Blog The Spear of Dusk (Itzahuan's Seraphon Constellation)

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Howdy folks. Just figured I'd put this little blog up to start showcasing my army.

Seeing as how the General's Book is coming out, I figured now was as good a time as any to start my catalog of painted minis. Forgive my amateur photography, I'm basically forced to use my cellphone for lack of a better camera.

I'll post up a separate blog regarding my Constellation and it's Lore (remember, Seraphon Armies are now Constellations), so this one will just be for the miniatures.

Happy Star Gazing!

 

[Bracnos]

hit me with it dude!!!

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

The intrepid test model: a Skink Beast Handler.

I'm going for a paint scheme that plays up the cosmic nature of the Seraphon. So I used Black as the base and faded it to White, inking it with blue and speckling the body with stars. If you've played Destiny, think like the Taken.

Armor and metal I painted as a sort of glowing nephrite jade. Secondary colors will vary depending on the unit. For this little guy, I went with a glowing white for the eyes, sort of a callback the starlight that empowers them.

Those of you who've read my entries in the writing contests might find that color scheme a familiar one...

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Following that are my SALAMANDERS.

I loved the idea of these guys have stars burning inside their guts, belching gouts of flames. So, for their secondary color I choose a really bright shade of orange and yellow. I think it really makes them almost seem to glow like a fire.

Also, for those who've read my first Story Contest Entry, the one with the chained neck is the Bull-Salamander from the Untitled Man-Vs-Nature Seraphon Peice from the July-August 2015 entry.

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

NOW, UNTO THE HEROES.

Mostly because I believe in eating your desert first, and then slogging through the actual dinner afterwards...

 

[n810]

Pretty cool theme man.

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

I'll start off my Heroes with my SKINK PRIESTS.

Now, just in case there's somebody out there who DOESN'T KNOW YET, there is a distinction between Skink Priests (primarily a buffing unit, but not a full spellcaster... sort of like how Liche Priests used to work in Tomb Kings), Skink Starpriests (The Wizard Skinks we all used to use as Scroll Caddies) and Skink Seers (Tetto'ekko and his like are now actually a unit, which I love). This particular post focuses on my actual Priests.

Now, for the Priests, I wanted to make their secondary color something more mysterious and strange... so I settled on a Nebulous kind of Purple and Pink to illuminate their gems and trinkets. I think it sets them apart from the army pretty well, while not confusing them with my actual spellcasters...

As you might notice, they are still a work in progress, but the paint scheme is far along enough to give you a good idea of what I'm going for...


This next guy is a tad further along. He just needs his jade picked out with glowing green. If you look closely, you can see a little "Cube of Darkness" lashed onto his right side as a little throwback to WHF. I picked out the tiny stars against a nebulous purple in the cube for effect.


.

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Next, we're on to my STARPRIEST.

For my spellcasters as a whole, I wanted to go with a deep shade of blue for their secondary. I figured it would almost be like an polished window or a portal of some kind, gazing out into the stars to see the constellations of the Seraphon. A cool sort of glow that denotes their magical power, but isn't quite as mysterious as the Priests or intensely violent as the star-forged heat of my Warrior-Hero's Weapons.

This guy in particular used to be a Skink Chief (used to run Cloak of the Jaguar and Dagger of Sotek for those who remember the old combo), and considering how often his sniping out wizards and support heroes won me games, I figured it was only fair to reincarnate him in as a proper Starpriest.




I still have him clutching a heart, which I jokingly say is the heart of some cosmic beast he's slain amongst the stars. I figure he'd use it as a magical focus or something.

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Now, what's a Starpriest without a STARSEER to guide their magic?

Same color scheme as the Starpriest, denoting a shared source of power, but I tried to make him a tad more majestic and gave him a bigger base for cinematic purposes. I made him out of my old Sacred Stegadon Helm Chieftain (I always loved the model, even though I usually just ran him as a Skink Priest) and expanded his little sword into a full blown staff, plus gave him some chain dreadlocks from the back of his helm. If you look closely, you can see the stars glowing in the glass of his helm.

I won't say anything lorewise ATM, since he may be used in a contest shortly and I don't want to give anything away. XP

 

[Bowser]

The starry night themed paint job is amazing and brilliant! These look so cool, so amazing! Really fantastic job with this and the background info and stories for these guys is incredible! So awesome.

