Skull and Shackles
Prior posts have detailed the monsters that the Imperial Navy of Cheliax has been breeding to help take care of their "pirate problem." This time I'm showing one of the largest horrors sighted beside the Chelish ships as they war along the coasts.
How do the kids say it? Ah, yes: "Release the Kraken"
A few survivors from the scuttled ship The Windlass made their way to the taverns of Port Peril to recount a horrifying tale. A Chelish warship started tailing their ship, and as it closed the distance suddenly a woman appeared on the deck of the ship in a crackle of arcane energy. She shouted something in the Chelish tongue and before anyone could react a sinister rumble shook the ship. Before they knew it, an enormous Kraken-like beast had burst its way through the hull and was roiling about on the deck. Taking water and losing crew to both the beast's horrible maw and the Chelish spellcasters magical barrage, the ship was thrown into disarray and was unable to mount any defense against the ballistae of the opposing warship.
The sea hungers
The survivors managed to get to one of their longboats, rowing furiously to reach the coastline before the forces of Cheliax turned their sights to those that fled. One man, a scarred individual who others at the taverns called Surly Pete, shuddered as he described the noise of the battle: "the beast was deadly silent itself, I only heard the crack of timbers as it smashed its way around the ship... and the screams of men falling silent as they were swallowed by its hideous maw." The scuttlebutt around Port Peril is that the Chelish Navy might be planning a broader action against the free pirate fleets, as each encounter with them seems to add new monstrosities and capabilities to their forces.
The Tricorne and Parrot method of model conversion
Privateer Press
On the wargaming side, this is the amazing Throne of Everblight model for my Legion of Everblight army. Keeping with the pirate theme, I wanted to adjust the look of the model somewhat. I focused in on the ship deck basing, and decided to do a swap of the top portion of the model (normally it is a metal and stone platform on the top of the model. I'm really pleased with how the Throne of Everblight conversion turned out, honestly. Especially the base (prior under construction shots can be seen at the bottom of this post).
Under construction
I wanted to have the model positioned as if it clawed its way out of the deck of a ship, so that meant broken decking and water underneath. I initially thought about painting a below-deck scene using perspective lines, but then I realized that would be pure insanity and decided to do a water effect with gloss varnish instead. I think it turned out reasonably well, tho I still have not affixed it to the base as I'm trying to decide exactly how to do so. And I cannot skip mentioning my favorite part: the little wine bottle rolling on the base to give a sense of disruption from the creature's arrival.
Party foul!
As for the game, I fielded it for the first time on Sunday in a 25 game against the Convergence of Cyriss. The Throne of Everblight performed admirably, doing exactly what it should do--scaring my opponent into focusing on it and letting my other heavy hitter warbeasts reach their lines without any damage. While I eventually lost the Throne, it was a superstar of destroying infantry (Convergence of Cyriss Eradicators), a light warjack (Galvanizer), and managing to down all of the three attunement servitors that were flitting about with it's free magic spells in two consecutive rounds (each turn it kills a model, it gets to cast a spell for free with Battle Wizard). Got one servitor with a Frostbite spray, and two with a single Spine Burst shot. That's a tiny thing, but shows just how valuable the Battle Wizard ability can be. Instead of spending other activations to take out the minor annoyances, the Throne of Everblight can snipe some supporting pieces while taking out other more threatening concerns in melee.
Legion of Everblight
Models Painted: 7
Points Painted: 34
Warlocks Painted: 1
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