After exhausting the Chainrasp kit on the bog standard infantry I started looking around for what other Nighthaunt kits could serve well. Not being familiar with everything GW had released over the years this was pretty fun. I settled on the Warcry Pyregheists as a varied kit including some heavier looking ghosts that might do as heavy infantry.
Fast forward a few months and I got the chance to submit an idea for the latest Yaktribe modelling competition, and duly nominated a “Hallowed and Haunted” theme that would give me an excuse to continue the Trench Ghost project. When that idea won the vote I was semi committed. The plan was to make some heavy infantry, and maybe a “barbed wire banshee”.
I procrastinated a lot on these builds, doing bits and bobs like putting helmets on various skulls, test fitting various arms and doing some basic gap filling, but not committing to anything proper like a pose decision or getting the ghosts to actuall hold the weapons.
At this stage I was happy with the machine gun (an amalgamation of two resin parts) but feeling a bit aimless. Taking the plunge proved to be the answer. I carefully removed one of the Pyregheists weapons, leaving the gripping right hand and extended finger, and attached it to the flamer I’d picked out.
Cutting down the back to make room for a fuel tank for the flamethrower was the big moment of commitment. One stuck down, I didn’t want the tanks to be just stuck there with no obvious means of being held on, so added straps from plasticard strip. Add suitably grizzled zombie head and a gasmask canister from the WW1 kit and I had the start of something workable.
As with the infantry the main challenge once I got going was to have the Nighthaunt arms and hands convincingly holding the weaponry. Both right arms and hands are from the actual Pyregheists kit, with what they’re normally holding carefully carved away.
For the left hands I dug through the “unarmed” bits box and found a suitable ghoul or Nighthaunt hand for the machinegunner and the somewhat innovative solution of an Eldar guardian hand for the flamethrower.
Flamethrower guy was finished with a scratchbuilt hose made from 0.3mm black copper wire wound around a paper clip core (use a drill for speed). Now I know this technique, I won’t go back to the green stuff tube tool.
Although the Yaktribe competitions are 5-6 weeks long I spent so much time faffing around at the start that I ended up only having 1 day to paint these. I had however spent a lot of time thinking about painting them, so much so that actually doing it felt fairly familiar. After a zentihal undercoat this is a lot of washes, wet in wet, spatter effects. It comes together quickly – just half an hour or so per model.
I’ve been following the Grimdark Compendium on YouTube and I drew a lot from their style and techniques. On the right arm there is a a hint of a new technique that I didn’t really have the time to properly push – using superglue glazes, followed by thin washes that you then drop iso alcohol on to make vein like effects for skin. I’m looking forward to trying this on larger areas of flesh for other projects.
Fairly monochrome overall but with splashes of colour – reds, purples and blues for bruised flesh and blood stains.
Metal areas are simply black, with a gloss varnish (actually superglue here, but a varnish would work the same) and a wash of grubby green weathering powder. The robes get progressively darker so they blend into the dark umber bases and the same weathering powder is stippled into the robes and finally mixed with resin for the water effects on the base.
