With the new knight I've got on the workbench, as well as the Armigers and Dreamforge Leviathan I still have incomplete, I've got a fairly sizable Knight force (a maniple? I dunno . . .) To keep them thematic with the rest of my 40K armies (which, with the exception of the Blood Angels, are all from the Ophelia system), I decided to make them "Black Nobility" - noble households allied with the church. This would allow me any sort of variation in painting, lots of heraldry, but a theme nevertheless.
I recently became a godfather, and my goddaughter's name means "strong like a boar" . . . and this was the specific reason the parents chose it. I wanted to make a model inspired by her, to honor her (and which might be completed before she has children of her own given my slow painting . . .)I'd been really excited by the Dominus-class Knight chassis, especially the Knight Valiant with its harpoon. I loved the idea of a "monster hunter", going after Tyranid megafauna, and of going overboard with 40K gothic detail. I also liked the idea of not using the flame cannon (there are enough flamers in the army already and that would be perfect for my Sisters of Battle Thunderhawk) but instead giving it some kind of close-combat weapon to fight monsters with.
I'd been toying with the idea of a Captain Ahab inspired model - a nautical theme, with one leg replaced with a massive spar of chitin taken from a Tyranid bioform - but when my goddaughter was born, it all came together in my mind with "strong like a boar". I would create a monster hunter with a huge boar spear held in a massive power fist, stabbing downwards into a felled monster.
With this in mind, I went "hunting" for parts and components!First off, a Knight Valiant - that part was easy! To replace the flame cannon, I ordered a Dreamforge Mauler Claw. This is a great kit I have used previously (and which may soon be going OOP, so I don't know if I don't need to order five of each "handed" variant to have a stock!) It has wonderful poseability and is nicely detailed. It is oversized, perhaps, for a GW Knight - but that is just part of its charm.
To up the ante on this weapon, I will make it into a chainfist with an Armiger chainsword, and probably add some kind of knuckle-mounted weapon (a heavy stubber or the like). The boar spear will be scratch built.
One criticism I have heard about the Dominus chassis is that it is too short - or, rather, it is not much taller than the Questoris chassis. OK, I heard this criticism from a guy who had designed a torso extender which he was selling but that's fair enough - I think I agree with it. Certainly, the pictures I saw of the piece in place made the Dominus look much better - I ordered one of those, and some arched skull vents from his Shapeways shop to extend and bling out the Knight.
I'd been fascinated by the tops of Tropicana juice bottles - seriously, check those things out. They have arched alcoves beneath a flared top - perfect as column capitals. I'd used them on some scenery, and had collected a few of the larger size ones, but there is a smaller version which I thought would work. A simple transaction at the local party store / off license / corner shop, a few glugs of orange juice, and I had two nice small gothic column tops! My plan - if they are an appropriate size - is to use them on the shoulders, below the turrets, to raise the height of the Knight even more.Finally, I wanted to turn my attention to the head of the Knight - I wanted this to look like a boar hunter, not a boar itself, so I was going to paint it in brightly-colored livery (more on that later) as if it were a medieval knight on a hunt. But, the use of decorated, shaped or crested helms is part of a knight's panoply - and so I searched for pieces I could use.
(I did ask if there was a boar's head available from an after-market seller, but none of the FB groups knew - they suggested Comrade Quiche, who made the torso extender, and I even posted asking if he could make one! I don't think such a thing exists.)
I ended up buying a Schleich wild boar and a wild boar pendant - they were both inexpensive and I'll see if either or both will work. If not, I will come up with something else!
When it came to the painting, I wanted to reflect my goddaughter's origin - her parent's names and families. A quick Google search revealed the coats of arms for their family names - now, I am certain the College of Arms would be aghast at whatever was turned up, and all this modern fascination with fabricated heraldry is probably galling to professionals, but the arms are pretty and dramatic, and will quarter well.
(I reproduce the arms without the names for privacy's sake, although you could easily look them up, I suppose . . . )
A simple quartered design will look dramatic - black and red fields with gold chargers will be both contrasting and harmonized. I think I shall search out some decals for the heraldic animals, rather than trying to paint them by hand.
The entire model will be posed and mounted stabbing into a felled beast - which I have not yet acquired! Some kind of Tyranic monstrosity is called for - but I don't want to pay a fortune for a model I am just going to cut up and glue on a base underneath a load of battle damage and ichor! I shall have to hunt through the second-hand market to find something.
So, that is the planning - all in all, probably more than an hour, and certainly as creative as actually modelling or painting! Let me know what you think!
=][= Danforth Laertes
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