Tale of Hobbyists – Painters of Pannithor

Have you ever wondered what sparks creativity in your fellow hobbyists? Do they plan color schemes, basing or theme? Painters oF Pannithor is going to explore just that!

We have gathered an excellent cast of painters, players and even an acclaimed published author to take us through how they begin a new army in the lands of Pannithor. Each of the participants in this challenge will be starting a new 1,000-point Kings of War army or adding to an existing one. Over the course of a few months, we will learn what drives each of them and hope that the community at large will join us and send in pictures of your progress! Just use the hashtag #paintersofpannithor

Time to draw back the curtain and find out who we will be following!

Jonathan Faulkes (UK) - ABYSSAL DWARFS

When Joe asked for volunteer hobbyists for the Mantic Blog, I jumped at the chance to participate. I have been a fan of Mantic since they first started producing minis for “the other game” and Kings of War was my reintroduction to wargaming after years away.

But which army should I choose? It needed to be Mantic, but I already own Mantic Dwarfs, Elves, Orcs, Ogre, Goblin and Forces of the Abyss armies... as well as an unpainted Northern Alliance and Nightstalker force. I have other forces built with GW and minis from other companies, but the one gap was... Abyssal Dwarfs.

With that decision made I purchased the new boxset to form the backbone of my force. The boxset would be augmented with a Slave Orcs, a Greater Obsidian Golem, and an Angkor Heavy Mortar to get to around 1,000pts.

Justin Berg (US) - SALAMANDERS

I am going to be working on my Salamanders for this hobby event.

The idea for my salamander army is to have them travel far to the north, standing vigil in the ruined temple city of Haelthorn, where many a ballad has been sung in the seas by the corsairs of the time before and the 18 clans that stood against the Wicked Ones, and Winter herself. Sowing their lives dearly so the rest of the species could escape.

And so, I have an excuse to toss some lizard people conspiracy theories at my opponents during our games. I figure if I cannot out tactic people, my only chance for winning games is to confuse and befuddle them.

I am a “looks good from 2 feet” painter. This is partly due to my inability to paint neatly and my personal need to see quick progress from my painting efforts. I also like to have schemes that allow me to paint models in short painting sessions, perhaps as little as ten minutes of painting per session, as that fits well with my work / life schedule.

When I choose a new army, I choose a strong primary color and then two contrasting colors. I use paletton.com to assist with me with color selection as this allows me to set a Triad of complimentary colors. My Abyssal Dwarfs will be clad in deep red metallic armor. This can be rather easily achieved with the new Contrast Paints (or red inks / washes) over Steel colored armor. The complimentary colors to red are Teal and light Green. Teal is one of my favorite colors and so that would be used as the main secondary color with the green being reserved for the basing.

Kasey Robillard (US) - BASILEANS

Hey guys, I have decided on a Basilean Force, a cohort within the legions of Basilea, which I’ve named The Order of Reclamation. The Order’s purpose is to search for lost knowledge or artifacts of the old Primovantorian Republic, the once great human empire that was nearly wiped off the face of Pannithor at the end of the Winter War. The Hegemony strives to emulate its predecessor. As it stands today, Basilea is humanity’s strongest kingdom. It boasts the best warriors and mages humanity has to offer. The Hegemony created the Order of Reclamation to solidify their power in the world. It is their belief that no other kingdom should obtain the knowledge of their predecessors.

Lead by the High Paladin Kassian Stormcall and Priestess Aurora Starborn, the Order has made many discoveries. Their greatest was the islands off the Northeastern coast of Basilea, where they found the ruins of Du’lan Var. There they discovered an ancient Primovantorian Temple underground and located an urn with the ashes of an ancient phoenix by the name Cerulean. The Order was attacked by spiritual forces within the temple, twisted versions of the ancient temple guards. In desperation, Kassian shattered the urn and lit the ashes of Cerulean, and together they cleansed the evil from that sacred place. Now the Order calls the Du’lan Var their home, and Cerulean fights alongside them to this day.

For this project, the force will be on stone floored bases with ruins. These will represent the ruins of Du’lan Var. I will be using Ayleid ruins from the Elder Scrolls universe as inspiration. The army colors I have in mind are a few shades of blue with dark bronze armor. I want the army to have a professional and elite appearance, while their environment is broken and tattered, remnants of another great civilization. A nice contrast showing the highs and lows of human civilization.

