The saga AoM Otherworld band grows

Having completed all the big hitters and large models for my Saga Age of Magic warband, I am now getting on with the rank and file troops.

I want to keep a daemonic feel to this part of the force, so both the Hearthguard and one group of Warriors (upgraded to Hunters) will be non-human and will keep to the red/purple/bronze/brass colour scheme. The models I am using are the plastic Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago Snake Men by North Star. This box gives you the opportunity to make 20 figures, and as I have made up six Hearthguard and eight Hunters, I have six left to use later, when an opportunity presents itself.

First, here are the Hearthguard, who I have equipped with Heavy Weapons;

Yes, I know one has a spear and shield, rather than a two-handed weapon but that is just for a bit of variety. It is a heavy spear, OK? Here they are from the other side;

Next, here are the Hunters, who cannot have heavy weapons. I have therefore given them a variety of swords, small axes and other blades. Here they are as the full group of eight.

And below, as two groups of four;

It isn't particularly easy to see the difference between the two types, apart from the difference in weaponry, but the Hunters are actually slightly lighter in colour, being painted over a Skeleton Bone undercoat, with the Hearthguards undercoated in black. I used a variety of Windsor and Newton inks here as glazes and washes, to try and bring out colour differences.

I think that these creatures really fit my overall theme nicely and definitely look like the denizens of a different plane of existence, bred for battle by daemonic sorcerors in the service of daemon warlords.

So, the warband is getting closer to completion. All I have to do now is get working on two more groups of eight Warriors, who will be humans, members of a daemon-worshipping cult. These will also be made up from North Star plastics, this time using the Frostgrave Cultist box. That will be a job for next week, I think.

He's big, he's red, he's got horns growing out of his head

Yes, he's another daemon, and he will be a Behemoth in my Saga AoM Otherworld warband. Of course, he could also play a role in Frostgrave and other games too. He is a multi-purpose monster.

He is from the North Star Frostgrave Bestiary, where he is listed as a "Major Demon". I don't think that anyone could realistically argue with that! The actual figure stands around 5.5cm high and is a two part model with a resin body and a metal head. To make him appear even more imposing I decided to base him on a rocky outcrop, so that he can really tower over the opposition's troops.

Here he is from behind;

This rear view really shows off the whirly patterns etched into his hide. I decided that I wanted these to glow with magical power, but not for this to dominate the figure. Therefore some parts of the patterns are glowing gold while others are just showing up as darker patterning.

I decided to keep the red/purple/brass/old gold theme I've used already, but I wanted him to be a lighter shade of red, so I gave his fleshy parts a glaze of Burnt Sienna Windsor and Newton ink after painting.

The base is made from dense blue insulation foam, roughly carved into a rocky shape. I glued on ballast of varying sizes and then gave the whole thing an undercoat with grey paint mixed with PVA glue. This was to ensure that when I spray undercoated the whole thing with black primer the propellant wouldn't eat into the foam.

Once painted, I added a few tufts to the rocks for a more natural effect. Once again, I am really happy with the results. I think that this warband is shaping up nicely.

Here he is again, with another figure for scale;

My female wizards certainly seem to have a pretty casual approach about standing around rocky objects and chanting. In true pantomime style, I feel it is essential to shout out the traditional warning "He's Behind You!"

More Daemons .....................

............... for my Otherworld Saga AoM band.

These are going to be my Creatures, clearly bipedal ones. I've had these figures hanging around for absolutely ages. They are from Alternative Armies, I think, and I bought them because I had an idea for a possible Alien Squad Leader army in which I thought they would work. In the end, I changed my mind about the army and they've sat around waiting to be useful. Now, their moment has arrived.

I decided to keep to my red colour scheme for my daemonic entities with these guys, but vary it slightly by adding orange to the palette.

As you can see in this shot, they are basically just giant mouths on legs, which seems pretty daemonic to me and are the kind of thing that are best left in a different dimension, not being summoned by accidentally reading a spell in a hoary old tome found in a dusty and forgotten corner of a library in an old house with a bad reputation.

Here you can see them from above, showing how I brought out the scaly plates on their backs in orange.

I am going to use this gravelly base concept for the whole army and I decided to use this yellow. orange and red foam stuff to suggest some weird alien fungus thing.

The next part of this army project depends on me glueing North Star Snakemen and Cultists together, so I'll have to get on with that next week, as I have some other odds and ends to finish off first.