Demigryph Knights WiP

Well, this is where it begins I guess, the first "real" post on our blog, and I'm going to start us off with a wip of the latest addition to my Talabecland Empire force; a unit of Demigryph Knights.

 I was really excited about this unit as I absolutely love the aesthetics of the sculpts and once I'd cracked open the box, i got straight onto the assembly. I decided to start with the champion and build each model into 5 sub-assemblies; the demigryph, the rider, the shield and one for each of the reigns.

Two of the 5 sub-assemblies primed white ready for painting.

After priming all the parts in white i began to add base coats to the demigryph. I used Khorne Red for the armor, Balthasar Gold for the trim, Rakarth Flesh for the fur, Zandri dust for the main body and parchments, Mournfang Brown for the straps and beak and Leadbealcher for the spikes on the head.

The demigryph with most of the initial base coats applied.

After applying all of the base coats, i began to wash and shade the miniature, mostly with Agrax Earthshade as it is my favorite shade for use on red and gold and it works well across the rest of the model too. Unfortunately, from this point onward, i got a little too carried away with the painting and the idea of taking progress pictures went out of the window. Hopefully that's something that I won't make a habit of in the future...

After various layers, highlights and drybrushes across the model i got to a point where i was happy with it. I dryfit and subsequently super glued all of the sub-assemblies together and then based the model with slate, sand, various brown paints and some static grass.

And here's the completed model. I think this chap took me around 8 hours of work and I can honestly say that I think he is the best painted model that i own, and even then he still has his flaws; There is little to no shading around the rivets on the top of the demigryph's head and there is a small gap between the two halves of the main body running along the gold at the front. Despite these issues, the former of which i will try to iron out as i paint the rest of the unit, I'm very pleased with the outcome. I feel that i pushed myself out of my comfort zone with the yellow cloth and gold trim and I feel  that it's paid off. Now i just need to replicate the scheme on the next two models in the unit, a musician and a standard bearer...