Ben Stoddard (US) - NIGHTSTALKERS

So for my army, I chose Nightstalkers with the idea of creating an army based around the idea that their anchor is their leader Allenan, whose guilt and anger has reached such epic levels that it serves as a gateway for the Nightstalkers to enter the world. As such my army is going to be based as if it were part of a ruined village, that of Scorn Fields (see what I did there?). I am going to try and make my Butchers look like they are actual, well, butchers and put things like hanging slaughter victims on their bases and such. Scythes and farming implements will factor in heavily with my army, as they are supposed to be a farming village.

For my model representation of Allenan, I am going to make a Horror Riftweavers unit with an epic Mortibrus the necromancer model placed in the center to represent Allenan, with three Riftweavers circling around him to represent the “voices” that he’s hearing.

I may try and do a fat version of Rasmuss as well, might use a goreblight as the base model and then make him fat, or just build up an actual butcher model for it, not sure, to make him a Fleshripper.

For my color palette, I was watching my wife play the new rework of the classic Playstation game Medieval and she was playing through the Scarecrow Fields level. The vibrant oranges and yellows of that level really jumped out and hit me, so I’m going to try and replicate that in my models and go with a classic, Halloween themed black and orange color style. I think the bright colors will get them to pop on the battlefield (which is usually dark green or brown), and they can still appear menacing if I do it right. I have included a picture of the video game for reference.

All in all, excited to get started!

Grant Fetter (US) - ORDER OF THE BROTHERMARK

One of the greatest features of Kings of War is the flexibility of models and the ability to use the same Mantic models representing multiple troop types. I thought I would represent this ability by creating an Undead Army that that can be used as dual-purpose with my existing Basilean forces and can be played on the field as both an Undead and Order of the Brothermark Army!

For now, here is the story behind the army:

The Fall and Rise of Dupont XIII

My army story surrounds a group of Brothermark knights fleeing the destruction of their fort. This fort, the thirteenth and Northern-most of the Dupont forts, falls at the hands of the Abyssal expansion. The few remaining knights’ rout to a nearby village, vowing to reclaim their home.

The local Viscount is a feared and powerful man who offers to help the diminished force in their vengeance. He offers to bless them with strength greater than even the powerful Elohi. He does this with the condition that, once the tower is reclaimed, they will join him in HIS quest for revenge. One by one he convinces them to receive the Blood Gift...

The vampiric knights ride back to the tower, imbued with unholy strength. They drive back the forces of the Abyss and reclaim Dupont XIII. To bolster his ranks, the Viscount calls upon a dark sorcerer to raise the once-noble knight's fallen brethren. Together, they ride against the encroaching Abyssal forces.

Steve Forster (US) - ORCS

Greetings! As an avid, albeit amateur, hobbyist I have collected many Kings of War armies over the past 5+ years. For this project, I have selected Orcs! My main army for the past year and a half has been Goblins and I have had a blast playing them, so I wanted to pick a force that will compliment them. Orcs and Goblins have gone together like peanut butter and jelly in the fantasy genre and the Orc list has several entries that complement the Goblins. My plan is to assemble a fast hammer contingent that cannot be done with pure Goblins, so I chose Mantic’s Gore Riders, Krudger on Gore, and Krudger on Winged Slasher as my main components. I am staying away from Orc infantry since Goblins fill that role already.

For the army aesthetic, obviously I want the Orcs to fit in as seamlessly as possible with the Goblins, which are unique because their skin is painted a red as opposed to the classic green. I am going to keep the red-skinned theme for the Orcs and contrast it with bright yellow war paint. My Goblins’ clothes are lighter earth tones and dingy metals, so that will also be consistent with the Orcs. For the bases, I am sticking with the clean brown dirt, spring green static grass, dark green cluster foliage, and yellow flowers and tufts that my Goblins have, but I want to expand to something unique as well. The plan is to incorporate water effects on the bases, so the 2 regiments of Gore Riders will be charging downhill and across a water feature at the front of the base. The Winged Slasher will be atop a large rock which will be surrounded by water effects.

I have purchased 2 boxes (20) of Gore Riders, the Krudger on Gore, and the Krudger on Winged Slasher, as well as corresponding MDF bases. The boxes have been opened and the major flash has been cleaned off the 2 Krudgers, but that is as far as I’ve gotten. My hope is to have everything assembled and primed by my next entry. Until that time, please enjoy some background fluff!

