Rank and File #1
Kurtz drew his foot languidly through the ash that blanketed the ground. Absent-mindedly he toyed with an old finger bone that lay in the dust with the toe of his worn boot. The scene before him was a familiar one - men, women, others - sat huddled together in small groups or alone, cloaks wrapped tight against the keening wind as the brackish waters of the river rolled sluggishly by. Yesterday they had marched and fought and waited and they would do it all again today.
He suspected the same emptiness haunted his brothers and sisters. The dry whispers of their voices contrasted starkly with the maniacal chanting of the Redemptionists camped near by. Fellow devotees of the New Colossus they all were and yet so different. Kurtz wondered what drove the monks, what gave them their unshakeable faith in the redeeming power of sacrifice and pain. The shadow of a wry smile flitted across his face as he remembered once possessing a similar vitality.
That, however, had been what seemed like aeons ago and the memory died like voices singing faintly on the wind. Long ago he had made a friend of horror. Not the horror of blood and slaughter that the Disciples of the Red Redemption so revered. Kurtz’ horror was far more pervasive and terrible, for he had looked upon all life had to offer and seen naught but shadow and lies. This one truth and the moral terror it brought in its wake echoed loudly within him, for he was hollow to the core. Somewhere a drum began to beat. It was time to move on once more.
To paraphrase and correct the poet, T. S. Eliot, January, not February, is the Cruellest Month - cold, dark, wet and almost fifty miniatures to paint, although that last part is all my own fault! I may yet end up agreeing with him next month though, depending what purgatory I decide to subject myself to... Anyway, so it begins - my first OWAC! To kick the project off, I figured I should start with some of the hooded masses that were inspired by the various literary influences I listed in my introduction post. Before that, however, I think I should apologise to T. S. Eliot and Josef Konrad for butchering parts of their respective masterworks in my little narrative preamble!
18 Cultists of the Red Redemptionists 259 points
Marauder leader and Champion, standard, musician, light armour, shields, flails
Coming up with colour schemes doesn’t always come easily to me and I knew I wanted to do something a little different to the original description of the Disciples of the Red Redemption. It was the following lines from T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland that got me fired up to paint them in the first place, “Who are those hooded hordes swarming
Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth”
These lines also inspired the cracked earth basing I went with too so I figured I’d look for some colour references in the poem as well. I’d already pinched the line about “the third who walks always beside you” for their banner and the description of this mysterious walker - “Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded” seemed suitably creepy. I made their robes red because they’re the Red Redemption and the suggested black might have been a bit too dull with the brown hoods - and hey presto!
According to their background, the monks’ initiation involves the skin being flayed from their faces and a red hot iron mask being fused in to their flesh. I always enjoy splashing the old Tamiya red around to create blood effects so decided to go with that rather than a metal effect. Perhaps anointing themselves with blood is a pre-battle ritual the monks enjoy or maybe their facial wounds never properly heal - either way, I liked the effect!
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| The one non original miniature in the regiment is this cheerful chap with his old hammer that Curtis very kindly gave out for free at BOYL one year. |
27 Thugs led by a Marauder 282 points
Kurtz and his Hollow Men
Light armour, hand weapons, shields, musician and standard
I always like naming my units and their champions and Mr Kutz from Josef Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was an obvious choice. With Mr Kurtz’s being name-dropped in T. S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men, I also had a fitting name for the unit of Chaos Thugs he leads. To seal the deal I just had to quote the poem on their banner as well!
Their colour scheme was a little more defuse than the uniformity of the Redemptionists. Having treated myself to one of Achilleos’ art books, Sirens, recently, I grew rather fond of his use of deep yellow ochres and dark blues. I’ve used them here and there across the unit to create a little coherence. The finishing touch for all these miniatures was a quick spray of yellow ink to suggest the bounce light from the burning buildings they have no doubt left in their wake!
I also rather liked the variety of war paint and crazy make up he gives many of his female subjects so I chucked that in as a bit of a unifying theme as well. Gives the Thugs a bit of a Mad Max feel too I think!
What can you expect next month? I may continue bashing through the big infantry units to make good time of the furlough leave I'm currently on, although the Chaos warriors, mounted and on foot are looking rather tempting too...
