Shadespyre's Lizardmen - Karnac Returns - April (448.5 points)

Rank and File IV 

Yes, it's my April update already - because this is an Army Challenge, not a popularity contest! 

Let's just say that hedging my bets on the project size, compared with my fairly basic painting style, is letting me get through this at a decent pace. As a nod to those actually doing some hard work, I've got TWO units for this month, including a character!

First up, my elite great weapon wielding bully boys and their leader, The Black Lizard

This is also the debut appearance of my newly edged movement trays. Originally I intended to do this with individual pieces of slate, like the bases, but I started and the prospect was too horrible to comtemplate. So instead I sieved my supply of slate debris to give only the smaller pieces, and blended them into a paste with some matt varnish. Not as easy to use as a textured paint or filler as it had no immediate "grab" but it stuck well once dried, and a second coat of varnish over the top has secured it.

These are the four individual poses involved - I was really pleased to finally get the one swinging the great sword, only to grab another one a week or so later for half the price... I used less of the basic green / brown this time around to give more of an exotic / elite feel to the group.

And here's their ferocious leader:

Yup, I painted him black, for he is The Black Lizard (as it says in the Compendium...). Now I'm not aware of any official lore to go with that name. He might be a Lizardman pirate, but I prefer to think his injuries are from the cataclysm unleashed by the Dwarves to seal of the lower reaches of Caraz-a-Carak. He was assumed killed, but survived by eating corpses amongst the fallen masonry until he was strong enough to dig himself free with his one good arm. The eyepatch and hook are taken from fallen dwarves, as is so much of the Lizardmen's gear.

So there we have it: 

7 Lizardmen Warriors with Two Handed Weapons  - 7 x 22 =       154 points

The Black Lizard, Minor Hero                                                          80 points

But there is more!

Ebay brought me the gift of some alternative miniatures - literally, in the form of Alternative Armies

Lizardmen. They were too cheap to ignore despite being physiologically quite different from the Citadel range. I think perhaps they are a different tribe or subrace, even less sophisticated, and press ganged into service by Karnac. And so I have given them a basic green-gray colouration, and a Lizardman in a fancy cloak to act as a leader.

The leader model here is one of those "a bit too Central American for my liking" models, but I think the huge fur cloak sort of saves him. I really wanted to put a "proper" spear head on him but didn't want to damage a rare miniature - if I ever find a broken one, I'll be replacing him! I like the similarity in his pose, though with a more upright stance. It fits the master / servant idea nicely.

For now I'm going to count these as Lizardmen with spears, I might try developing a proper army list entry where they have different stat lines, we'll see.

9 Lizardmen Warriors with Spear                      9 x 21 = 189 points

1 Lizardman Champion with Spear                                  25.5 points

Phew - my longest entry yet!

Coming next?

Well, we're done for Rank and File (though I may sneak a few extras in for the final army, if ebay is kind.)

Leaders is actually quite a lot of miniatures - Karnac himself, plus two command groups and more, but I may finish those next so that Wild Card month can come last and swallow everything else up.