The townsfolk gather in the cathedral, huddled and scared, wracking their brains for a solution to a new menace. Their lands are being razed. Their livestock slaughtered and devoured. What defenses they have are being shattered. Frantic voices clamor to be heard by the Lord’s magistrate and Captain of the Watch. They have enjoyed more than 20 summers in relative peace. None of the guards of the Watch knew the fog of battle, save a handful of grizzled veterans. The townsfolk believed the goblin scourge to be eradicated. On any given evening, the mead hall was filled with stories of battles against the Myztix.

“Goblins, they were. But their skin was that of the blood moon.”

“Vile magics, they had. Me mate ‘ad ‘ees eyes popped from their sockets”

“Like a red tide they came...”

But those were days gone by. Or so they thought.

Raids were becoming more frequent. The attackers becoming bolder. Orcs atop matted and scarred Gores. Their skin blood red. Bright yellow warpaint was smeared on their faces.

As the townsfolk share their tales of horror, the door of the citadel bursts open. In the doorway, a single scout, clad in the Lord’s colors falls to the marbled floor. He is bruised, bleeding, and clinging to the last vestiges of life. As the guards surround the scout, he manages two words before his breath escapes him: “They unite.” The Captain of the Watch drops his gaze to the floor and rubs his hand across his scarred jawline. It was as he feared: the red-fleshed Orcs are somehow aligned with the Myztix. He knows he must send word to the Lord of these lands. They must prepare for war.

Nathan Arnold (US) - ELVES

The sound of gulls and pounding waves is constant on the Wall. The glare of the sun, amplified by the water below and whitewashed building around is only softened by the wind whipping past, making the sails and flags snap and pull at their lines. 

The steady beat of marching feet is the only true constant, surrounded by defiant natural forces that have been relentless on their attempts to submerge the city once the War with Winter ended. The spears and bows of the Therennian Marines are useless against that foe, their armor unable to save them from the largest danger they face. But they still patrol the wall, for if there was ever a mortal foe that breached it, or if their vigilance ever wavered, the city they guard far below would simply become a watery grave for thousands of helpless elves. 

I was intrigued by the idea of Therennia Adar ever since reading about it for the first time. The idea of a city so far below water level and saved only by a massive wall is a rare, perhaps even unique, idea. It would be interesting if humans lived in the city and rather bland if dwarfs did.  But for elves, with long lives lived under the shadow of a wall that is the only thing keeping you from certain death, it is poetic. 

For this project, I opened my single Elf army box (the older version mind you) and added a single elf spear sprue to keep a high model count. I started with 20 Archers, 30 Tallspears, 20 Palace Guard, 10 Scouts and 2 Bolt Throwers. Since this will be an army themed around Therennia Adar, it had to be tweaked a bit to end up with what I will be painting for the challenge.

Core of the list will be 3 Therennian Sea Guard Regiments, backed up by the ever-popular Palace Guard. For some shooting a Bolt Thrower was added in and to round out the list an Elven Kin and Elven Archmage.

I have converted some of the normal Elf sprue models into characters for now.  I may be buying some more models to add in (but the new Ogres are calling to me with a resin siren song as well). 

For the paint scheme, I will be using the British Navy circa ~1750 as my baseline. Blue armor, white underneath, and gold/brass details. 

Andrew Summers (US) - ABYSSAL DWARFS

For a long time, many Abyssal Dwarf players (myself included) have lacked a key element from their armies. Notably, they lacked any actual Dwarfs! For this challenge I'm building a 1,000-point core of Abyssal Dwarf infantry including multiple units of Blacksouls and Berserkers backed up by some Mutated Mastiffs, an Overmaster and an Infernox.

The imagery for my army involves Kadriz of Zarak’s Brass Legion marching out of Tragar and down the Ferrous Wastes toward conquest. I imagine this landscape as being very rocky with a slightly reddish tinged dirt and small bit of grass and moss barely scraping out an existence. This force will be representative of the backbone of Overmaster Kadriz’s army and will look appropriately fresh and well equipped as a force just beginning its campaign should.

I’m going to model a banner for the central unit of Blacksouls to carry displaying Kardiz’s personal runes and will use the absolutely gorgeous Vanguard models to represent Kardiz himself as well as his personal champion accompanying his banner.

