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Beware, dear reader! This is no mere paint log, just as The King in Yellow is no mere play. Here lies a chronicle of the doom of Carcosa; of the coming of the King and of the unmasking; of the desperate pact between Queen Cassilda and the long-dead princes of her dynasty; of the coming of those who dwelt lower still than the crypts beneath Carcosa...
First round of Carcosan inhabitants are GW Empire State Troops (mostly halberdiers), Handgunners, and Flagellants. Bases are cork, which I'm hoping will look like concrete when all is said and done.
This is my first foray into modeling and wargaming, so rather than dive in with a full-fledged army, I'll be working bit by bit; as such, the first models finished will be enough for a skirmish game rather than WFB itself. To start, it'll be Carcosa (Empire) vs. The King in Yellow (Chaos), then once all those suckers are done it'll be ALL those figures vs. my Vamps, and when THOSE are all done, it'll be my Vamp army, etc.
So anyway, the fellow on the left in the pic below is a good example of how the models will scale up; his parts and painting scheme will be an ambiguous mix of Carcosa and KIY, so that he can be used by either side in a skirmish. Eventually he and models like him will help unify ALL of those figures, and they all in turn will fit thematically with the vamps.
That particular figure is, by the way, a mix of Flagellant (body), Greatsword (arms), and--I think--Handgunner (head) bits.
Some additional Carcosan warriors. I'm hoping that, when painted, the greenstuff on the drummer's base looks like cobblestone.
The sword fellow will be a hero unit; reminds me of Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood.
The monkey will prob be an objective marker or a suicide-blast special unit.
In the skirmish game the demigryph knight will be the main hero unit for the pure Carcosan / Empire figures. Eventually it'll serve as a varghulf. I'll only be playing any of this with friends so base size won't be a concern, etc. etc. I greenstuffed the beard and the head is from the Empire Champion with Pistol figure.
As the Yellow King's influence spreads across Carcosa, even its own military succumbs to the fever-madness of the Yellow Sign. Shield is from the GW Putrid Blightking kit.
Basing for those units influenced by the Yellow Sign will have cracks, rubble, etc. to help distinguish them from Cassilda's bastion of loyal warriors. Guys on the left and middle are a mix of Flagellant bits, while the fellow on the right has arms from a GW Skaven Plague Monk kit. The big tumor under his chin demonstrates how the Yellow Sign has a malignant effect upon both the mind and the body.
The mutations are even more pronounced in these suckers below. Mix of Flagellant, Handgunner, and Putrid Blightking bits. Dude on the right has a Mantic Games Ghoul head. The shield on the back of the middle guy is a 'broken shield' I got off eBay, pretty sure it's from a GW orc kit.
Two figures sinister enough to be ambiguously Carcosa / King in Yellow: a GW witch hunter (awesome model) and a Helldorado Damned One of Pride. The former's got a Flagellant head on its base and the latter a scroll from (I think) the Plague Monk kit. I fully intend to give the witch hunter a Vincent Price paint job.
I am really excited about this guy: he's going to be a champion of the King in Yellow, completely drunk on luminous yellow booze and every bit the match of Cassilda's champion (the Daniel Plainview fellow). Head is another Mantic Ghoul (the same head, in fact--I used this one twice because I like it the most, but I mixed many of the others into the units as well).
This'll probably be a crypt horror eventually, but for now it and the other four Putrid Blightkings will serve as leaders of the King in Yellow's horde. I'm going to introduce progressively cooler models into our skirmish game, so this fellow (and the demigryph knight) won't see play immediately.
Not sure if I'll pull this off once it's painted, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Behold! It is The King in Yellow itself. Will undoubtedly serve as an objective marker in a climactic game
I'd very much appreciate feedback on the KIY figures I've painted so far before I proceed any further with them.
I want both the Carcosans and the King in Yellow's followers to have subdued color schemes; the Carcosans will be a bit brighter and cleaner to help distinguish them, and the KIY models will have bright yellow eyes and possible small instances of yellow elsewhere, also to help distinguish 'em.
These pics, like the ones above, aren't great by any means, but they convey the colors pretty well. I primed the Carcosans white and the KIY black (with a second, quick pass with white to bring out some of the recesses etc.).
I *love* the color scheme on this fellow:
That said, I am trying to work with the paints that I have and don't want to spend too much time on painting, so I'm not shooting to replicate this. The figures below are all unfinished, and I would really appreciate any feedback or advice before I proceed with them. I've experimented with the 'wash only' technique, as with the Greatsword below (just red, blue, and I believe Gryphon Sepia, maybe Stirland Mud also).
Which colors do you think would help even him out? Maybe I can turn those blues into greens and offset them with a cream color and burgundy, like the fellow above? Lemme know what you think!
The spearman's colors below are louder than I want them to be, so I'll probably hit them with Stirland Mud etc. I like the feather though; the blend is less obvious in person than in the pic (I swear!). Any suggestions on where to take his colors?
Here's where I need some real advice: the KIY models. My drunken champion is less muddled looking in person, but what I think I need to do is darken his armor a bit and then work up the courage to try an OSL effect across his arm, chest, and face; any tips there? He's one of my favorites so I don't want to harass him more than necessary.
I am very, very pleased with the paint job thus far on the model below. The pics are lousy and the blue-purple of the blade has a galactic-oil-spill look to it in person that really catches the eye. You can kind of see the colors in the pics. I'm thinking I'll hit the very edges with Mithril Silver, and also the edges of the pit marks on the blades--in the case of the pit marks, I'd like to add a wet, shiny black/purple color within the pockmarks themselves, and at their center put little dots of bright yellow. Does this sound like a good idea? I suppose I should mess around with a model I don't care about, but priming is almost impossible in my area at this time of year (I can't prime indoors).
The blue-purples on the sickle are a little more evident in the pic below:
This one is the closest to what it looks like in person:
Anyway, any advice or tips you might have would be greatly appreciated!
I don't know too much about Lovecraftian fluff, but I do play a lot of Arkham Horror so I am a bit familiar with Carcosa, the yellow sign, Hastur and what not.
Your conversions are great, I get a strong of Blanchitsu feel from them. Cultists and corruption, always a nice theme. I like the colours on the greatsword. The red and blue work well together so I wouldn't advise to change for green. I think you could use some grey tones on him too, that usually work very well with blue. On the spearman I don't really like the blue and purple together. It works on the feather but not on the clothes so I say replace the blue here. I would try to get some yellow, probably quite faded, into the scheme. That always looks great with purple. On the other points I don't think I can contribute much, never been a fan of OSL personally.
Great project, as a bit of an HPL fan I like this idea a lot, will be fun to watch it take shape. Do you have any plans to draw any of the numerous Lovecraftian miniatures out there into your project?
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