoul!
    I've got a couple of Reaper ones stashed half painted somewhere, led by a Ghast!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Scott and sorry to make your skin crawl, the details on these are pretty shocking - in a good way.

      Delete
  15. Excellent work, Michael!
    Especially the flesh tone. The step by step pictures is very useful but which colours did you use?
    Somehow I wasn't able to find the tones neither in your post nor on Finch's blog...

    Cheers
    Stefan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Stefan, as for the colours, the paints were all Vallejo Model Colour and went like this: they were based with French Mirage, to this was added some Deep Yellow. The details were washed with Blue Shade to pick out details like the spine. A little Pale Sand was added to the original mix before another wash of AP strong tone. Final details were picked out by adding some Sky Grey to the highlight mix - phew!

      Delete
  16. Magnificent! Great work Michael.
    Beautiful skin tones (What colours did you use.) and the gore is spot on.
    Lovely minis, the cannibalistic nature of some is superb.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Bob, I've listed the colours in the comments above, the gore was Tamiya Clear Red, such a good product, but I add a little black to it before applying. It is great because it has a 'juicy' consistency to it, but when watered down has a matt quality.

      Delete
  17. Lovely gribbly work sir. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fantastic paint job on excellent sculpts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is really kind of you to say so, thank you.

      Delete
  19. They are a disturbing bunch, you wouldn't like to meet in the dark (or anywhere else for that matter) and as for the gore the "less is more", subtle, apporach has worked well.
    A beautiful rendition of abhorrence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I was really pleased with the results, although a little unsure at the time of application.

      Delete
  20. Lovely Micchael, those coloured leaves really set off the flesh tones too

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, the orange and blueish hue do work rather well, but not necessarily by design if I'm honest. I just thought the Autumnal feel to the bases might help to sell the dire nature of the miniatures.

      Delete
  21. Very nice (if that's the proper word for bloody-fanged subhuman monsters)!

    Great paint job, Michael, and tremendously atmospheric work with the basing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Ev, they were really great to work on with all the grisly detail.

      Delete
  22. Most impressive Michael, love these sympathic creatures!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phil, not sure I would want to trust them too far though.

      Delete
  23. Awesome!!

    Did you pin any of those arms and legs Mr Awdry?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you my good man. Pinning is highly overrated, lashing of super glue and green stuff - that's the way forward! In all seriousness, I pinned the big fellow, and they are all pinned to their bases, but actually the sculpts fit together pretty well so I didn't do much more than that.

      Delete
  24. Wow really like those colors and basework. I think the one crawling across the fallen headstone is my favorite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Brian, I think he might be my favourite too, although I stole the idea for the basing from the Heresy website!

      Delete
  25. Superb, love the blood effect. Andy Foster does some excellent sculpts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He really does and I seem incapable of resisting them at the moment!

      Delete
    2. Andy does great work. These are Paul Muller sculpts though.

      Delete
    3. That's my mistake, sorry! Thank you for the correction, Mr. Finch.

      Delete
  26. These are extremely scary Mr. Awdry! So I'd say mission accomplished. Great work on the skin tones and the blood effects.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, I was certainly frightened about the amount of detail on them!

      Delete
  27. Fantastically gory! Very well done!

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  28. Fiendishly fine foul feat on these figures Michael!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Great painting. But goreeeeeeeeeeeeey!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Brilliant, now I know what to do with my Warlord Vampire and Heresy Ghouls. I doubt they will look as nice as yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Dan, I've listed the colours used in one of the comments above if that helps. I just had to be patient with these as there seemed to be a ridiculous amount of layers!

      Delete
  31. Absolutely disgusting Michael. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  32. They look amazing, Michael. Glad for whatever small assistance my cyclops provided in making these a reality.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the kind comment, but more importantly the inspiration!

      Delete
  33. They look great!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Excellent job on those ghouls! Love the gore, as its looking very fresh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Terry, the Tamiya Clear Red was the secret ingredient.

      Delete
    2. Cool, I will need to look into it, certainly with all the Zombies a bottle will not go to waste!

      Delete
  35. These truly look beautiful. The shadows and highlights are perfect and thanks for sharing the colours you used in the comments above. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I hope the colours help, you can see in the ones above that I didn't mix them exactly the same the second time as one batch is slightly greener than the other!

      Delete
  36. These will make those pikemen stand up and take notice! They are wonderfully done from the skin color (a hard choice for creatures like these) to the gore something I'm afraid of doing myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Robert, no standing around, leaning on your pikes anymore chaps there's evil abroad tonight!

      Delete
  37. You have done a great job on them matey, well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you kind Sir, I was really pleased with how they ended up.

      Delete
  38. Replies
    1. That's the best comment for these beasties!

      Delete
  39. This is really, really good paint-job! The result with the Tamiya Clear Red is stunning.I like the colours overall but the blood make the ghouls come alive.I also have some ghouls and thanks to you I now have solved the problem: "how to get deep blood-red paint".Thankyou very much Michael and keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the kind words. I do hope you find success with the Tamiya clear paint, it is a wonder product for gore! Don't forget to take the edge of the red with a little black or possibly brown paint.

      Delete
  40. For something I hope to never see, I must say you've nailed it. Skin tones, blood and basing...all superb!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Monty that is incredibly generous of you, thank you. It was a real labour of love getting these off the table.

      Delete
  41. not gonna sleep tonight... great job!!!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Very well painted and based ghouls! Fine targets for the Witchfinder

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They certainly have something to contend with now!

      Delete
  43. Simply awesome!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...