Kyle Przelenski (US) - TWILIGHT KIN

At the start of 3^rd Edition, I wanted to come up with a new army. I have been playing primarily Undead since 2015 and when the ruleset evolved slightly into a new edition, I knew my playstyle and army had to as well.

Something that really stood out to me when I dove into the rulebook was just how much the factions were now bleeding together. This is absolutely on purpose. In a game and hobby environment where we all love to grow collections incessantly, why not gear the army design of the game so that there was tremendous cross compatibility among the playable factions? With Twilight Kin I have unit elements from Elves, Nightstalkers and Forces of the Abyss.

This means that building units for this army I am already planting seeds into other armies I may want to play. That sort of variety is hugely appealing to me! I could branch off into four different armies at various points levels. For competitive play or even to avoid the stagnancy of the same army; this really enriches my experience with KoW. Hey, it might even make me a better general too.

Not only that but the Twilight Kin have some of the most appealing lore out there. These are elves who are obsessed with discovering what ‘lies beyond’. What power is behind the veil of reality? They are walkers of the Twilight Pathways and seeking ancient knowledge and pacts with primordial entities to strengthen their forces. They are slavers who sacrifice countless lives in dark ritual. Their task is in secret and takes place in the shadows of the Twilight Glades at the Mouth of Leith.

The Soulbane and Summoner Crone who lead my forces are searching the ruins of Ileuthar for long forgotten secrets during the time of the Shattering. My army will be themed to the dark and twisted roots of this place. I am looking to include a thick forest floor with vines and the bases of units decorated with temple ruins of these places.

I am going for a very traditional look and feel to the models themselves. Highlighted with rich purple cloaks and blue and red cloths for decorative elements. A silvered armor that hides a purple sheen will have accents of gold. This is a very simple scheme but one that I simply enjoy to no end. I also thought it would go well with the outrageously colored Nightstalker elements in the force.

The two major units for this project will be one of my Spearmen hordes and a horde of Fiends. I typically pair them as a battlegroup in games and I feel completing them at the same time will forge some sort of bond between them. Maybe, anyway. Painted miniatures do, better right? This is a great project and we have an awesome crew of hobbyists that will be putting together other forces that I cannot wait to see completed. I hope someday soon we can get these on a table and roll some dice against each other too!

Stephen Evans (UK) - NIGHTSTALKERS

I have been gaming for over forty years and got into Kings of War at the beginning of second edition, after taking a break from fantasy/sci-fi gaming for about four years.

I am one of those people who, once they commit to a project, do so big time. Therefore, I have so far collected and painted fifteen armies, all over 3,000 pts and am a couple of units in to my sixteenth. So, when Joe Neet put a call out for a painting challenge, I could not resist signing up. There starts army seventeen, Nightstalkers. When I start a new project, I usually check what models I already have and then work out a list and purchase models to add to it. This time I thought I would try something different by not coming up with a list beforehand and just painting what I fancied from models that I have in my collection. I have a good selection of Nightstalker models, plus a few of the Hellboy board game pieces, which I would also like to incorporate into my army. This should give me a 1,500-point army without having to purchase anything else.

As you have probably guessed by the number of armies I have, I like to paint large-scale armies that are painted and based basically, rather than spending lots of time on a single project. This time I want to try some new technics that I have not tried before, like ghostly and blood effects using technical paints. Once the models are finished, I am looking to try a water effect, to create swamp bases.

Having ordered new paints and basing materials needed I am ready to get started. Just need to decide which models will be my first and get cracking. Wish me luck.

Jesse Cornwell (US) - FORCES OF LIZARDS/NATURE

Jesse here, and let me start off by saying if you came to me for amazing hobby and intricate back story you are going to be disappointed. You have got guys like Grant Fetter with his knights who will do anything to fight back against the Abyss, Ben Stoddard with a creepy backstory and what will be, no doubt about it, a beautifully presented army. Joe Neet, the Master of Building armies out of other Mantic models and even Jonathan Faulkes, while not possessing an intricate back story for his force, he has a plan and a color scheme ready to go.

Then you have me.

Yup, that is the extent of my plan. I have a bunch of Forces of Nature army boxes I have gotten from various tournaments (remember when that was a thing?) and plan on painting them.

Be amazed.

