An Evil Forest by the Sea.

[robtion]

Welcome one and all to the Evil Forest by the Sea :konrad:

Intro: I hail from Sunny (Hssssssss... :vampire3: ) Australia, love the beach, working out, travelling, playing games (PS3/PS4/XB1), music, movies, and miniatures.

I thought it might finally be time to start a PLOG as I have bits and pieces scattered all around this site. My interest is mainly in painting and converting (though I play the occasional game) which I have been doing on and off (with some long gaps) since age 12 or so (I'm now in my early 30's). I do not have the talent or skill of some of the amazing painters on this site but I try to make up for this deficiency with creativity where possible.

I also enjoy thinking up fluff whilst painting so you might find a bit of light background info on my army and characters here, if that sort of thing takes your fancy.

Some pics to get things started, my entry for the June 2013 Ghoul King or Queen challenge (though I have since added a crow to the top of the tree/branch).

Background: The Vampiric Medusa's paralysing gaze freezes her prey in place in terror. She feeds with a frenzied urgency, unable to prevent her venomous tresses from striking repeatedly at her incapacitated victim. The poison from their cruel fangs takes only moments to petrify the unfortunate soul's flesh. The ghastly statues scattered throughout her twisted forest domain serve as a warning to any foolish enough to trespass.

Vampire Medusa:

 

[Tomfoolery]

Cool mini and sweet paint job. Why would Medusa turn Selma Hayek to stone though? Seriously I want to slap that mini on the ass!

 

[robtion]

Ha ha, thanks Tomfoolery, she is quite the callipygous lass isn't she ;) Salma Hayek, hmmm, perhaps she was punishing her for imitating a vampire (and a vampire carrying a snake at that). Something like, "Vampire Medusa is the only one allowed to wield venemous snakes around these parts biatch" :vampire3:
:grave: Salma Hayek.

 

[Melle]

finally, ive been waiting for this one :thumbsup:

 

[robtion]

Thanks Melle, good to hear from you. Love the new avatar ;)

Ok some more pics this time from my entry in the April 2013 Necromancer challenge.

Background: The Dryads who protected the forest were not inclined to permit trespass by humans, however such was Liliana's beauty, that the forest spirits welcomed her as one of their own. A talented young mage, Liliana's magic thrived under the tutelage of the forest's protectors, fueled by the abundance of life around her.

In time her love of nature, beauty, and growth led her to to bear two children, sisters born two years apart, though none but Liliana knew who had fathered them. The beauty of Liliana's girls matched her own, and as they grew she taught them the ways of the forest and the purity of nature's magic.

Time passed and eventually Liliana's beauty began to fade. It was around then that her past lover, the father of her daughters, paid a visit. Eerily he seemed not to have aged a day, and aware of her vulnerability he seized on her vanity, lamenting that the passing of the years had been so unkind, ravaging her once renowned beauty. Still, it was not too late for their daughters he promised, for he had the means to preserve their youth forever, while they were at their peak.

Before Liliana even realised what she had agreed to her daughters came before her, their dark beauty and unnatural thirst an affrond to all that she valued. When her magics failed to heal them she turned to darker arts, driven mad with grief and guilt. Manipulated and beguiled by her new master it was not long defore the dark magics enveloped her. And so the Hag of the Dark Woods was born.

Hag of the Dark Woods (Mounted Necromancer).

 

[Santawraith]

SO glad you brought us this plog it is great to see the stories behind the miniatures. Feel bad the tree's had been betrayed like that, but that is what a good story does is tugs on the emotional stings of the reader.

So great painting and great story telling.

 

[Shadespyre]

Oh, this is GREAT stuff! More please!!!

 

[robtion]

@Santa: Thanks, glad to have your stamp of approval :) Yes, unfortunately for their minions, the Dark lord and Lady who rule over them them are extaordinarily cruel and decietful. So plenty more tragedy to come :scared:

@Sadespyre: Thanks, for the positive comment, more on the way.

Working on the two sisters currently, should post them over this weekend sometime hopefully ;)

 

[Tawg]

Did you use spider legs on the bottom of that tomb-cover to make it look like branches?

Or where those just bits from the Dryads?

It also just hit me those are actually mantic Zombies, I had never looked past the Dryad faces, ha! :pumpkin:

 

[Shareya]

Love the models, love the fluff! Nice job!

 

[robtion]

@Tawg: Nope just Dryad extras (thorny looking terrain you get with them). Yep, My ghouls and zombies are a mix of parts including mantic zombies, Mantic Ghouls, GW zombies, GW Dryads, GW Ghouls. I will post them with fluff once I get some more done and do some rebasing.

@Shareya: Thanks. Glad people are liking the fluff, I will stick with it then :thumbsup:

 

[Archean]

Sweet! Keeping my eye on this one

 

[robtion]

Thanks Archean. I don't think I will be able to match the standard of your awesome creepy circus, but I will do what I can ;)

Update time. The sisters Von Dracht (Daughters of Liliana).

This is the first of the sisters. Not sure about how this one turned out and the photos came out a bit weird but let me know what you think o.o

Background: Determined that Camilla not suffer the same fate as her younger sister Isabella, Liliana wove her natural magics, binding her cursed daughter with the flourishing life force of the forest around her. The spells were not without effect. Camilla found she could now move through the forest in an almost ethereal way, melding with trees and undergrowth as though a part of them. Unfortunately the magic did nothing to dampen her thirst for blood.

The trees she moved through left their mark on her, her dainty hands twisting into bestial wooden talons, and large sections of skin shedding away to reveal coarse bark. Neither did she leave the forest unchanged. In her wake saplings and shrubbery withered and died, or worse vegetation contorted into terrifying monstrosities, no longer satiated by soil and water, their roots flailing from the ground in search of blood and flesh.

