Wednesday 18 January 2017

Jodiah 'Whalebane' Quyjotte


Greetings vaqueros! Today I'm going to show you the first model from my new Mordheim Marienburger warband - Jodiah 'Whalebane' Quyjotte, mercenary captain.

Mordheim: City of 12 Billion Rats and a lot of Weird Playing Cards
Mordheim! Even after all these years, I cannot resist the call of my favourite GW skirmish game. Something about the setting, the atmosphere, the aura of terror and death, the possessed horrors lurking around every corner, and always, the promise of wealth and adventure - this combination has a hold on me that will likely never let go. So follow me if you dare, but don't come betwixt me and the loot, or you'll feel a free dagger betwixt your ribs! (They hand them out at the gate as you enter).

Animal companions are popular in the City of the Damned, where all the food carts are full of apple cores and walking fish and a decent meal can be hard to find...
Some of my gaming pals and I have a plan to put together something of a display game at CanCon next year, and this has us all a-flutter getting warbands together and planning scenery. Building warbands is one of the best bits of the whole game - wisely investing in decent equipment and weapons for your warriors, scraping together every last copper to buy your monkey a vest, that sort of thing. My initial plan was to maybe refurbish my old witchhunters, or perhaps explore the horrors of the mutated Possessed, or even the mysterious grace and sanctity of the Sisters of Sigmar. Then I received this model from Jodie Siegel of Imbrian Arts, and everything changed...

"Here lads! Can we eat this? No...? Have ye tried?!"
This sculpt was once submitted as a test for a job interview at Games Workshop, and was not put into production until much later by it's creator. He bears much of the flair of the 7th edition Empire armies, but with a distinct piratey theme that I instantly fell in love with. It's the lemur-thing on his shoulder. It's adorable. Look at his little hook hand. So cute.

*sigh* "I'm a particle physicist and have an IQ of 145 but sure... cute... yeah."
In the old times, the Empire was divided into many different electorates, and one port city that decided to secede from Imperial rule - Marienburg, the place where all the cool guys hang out, and where gold flows almost as strongly as the River Reik that the city sits upon. The most wealthy warbands of all, the Marienburgers like to flaunt what they got, so I'll be reflecting that in my choices for equipment and the overall look of the band - a combination of the practical and battleworn with the ludicrously flamboyant.

Bling Pirate approves
I struggled with a colour scheme for this warband - I wanted something striking, but not too difficult to look at. I studied the heraldry of the Empire supplement, where it was revealed that the official colours of Marienburg were - wait for it-  blue, red and yellow! Like every other fucking Empire force painted since 1992! Great! No. Green and orange with a little blue will do nicely, the orange a nod to the real-life Marienburg, the port city of Amsterdam C.17th Century, the wealthiest city in the world, leader of finance, and still a massively popular tourist destination where all the drugs and women are on display for all to see and buy and noone ever regrets anything.

No regrets here
So be sure to stay tuned for more puffy sleeves, rich silks, dangerously unstable weapons, and bucketfuls of slimy monsters that crawl out of your nightmares and onto the scenery. This is Mordheim!

And what's next? Well, in any skirmish campaign, it's always good to have a back-up warband in case the inevitable happens and all your best guys get eaten by lobsterfish and you spend your last few coins on the paltry ransom for poor Willy 'Lucky' McGee, your multiple-amputee one-eyed youngblood...

Introducing The Nude Nords! Coming 2018
Adios for now!








30 comments:

  1. Quality lolz and painjobs here mec.

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    1. Thanks mec, I'm excited by this project, many more lolz ahead I hope!

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    2. Most of the work available in Mordheim classifies as a 'pain-job'...

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  2. I can't believe I didn't notice the lemur's hook hand until you pointed out out!

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    1. The detail is really, really fine. I was halfway through painting him when i discovered it myself!

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  3. One of your best, he's magnificent. Cracking base too.

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    1. The base was a bit of a challenge, initially I wanted to use the same printed cobblestone sheet I used for the warrior priest but I couldn't find it in all the mess so I sculpted all the rocks and biz and now I don't like the printed stuff so I guess... onwards and upwards! The hard way! :D

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  4. LMAO this was great....just what I needed this morning. ;)

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    1. I'd have brought you coffee as well but I don't know how you like it (actually I do, I just don't have enough cans of NOS to add in there... :s ).

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  5. Like Mr S said, this is one of your best to date. Gorgeous model.

    I would prepare a mouldering, heavily themed Mordheim warband just to play with you.
    I might just reuse my ninja too of course, but the funky basework on these guys really is appealing. Some day. Maybe.

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    1. I was considering a samurai warband using the Reikland mercenary rules. The more martial aspect of that warband seemed to fit best. I suppose you could use skaven rules for ninja...

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  6. That is a particularly sharp paintjob, Crooks, even by your usual high standards.

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    1. Thanks Mister, I can only take partial credit, the sculpt truly did the lion's share of making it look great! :)

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  7. How can this mini be so ridiculously awesome? Cracking job, Cap!

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    1. It's a combination of colour theory, well-hidden short-cuts and flattering photography!

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  8. Did you sculpt the base Crooksie?

    Wonderful job on so many counts. Have you shown the pic to Jody yet? The colours are unusual, brilliantly realised on a complicated model.

    And he has a MONKEY!!

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    1. I did sculpt the base, everything except the skull. Jodie was among the first to see the finished product, he seemed to like it :)

      Monkey!!

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  9. Nice work Cap'n, sooo much character in this little fella... and his human carrier/feeder/minion is pretty sharp too ;-)

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    1. That monkey really sold the model as a whole to me; a monkey with a giant moustache... yes please!

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  10. Brilliant.... though I like (and am currently painting a Warhammer 5th ed army in) the red yellow and blue scheme!

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    1. In all honesty, Empire armies of that era rarely look 'right' in any other scheme but for a small scale project like this I think you can get away with a bit of experimentation!

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    2. In 5th ed days the red yellow and blue was actually the colours of the engineers guild (before they got taken over by Nuln in later editions, presumably) and if I remember correctly Marienburg didn't have its own colours in that edition (it may have had some in 3rd ed, my Oldhammer isn't quite that old). I like the scheme anyway, and as a bonus it's also the colours of South Australia...!

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    3. The colours for most provinces were dealt with in the 4th ed army book but Marienburg was notably absent (though it was detailed in the fluff). The 8th edition heraldry book made it 'official' but the yellow/red/blue scheme was prominent on the Marienburg warbands in the studio Mordheim warbands...

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  11. Have I told you lately that I love you?

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    1. You whispered something in my ear last night but it sounded more like 'I stole your last bag of Funyuns' so I dunno Lope... I just don't know.

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  12. Whoa! This is very nice! Awesome figure and great paintjob. BTW I also think Marienburg is the coolest city in the Old World. Keep up the good work!

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    1. You can build a decent roleplay scenario or good bit of fluff for just about any of those old world cities with relative ease, but Marienburg just feels more exciting - it's the California of the Empire, if California actually did secede from the rest of the US and was filled with old-timey sailors and mercenaries for some reason...

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