To make up for my lack of creativity and borderline ineptitude I plan on making a 2000-point force. I will be using most of the of the models in the army boxes (not you Naiads). I am excited about using the Salamanders because that will also allow me to cheat and have a start on a Salamander army whenever I decide to get crazy and start that.

I do want to get out of my comfort zone though and really go crazy with bright colors, think poison tree frogs + 1980’s. Yeah, that crazy.

So, my planned list will comprise of 2 Salamander Prime Hordes, 2 Earth Elemental Hordes, 4 Forest Shambler Regiments, Greater Earth Elemental, Beast of Nature, Druid, and a Salamander Veteran.

Daniel Cammack (US) - RATKIN

For my new hobby project, I have decided to go for a fully Mantic Ratkin list using the Veer-myn models (and hopefully the new Ratkin kits that were rumored to drop at some point this year)! After working on my abyssal dwarves for the better part of nearly 2 years and having to use the older kits (since that’s what I started with), I’m going to treat myself to the nice new Mantic sculpts that are sure to be amazing like all of their new stuff! No more cutting discs off feet for me.

Every new army project, I challenge myself to attempt a new technique, achieve a goal, improve on a technique I have been practicing or some combination of those. My last project, Abyssal Dwarves, I wanted to try my hand at non-metallic metals, a brighter color palette (not my comfort zone) and try to win best painted at an event. I managed to accomplish what I set out to do with that project, so now I had to come up with a new plan...

My goals are as follows: learn to use oil paints/washes, improve on my true metallic metal technique, make better/more interesting bases, and improve on my speed of production/painting. So, with goals now set, I need a direction or theme to shoot for. My theme will be technology/production/mechanical vs. nature. The idea came from a love of Studio Ghibli films that often have the push and pull of technology/advancement against nature/the old ways as a major theme (think “Castle in the Sky”). This theme gives me the opportunity to achieve a lot of the goals I have set for myself in interesting ways which I hope to show throughout this journey.

Matt Gee (UK) - THE HERD

Someone mentioned the chance of starting yet another army and having come the end of my Ogres I figured I’d have a crack. I am usually a complete nightmare to keep on track on a single task when it comes to hobby so this should provide the chance to finish something in a sensible amount of time. Sifting through the options I fancied having a go and one of the newer Unchartered Empire factions. I like a good modelling challenge and an army that can be built several ways with themes and fluff. There are some intriguing options available to the Herd so that is what I have settled on. Although there are few “official” options for units there are enough that I can build around and I have ideas of models to use as a base.

The hooved feet look started me wandering down a towards the thought that most of the beastmen that are seen in fantasy worlds are of pale or dark brown skin. I thought there could be some interesting options to go for using some darker greens and tending towards a darker theme. Plenty of dark tones and skull concepts.

I like adding a bit of theme to things too so will be trying to write some fluff to match.

Jonas gingerly crept through the carpet of ferns the covering forest floor. He’d been absconding from the village more these days since discovering the trampled pathways into the area locally known as the Naipe. No one else seemed to notice their existence but something had been venturing though the trees, unseen by the cover of darkness or darker still, Majik. He’d been harvesting mushrooms when he’d seen the foot, or on reflection, hoof prints in the soft clay-heavy soil. Initially he’d thought nothing of them, assuming that they were the result of Granlay’s flock of curmudgeonly sheep being driven to new pastures. The sun had been low over the hills and as he’d returned back down the valley he mulled over some more of the finer details. Those imprints were surely too large for a sheep and seemed too regular to be made by the slow stumbling of a dumb animal. As he’d looked down at the marks his own feet made in the soft loam it dawned on him that their spacing seemed eerily similar. He returned home to his cottage and slept restlessly that night.

Moving as soundlessly as he was able, he navigated the outstretched roots and thick grasping boughs of the great wood. Everyone knew that though The Naipe hosted fairy tales to scare youngsters, there was nothing to fear from the garnbut trees that grew there. The wolves had been driven out in his grandfather’s time and while Jonas and his friends had often come up to trap toithes and other rodents, that was as dangerous as it got. Following his recent discovery, the forest felt on edge and as he forged on, he was apprehensive. He slowly realised the canopy overhead was beginning to thin. What had been a dark and brooding environment had moved to more dappled shade. As he rounded a great trunk, pitted with carvings, and cracked branches, the cover abruptly ended, and he could make out a clearing through the sparse foliage.

