Swinging a spiked metal ball in devastating arcs, dragging unfortunate foes into its path with a massive, notched blade, this Slaughterpriest is so dedicated to the howling devotion to the Blood God that even his enemies begin to fall to blind, berserker rage – that is, as long as they are not boiled alive by the heat, rage and fury of the Slaughterpriest’s brutal attentions.

Having finally gotten around to painting Silver Tower after over 4 years I thought I'd start on the next. This time it's a much smaller box, but it's from the same year of 2016. It's not something I've really touched since it came out, but with only 5 miniatures to paint it seems like an easy project to tick off. It's also a great opportunity to try and improve my blood effects!

Miniature Review

I believe this miniature was actually a freebie with White Dwarf back when it was re-released as a monthly magazine, having moved to a weekly magazine for a couple of years previously. Gorechosen was the headline for the new magazine and even had rules and a space in the box for the miniature.

Fexgore is perhaps the largest miniature in the box. The Blades of Khorne range are all larger than life humans, but as a Slaughterpriest he looms above them all. There is another Slaughterpriest in the box, but without the helmet and with less armour in general he looks much slimmer in comparison.

There's some great detail on the skin and the Hackblade and Wrath-hammer are simply huge, but very much needed to keep everything in scale. Despite this for me it's maybe my least favorite in the box. I think the others have great poses or something about them that makes them feel unique. I feel like Fexgore just looks like an over-sized Chaos Warrior.

Painting Techniques

Metal (Bronze)

Metal (Steel)

Skin

Agrax Earthshade is thinned down and only applied to the deepest recesses. Carroburg Crimson is applied in the recesses around the eyes and nose.

Armour (Red)

Cloth

Leather (Brown)

Leather (Black)

Bone

Gore

When painting the blood, I started by applying it as thinly to start with over as large an area. This then allowed me to apply several layers in certain areas with varying thicknesses. As the paint is semi-translucent, you can build up some great effects with heavier levels of gore.

I found you needed to apply the paint quite thickly over metallic paints, as otherwise you can end up with a sparkly red sword. You also want to apply it after your varnish, as it ruins the gloss look and can also ruin the layers.

Basing

After gluing the miniature to the base I mixed sand with glue and applied it around their feet. Normally I apply the glue first, then sprinkle the sand on top, but this way I found you get much fresher mud look. I then base-coated it with Rhinox Hide, then applied highlights of Mournfang Brown and Steel Legion Drab, then a wash of Agrax Earthshade.

Afterwards I applied some Citadel Scorched Grass in patches as well as some Leaf Litter by Green Stuff World and gave them and the grass a final wash of Agrax Earthshade.

Roundup

I definitely learnt a lot using Blood For The Blood God on a larger scale on the miniature. It's difficult to get the right balance, as you can lose a lot of detail if you go overboard, but you can get a weird effect if you apply it too thinly, especially on metals.

I was tempted to add a lot more splattered gore, but due to the size of the weapons I felt like I'd already overdone it, so I'll save that for another.