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Thanks @Bowser ! I appreciate the high praise, especially since this was a labor of love. XD

 

[Bowser]

I still have him clutching a heart, which I jokingly say is the heart of some cosmic beast he's slain amongst the stars. I figure he'd use it as a magical focus or something.

Probably my favourite bit of the background info! I like that they keep sharp by hunting minor gods and star beasts! Take that capricorn whatever the heck you are!

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Who better to end my little uploading spree than the man himself?... My old friend, the OLDBLOOD/SUNBLOOD ITZAHUAN.

You might recognize this charming gentleman from my short story a while back; yep, this is that badass Oldblood that went all "2001: A Space Odyssey" and came back as an immortal star warrior. You may also recognize him from my crudely drawn avatar as well (what can I say, I was bored and photoshop happened to be open in front of me).

I tend to field him as an Oldblood (The battlefield control of his General Ability is so useful), but occasionally, if I need something with a bit more oomf, I'll drop him on the table as a Sunblood in all his incandescent glory. Lorewise, he's the real general behind my army, the tactician whose burning grip actually throws the Spear of Dusk at the Mortal Realms, and whose cunning and keen mind guide it to victory.

So, he has to look suitably badass.

I decided to give him a burning halberd (I painted the weapon's head much like the Salamander's fire effect to give the illusion of the blade glowing with searing heat), armored him with loads of extra armor plates and a cloak of chains (so sue me, I love the way the Seraphon/Lizardman chains look), I gave him a shield forged by his Mage-Priest out of the same stellar glass used by my spellcasters (he used to use the old mirrored pool shield from the old Army Book), and finally, I gave him a crown to denote his rank amongst my army (I figure the three glowing blue rings on his crown are the 3 cardinal stars that form the tip of the spear in the actual Constellation).

So, here's the man of the hour!



A Close-Up of his Shield of Stellar Glass... I'll get a better angle later.


Chain Cloak.


A Little Hanger-On from the World that Was... a little swamp snail.


The burning halberd.





Aaaaand I'll see you all starside! I'll post more as it happens!

 

[Bowser]

The Oldblood/Sunblood is amazing! I really like the conversions here, not over the top but noticeable and just so cool. Just looks so much more dangerous with the chain cloak. Also woooh! Snail is going for a sweet ride!

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Pretty cool theme man.

Thanks, Broseph! I enjoyed working on this one.

 

[Bracnos]

Wow awesome work I love that you had a hole and a coherent look to your army(I I'll be using your chains idea for dam sure )

 

[Oldblood Itzahuan]

Thank you guys! Seriously, I really appreciate it. I remember when I read the lore blurb about the Seraphon in the AoS core book, I immediately began picturing then as these spectral star-creatures. Something no more solid than a dream, flickering in and out of reality as they're remembered, blades and teeth sharp as steel and as cutting as a bad memory.

And so I set out to paint my army, because, well, I've anyways meant to, but I now had a really coherent theme for the army.

 

[spess]

Hey wow! Funny to see this theme as I'm doing something similar! The paint scheme that I'm using uses dark purples and blues with bright golds. I only have about 6 lizards finished, maybe with more progress I can post a few pictures

I like the way that you've done the stars actually inside the crests and such of the lizards, so I may use that as a little inspiration on my side. I've been doing a similar celestial star/galaxy energy inside the weapons, but still working on its actual clarity of the idea.

I do have to ask, where did you get your skink priest and the starseer?

Lastly there's a few cool paints that GW put out for gems. They have a really good blue (soulstone blue) that puts a very nice shine and subsequent depth.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Citadel-Technical?s=99189956016

Looking forward to more updates from you!

 

[Crowsfoot]

Very nice theme, just a little tip that may help you.

When I tried painting stars I found painting a small cross was more pleasing on the eye, surround the cross with small white dots to make it look like it is twinkling.

You can take it further by highlighting where your putting the cross to make it look even brighter.

Top work so far looking forward to seeing more.

 

[n810]

If you want a lot of small random stars...
try this, but you know with a smaller brush.

http://www.lustria-online.com/attachments/dnd-003-jpg.20193/ <-- results