Confusion swept over the youth; everyone knew that the woodland stretched for hectares solidly without interruption. Logging parties entered to provide the village for the winter but there were strict rulings on their activity to preserve the delicate balance that his people revered. He faltered forwards, gently pushing the slender branches apart to understand the meaning of what he’d found. Pressing on, the scale of his discovery and its implications set his mind racing.

Blake Shrode (US) - NORTHERN ALLIANCE

When I heard Joe was looking for volunteers it was a perfect excuse to get cranking on a new army. I have been building and playing the BIG Game for Mantic at Cons for the last few years. For that I have painted a TON of figures, and usually very quickly. Needless to say, painting 50,000 pts in 3 months, the armies may look good from a few feet away, but they are not gorgeous.

So, this would be a chance to "only" a small army/contingent. Hmm. Now for some reason, I tend to hate doing bases for an army. Just a lot of monotonous work most of the time, but my wife's scenic bases for the Big Game were great and really helped sell the “Theme” of the battle. Then I also saw Rob Phanuef doing some great scenic bases with cliffs. And I was inspired.

I am going to work on painting a small NA contingent, but I want to really try to paint them to the best of my ability, without using shortcuts to rush the paint jobs (though still hitting deadlines). But I also really want to make some great mountain bases. So, Ice and snow and rock is my theme.

But Basic story... In a remote outpost to the far west within the Howling Peaks, Balasar’s (May change?) Tribe resides. While they cut out a hard life from within the rock and ice, he has been able to fulfill tributes to Chill. While life in the ice and snow is hard, their remote outpost helps Guard a useable “backdoor” pass. And they have recently started allowing other tribes to use the pass. But they remain ever watchful that none but those they allow make it through the pass….

Felix Castro (US) - ABYSSAL DWARFS

Once the pandemic started to shut down events such as Adepticon, I found myself with some Mantic store credit. When Mantic ran their Mega Army deal, I decided to order the gorgeous new Abyssal Dwarfs Mega Army box. On paper the army is for my son, but I am sure I will still roll out this 1k force for doubles tournaments in the future.

I wasn’t a player of ranks and flanks before KoW but somewhere in my memory I recall evil dwarfs being a raiding force, so I wanted my army to reflect that. The plan is for the basing to resemble ship decking and maybe some of the bases to look like they are landing on rocky shores to *ahem* acquire more slaves for their vile experiments. For my dwarf members of the Abyssal Dwarf army, I always wanted to do the look of the Immortals from the Achaemenid Persian Empire. I want to achieve a sinister looking army without relying on the “traditional” colors of the Abyssal Dwarfs. So off to search on what the Immortals looked like:

Heck yeah, that looks cool, but definitely not something I think I could make “pop” on the tabletop. Then I looked up the not movie version of what they looked like historically and found out the Immortals looked…. decidedly not like the movie….

Perfection!

Philip D’Angelo (US) - OGRES

For my army I went with ogres! At tournament at Origins games fair ran by a cool pathfinder (Michael C. Carter) players rotated tables but the armies (provided my Michael) stayed. I wound up on the Ogre table and had a blast! Quite literally... The goblin blaster is freaking awesome!! It was a fun versatile army that I felt could function in every phase of the game and have fun! It does lend itself to a bit of a beat stick style... But there was a little bit of nuance to it as well. Plus, I figured I could use elements of the army as allies in other armies... They are mercenaries after all!

I picked up an army box, a warlock, a few berserker boxes, and plan on tossing in a colossal giant! Pretty cheap and effective way to make a good all-around army. I intend on painting them to a solid tabletop standard and use the army painter dip method to make nice looking army in a pretty fast timeframe.

Michael Pearcy (US) - TWILIGHT KIN

I never was a fan of the 'evil elf' archetype in other games and did not expect to be a fan of the Twilight Kin for that reason. The path that Mantic has gone down however has piqued my interest. I really like the idea of a race that was broken and has a single-minded drive to fix themselves. This has led them to search for answers through dark methods, which have intertwined them with the other worldly Nightstalkers and Abyssals. It is more of an amorality leading to evil than an outright evilness. I had started some fiction around the character whose portrait is shown in the Uncharted Empires book, Astalia Soulflayer.

