It’s been a cold, windswept winter here in Chicago (with several more inches of snow on the way today), which makes for an ideal opportunity to introduce my third army of interest, the Valhallans –so here's a rather a quick glimpse at some of my HQ elements. The Imperial Guard has always been the most compelling part of the 40K universe for me. My very first army was a grand batch of blue Cadian’s that later became attached to an Inquisitor, and that was later boxed and then shelved for the foreseeable future. Having said that, just typing the sentence above has given me the impulse to trundle down to the basement, un-box them, convert, update, and bring them out again in a third manifestation as an auxiliary to these Valhallans... hmmm. We shall see.
As you will see in coming posts, the Valhallans make a pretty significant departure from my comfort zone with regard to color and tone of the models. No rust, or orange, or turquoise, or stripes, or any of the usual. Just grays, and muddy greens, and chipped paint galore, and the occasional bit of blue… and ice… and snow. It’s a refreshing break; I have to confess.
Continuing from the Super Heavy in yesterday’s post, allow me to introduce my current ranking Officer (although I’m not yet sure what rank that is exactly –just that he’s on top of the food chain as it currently stands). As I mentioned, I don’t like to neglect extra bits and, despite the fact that the SuperHeavy has succumbed to the lure of Chaos, this stoic, dangerous looking Officer is still true to the cause. With regard to rank and the administrative food chain, I would like to note that my favorite detail here is the vulture. “A vulture? With Valhallans? In winter?” You might say. Well, certainly. Why not.
I talked a bit about the “personality” of important models yesterday, and I think this is a fine example of what I mean. The vulture is clearly looking the same direction as the officer and you can almost hear him thinking, “come on then, lads. pip pip” (that’s the vulture -and perhaps the Officer too, as his sword directs a cohort of lowly proles toward what we can imagine will be a calamitous end). I’m not sure if he’s a vulture of opportunity, a mascot, or if this particular officer has a truly insidious selection of pets, and/or a sinister sense of humor. Regardless, the vulture does not bode well for the average Imperial Trooper in his command. I love it.
5 comments:
The symbolism of the vulture is genius, not to mention the excellent quality of brushwork we've come to expect ;)
Looking good!
Excellent work.
Cheers lads.
Where's that first model from? He doesn't look out of place, but I don't remember a GW model that looks quite like that...
He comes as an extra little bit in the Baneblade sprues (sp?). I don't remember exactly where the vulture comes from (-WHFB giant perhaps?). His Baneblade was pictured the day before in its current state of decay, rusting slowly with its Chaos brethren. He, however, remains loyal.
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