The forest grew ever darker, animals fled in terror or were eaten by the tree themselves. Hence the Dark Woods came into being.

Camilla-The Elder (Ghoul Queen)

 

[robtion]

Well, not done with the younger sister yet but here is another model I did a while ago (and recently added to a bit). It was a zombie dragon but I now use it as a second terrorgheist, as I have something else in mind for my new ZD. Really this could still use a bit of work, as I kind of lost motivation while painting it. Also my wife is not a fan of the trees, and it might be a bit busy? I don't know but let me know what you think ;)

Background: Bringing together their magic, the Hag of the Dark Woods and Camilla the Elder poured their hatred and anguish into
the decomposed carcass of a long dead forest dragon. Despite their struggle not enough remained of the fragmented remains,
the mildew and rot that thrived in the woods long ago having decayed the once great beast.

Not to be deterred the hag sent forth her youngest, Isabella. The blood crazed varghulf hastened away throught the underbrush, it's frenzied mind eager for the slaughter ahead. A matter of hours later a score of villagers lay on the forest floor, their dessicated corpses littered around the dragons carcass.

Again the Hag and her daughter wove their necromancy, the freshly slain intertwining with the long dead, bone and sinews unfurling and lacing together. Twitching awake in a distorted parody of life, the abomination let out a nightmarish scream, fueled
by the pain and torment of it's creators.

From that day forth villagers for miles around the Dark Woods would cringe in terror at the horrific shrieks that echoed
throughout the forest, scampering inside and cowering behind closed doors. Huddled together in the feigned saftey of their
homes, the unfortunates prayed to their gods for protection an end to their torment.

Terrorgheist (alternative)

 

[Theerteen]

Goddammit...This is sick awesome stuff! The dryads in the first posts aren't my taste, but this is just kickass! :O

 

[robtion]

Thanks Theerteen, glad you like ;)

Hopefully get some more stuff posted later today but will see how much time I have.

 

[Shareya]

Just like before, nice lore and nice models. I like the tree-lady most, bloodied lips <3

 

[robtion]

Thanks Shareya, yeah I thought it made her look a bit more vampiric :konrad:

So I completed the younger sister Isabella a few days ago but have been to busy to update with pics. Here are a couple of quick pics, if anyone is interested I can post a few more. I used some Vallejo water effects on the base to try and get a nice plood pool effect :suck:

The sisters Von Dracht (Daughters of Liliana).

Background: Even in death her affinty for nature has not abandoned her. Dark magic pulsates from her being, the forest around her twisting and writhing with hate. Tangled roots burst forth to ensnare her foes, tree branches contort with terrible speed landing crushing blows, or splintering into long spikes to impale her enemies.

All the while, her mind fueled by an unquenchable bloodlust,the younger leaps nimbly from branch to branch, shrieking down at her victims with insane glee.

Once the battle is over, the younger wonders leisurely through her grisly orchard. Feeding until only skeletal remains are left dangling in the trees, horrific momentos of her broken mind.

Isabella-The younger (Varghulf)

 

[Shareya]

Lovely job again though...why does it look like her loincloth just covers the front and her butt is on display? *stares*

 

[robtion]

He he, guess that is just how she rolls.

Perhaps as an insane Varghulf the last thing on her fractured mind is keeping up appearances? I guess what you see is all that is left of the tattered remains of her clothing. More than her older sister the ghoul queen is wearing though ;)

 

[Shareya]

Ksh, that is true at least but as said it's a lovely new piece! I quite like the blood(?) around the tree. Makes it look extra twisted.

 

[Seneschal]

Excellent TG and 'ghulf, robtion. Very, very original. Well done, sir

 

[Tawg]

Hmm, interesting; Is that a skeleton pulling an arrow out of his head in the back-side of the trunk? Took a second to figure that out, and her larger claw, did that belong to a Necron Flayed one once?

How much work did you have to put into the water effect? Or rather I.. guess I'm trying to ask, did you have to like, "Box in" the base so the effect doesn't pool out, or was that just something you apply with a brush? I've never used a water effect type stuff.

Looks pretty sweet over-all, like the little screaming skulls, but who doesn't :pumpkin: I haven't put mine on the ME/CT yet, I always thought they were a bit awkward to just "Slap" on additionally to the already fairly well formed Spirit-host carrying the platform.

I love "Counts as ____" models, it's nice to see things that don't have their hands so strictly tied by "Conventional" fluff.

 

[robtion]

@Seneschal: Thanks, glad you liked them, original is what i was going for. Thanks for the Rep ;)

@Tawg: Spot on! It sure is a skeleton pulling an arrow out of it's head :skull: If I take some better pics I will try to show some of the details.

Good guess but the claw is actually a Dryad claw that I liked the look of. I painted it the same colour as the tree and tried to blend it into her own skin tone.

This particular water effect (vallejo) is kind of a paste so no box required. Only the second time I have tried it. It dries hard and clear but I mixed some tamiya clear red and a bit of brown wash in to try for a bloody colour.

Yep, I like unique minis/armies in general. I have a conventional Varghulf too which I will post in the future but this one is from my 'evil forest' contingent.

 

[Santawraith]

the vulghulf reminds me alot of my corpse tree. very well done love the lore. But the model oh the model Is so awesome.

You should think about adding a corpse tree I think it would work well in your army feel free to steal any idea off the one I did. Would be a awesome second vulghulf maybe?


Hehe I remember seeing the terrorghiest when you were assembling him. I would say with paint on him he looks so much more impressive. I had my doubts when you had him on the assemble block but now wow.

The ghoul queen reminds me alot of the dranchie model. (not sure I spelled her name right that wood elf dryad) Love the combination of the two into a believable piece great conversion.