Having been drawn to this faction based on its unique vision of the ‘evil elf’ I am working on some background story to go with my force! Here is a bit of teaser:

To Astalia Soulflayer, the sky looked like a disc of swirling violet and gold capping the great basin of the Mouth of Leith.  Looking up at the cliff wall in the distance, her sharp eyes picked out a small humanoid figure slowly descending the jagged rock face. It was not an uncommon sight; many who came across the great jungle in the cavern were seduced by its lush beauty, which contrasted sharply with the harsh desert wasteland above. She often enjoyed watching their efforts, though it always ended the same way. Just as she was thinking that the figure had made impressive progress, it slipped, plummeting from the cliffside. Astalia listened for the screams that echoed off the cavern walls as the figure fell. It was a sound that she found fascinating, both in its raw emotional quality, and its abrupt and final ceasing…

Matthew Temple (US) - DWARFS

So, I have decided to take a break from painting Abyssals and picked up a new project… dwarfs! After seeing a few mantic dwarf armies at tournaments though I realized there are some cool looking models in the range and can make a fantastic army. So, I picked up a mega box and got going.

To start out, I decided to create everyone’s favorite part of Kings of war…stuff for the scenic bases. My idea here is to take Mantic’s Abandoned Mine kit (or kits as it has turned out) and create a Mine experience. Now at this point you are saying, oh dwarfs in a mine, very original. You would be right about that however there is a big difference. I am planning to create an old west style mine, more in line with Tombstone Arizona then the traditional Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings. My goal is to have a lighter, browner, and tan color for the rock then the traditional dark grey. This will also give me some fun conversion opportunities down the road for some “desert dwarfs”.

This is going to be a very fun, and exciting change of pace from my Abyssal force and can’t wait to see it all complete!

Matthew Snow (UK) - ELVES

So after deciding to take the plunge into the Kings of War hobby blog ran by Joe and considering many options including 9 legions of zombies , 6 foot wide wall of shambling goodness , I remembered I had bought an Elf starter army a few years ago .

So, this would give me 20 archers 20 spearmen 10 scouts 20 palace guard and finally 2 bolt throwers. With the addition of a king and a wizard id have a 1,000 point force, with the idea of growing the force later for bigger games.

My favorite unit from the Elf list is the Therenian Sea Guard. The idea of ranks of archers loosing their arrows while protected by ranks of stalwart spearmen really does it for me.

Well anyway, enough rambling from me. I have a mini or two to paint. Until the next time.

Jeff Franz (US) - FORCES OF THE ABYSS

I decided to join in on the fun and paint a 1,000 point Mantic model army. To save some time and money I dug out the box of Forces of the Abyss miniatures I had acquired as prize support, gifts, and some holiday Black Friday deals. Originally, I planned on building out the FOA army that I would run during a tourney, 2,300 points was a bit too ambitious for this project. That plan changed.

Building the force, I wanted to paint took several “re-do’s”. I chose to paint units I would not likely use, Succubi for instance. I wanted four regiments and some characters in support. Realizing this was only utilizing one-unit type and did not capture the intent by showing off the variety of figures in the FOA line. So, I diversified and raised the points to 1,500. Went with a horde of Mollochs, 2 regiments of Succubi, Regiment of Abyssal Horsemen, Chroneas, Abyssal Fiend, Warlock, and Seductress.

Brad Jimenez (US) - OGRES

For this new project I have decided to go with Pannithor's BIG BURLIES, the ogres!  The theme I wanted to get across hearkens back to my younger days as a Dungeons and Dragons Player.  I always liked the darker versions of the good races.  On the top of most people's lists for the corrupted races would be Drow.  I like the coloration, but I abhor elf kind.  I wanted to paint up my ogres in this coloration though and looking at what the army boxes had to offer, I chose to go with the Ogre Mega Army boxed set and the chariot regiment. 

I know that the ogres would be painted up in darker hued skin and the metallics would be dark steel, but what would I do for the fleabag riders in the set?  Obvious! Deep gnomes (slaves types) on badgers!  The deep gnomes' flesh would be of a brownish grey hue.  I wanted to base these in caverns.  I have some 3d prints to show that they are coming out of cavern entrances (not all of them though).  There are stalagmites, fungi, and crystals i have planned to put on their multi-bases as well for variety.  The main thing I want to try to do is a bit of freehand for the physical spaces in the cavern entrances; bats and red eyes in the darkness and such. 

Coming out of the Mammoth Steppe generations past, my tribe of ogres (Brokkamorg's Umbral Fists), have wiped through all opposition in search of riches to pillage.  All the mightiest ogres that are honored as chiefs take the name Brokkamorg. This is done in honor of a set of legends that Brokkamorg the Mighty hunted and killed a dozen dragons in his lifetime single handedly to prove his might and more importantly, take their hordes of treasure. The current Brokkamorg is the legend's 27th incarnation. Their conquests took them out of the Mammoth Steppes, barreling through the Forest of Galahir, out into the Ardovikian Plains, and through to the Dragon's Teeth Mountains.  Over the generations spent in the caves of the Dragon's Teeth (cavities?) Their skin tone has changed to an umbral hue.  The Umbral Fists have switched to running night raids on the Ardovikian Plains and their near in-the-dark tactics learned in the under ways of the Dragon's teeth have made them a fearsome army to behold!

Charles Feduke (US) - ABYSSAL DWARFS

Since my first encounter with big hat chaos dwarfs in Bloodbowl I have absolutely had a... weird thing for them. They were this sort of Babylonian culture melded with dwarfs with bulls which were centaurs but with dwarf tops and cow bottoms, and what is not to love?

Over the past couple of years, I've picked up a lot of Mantic's Abyssal Dwarf kits, but never quite got around to assembling and painting them. Well, the time for these kits to collect dust is over!

I will be trying a new medium for myself, which will be enamel through the airbrush. I have some great brass and bronze colors from AK Interactive I plan to make use of. I have a bunch of Babylonian-ish 3D printed terrain to incorporate into the bases. I have a suitable Greenstuff World roller and Sculpey to make the multi-bases.

I don't know what exactly I'll be including in this first 1,000 points. I like to paint for efficiency, so I will certainly start with very fast to paint up units like Abyssal Gargoyles. I feel like my biggest challenge will be convincing myself that purple - to offset all this brass - is an okay base color (that probably won't happen).

Patrick Zoro Allen (US) - TRIDENT REALM

Before the cancellation of the US Clash of Kings I had planned on making an all-Mantic Trident Realm army to showcase what I think is one of the more unique ranges and concepts in the fantasy world. It really started with a single unit, the Naiad Wyrmriders. I had an idea of bending the metal to shape so they are riding through waves, instead of coiled up on dry ground. From there I thought about Naiads swimming and attacking a ship and how that would look. Both of those ideas are what truly inspired me to make a Trident Realm army and both of those involve working with resin in different ways.  The ensnarers horde ended up having to be a rowboat as any other ship is too big, and after looking at the infamous netted man closely I noticed he was a Basilean! So, I grabbed the new Men at Arms kit from my Vanguard Kickstarter set to add some zealots to be dragged to the depths. 

I grew up in Indonesia and I knew I wanted a lot of the colors in my army to be bright like some of the coral reefs I have seen there. In particular, I wanted to represent a reef that’s on Komodo Island, which is one of the few places in the world to have pink sand. I painted up a Vanguard warband to test out these colors, who will be most of my characters in the army.  This is probably the most ambitious hobby project I have ever attempted. Which of course means it's mostly in half-finished stages right now.

The only units I’ve “finished'' are two hordes of Gigas. But I have not done the resin pour for them yet as frankly, it's scary. My first test with some old zombies from that other game did not go well.  Also, I am still unsure if I want the giant lobsters (from the Nameless range in Deadzone) as part of the units or not. Likewise, my Naiads. Kraken, and Treeleapers, have been based, but not highlighted. Joining the hobby team is really the kick I need to get this project actually finished (hopefully).

Joe Neet (US) - KINGDOMS OF MEN

The whole idea of this hobby tale came from all of the awesome miniatures, scenery and basing I have been able to follow during lockdown. With so much free time on our hands, there is no better time to turn those piles of grey and metal miniatures into painted ones!

For me, it’s simple, I am going to continue to add to my ever growing Kingdoms of Men force. I have loads more Pikemen and Foot Guard to do, so no better time than now. My plan is to paint a total of 3 Pike Regiments, a Foot Guard Horde, 2 cannons and 2 Generals of Winged Beasts.

I really hope that everyone enjoys this series, we had lots of participation and hopefully jam-packed updates for you over the next few months.