Saurus
Xtapl
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The name of Xapati, ancient Lizardmen god of vengeance and retribution, is called down by the denizens of Lustria upon the enemy before striking a blow of revenge. While not as well-known or as revered as Sotek, Tepoc, and the other Old Ones, Xapati has his own legion of followers and the ruins of temple cities dedicated in his honor still litter the jungles, particularly in the south. Of all of the temples of Xapati, only one still stands relatively in tact.
The city of was once the home of a powerful and dangerous Slaan Mage Priest named Tiqtiqlan. His visions would often spur thousands of skinks and saurus into the thickest jungles to retrieve stolen temple artifacts and punish those thieves who would dare to defile such ancient and arcane items.
However, even the might of Tiqtiqlan could not hold off the dreaded diseases and plagues of the Skaven during the Great Blight. As spawning after spawning of Saurus was sent to its inevitable doom, Xaxlachaq's defenses became weaker and weaker. Finally, Tiqtiqlan gathered his own personal temple guard and took to the field himself. In one of the most brutal and devastating battles of the Great Blight, Tiqtiqlan's magicks dismantled the Skaven threat in the southern horn of Lustria and obliterated all traces of their foul diseases. However, Tiqtiqlan himself was infected, and in just days, fell deathly ill.
He summoned his most faithful and promising Skink Priest, Xtapl, to his side. With his last ounce of energy, Tiqtiqlan imbued Xtapl with knowledge of magicks and gifts of sight far beyond those of a normal Skink Priest. With that last act finished, Tiqtiqlan died.
Xtapl, Blessed Son of Xapati, set about rebuilding the defenses of Xaxlachaq. However, most of the spawning pools were poisoned or destroyed. The ground over these failed pools was consecrated, and no further spawnings were brought forth from them. Eventually, they dried up. Not a single Saurus has spawned in Xaxlachaq since the day Tiqtiqlan died. No Kroxigor spawn either. It is left to the Skinks to protect Xaxlachaq, under the watchful guidance of their Skink Mage Priest, Xtapl, and to exact Xapati's wrath upon those who would trespass in Lustria.
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So the theory behind my army is pretty simple: it will only contain skinks, or skinks riding things they found in the jungle. Everyone else has been poisoned permanently, and can't spawn.
The initial list I am building will consist of:
Skink Mage Priest
Skink Priest on Engine
Skink Chief on Stegadon
16/2 Kroxiskinks with command
11/1 Kroxiskinks with musician
32 Skinks with command
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
3 Terradons
3 Terradons
2 Salamanders with Extra Handlers
From there, I will expand out. Everything will look pretty much like what it's supposed to be, except I have some conversions planned for the Kroxigors and for the Slann.
Okay. That's enough of that. On to the painting part.
I decided to start easy and sort of work my way up to the more complicated stuff. I figured the little 11/1 unit might be a good place to start, so I cleaned them up and threw them up on the paint rigs.
I had an idea for my bases, but to do it, GW's bases won't work. I bought a few bags from Litko, and they turned out to be perfect. If you buy from them, get the 3mm ones. They are awesome.
So. Painting, then. I started off by primering everything in white. Normally, I primer black, but I want my colors to pop a little here, so I went with white. After priming, I gave them all a thin coat of Vallejo Golden Yellow. I wanted some of the white to shine through at the high points, so the basecoat was pretty thin.
When that was dry, I washed the whole model with Gryphone Sepia. I freakin' love Gryphone Sepia. I have run through at least four pots since it was released. Best. Wash. Ever.
After the sepia was dry, I went back and washed the recesses with Ogryn Flesh - especially the face, back and hands. I wanted a little deeper shadow in those parts.
To do the basic skin, I started by lightly layering Vallejo Golden Yellow back onto the skin, being careful to avoid the shadows I'd just created. I highlighted with a light layer of Vallejo Golden Yellow mixed with a little Vallejo Lemon Yellow and a tiny drop of white. The top highlight on the most raised edges was done with straight Vallejo Golden Yellow and a white, in about a 50/50 mix.
I want my army to be visually stimulating while sticking to the same basic color palette, so I think what I am going to do is paint each unit in a different pattern but keep the same colors. So this first unit, I decided to do striped. I started the stripes with GW Calthan Brown. I like this foundation color, and I use it to basecoat every time I do browns, reds, and oranges. Love it.
I started highlighting the stripes with GW Calthan Brown mixed with a little white.
The top highlight just adds a little more white.
Still WIP, obvi. More to come!
The city of was once the home of a powerful and dangerous Slaan Mage Priest named Tiqtiqlan. His visions would often spur thousands of skinks and saurus into the thickest jungles to retrieve stolen temple artifacts and punish those thieves who would dare to defile such ancient and arcane items.
However, even the might of Tiqtiqlan could not hold off the dreaded diseases and plagues of the Skaven during the Great Blight. As spawning after spawning of Saurus was sent to its inevitable doom, Xaxlachaq's defenses became weaker and weaker. Finally, Tiqtiqlan gathered his own personal temple guard and took to the field himself. In one of the most brutal and devastating battles of the Great Blight, Tiqtiqlan's magicks dismantled the Skaven threat in the southern horn of Lustria and obliterated all traces of their foul diseases. However, Tiqtiqlan himself was infected, and in just days, fell deathly ill.
He summoned his most faithful and promising Skink Priest, Xtapl, to his side. With his last ounce of energy, Tiqtiqlan imbued Xtapl with knowledge of magicks and gifts of sight far beyond those of a normal Skink Priest. With that last act finished, Tiqtiqlan died.
Xtapl, Blessed Son of Xapati, set about rebuilding the defenses of Xaxlachaq. However, most of the spawning pools were poisoned or destroyed. The ground over these failed pools was consecrated, and no further spawnings were brought forth from them. Eventually, they dried up. Not a single Saurus has spawned in Xaxlachaq since the day Tiqtiqlan died. No Kroxigor spawn either. It is left to the Skinks to protect Xaxlachaq, under the watchful guidance of their Skink Mage Priest, Xtapl, and to exact Xapati's wrath upon those who would trespass in Lustria.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the theory behind my army is pretty simple: it will only contain skinks, or skinks riding things they found in the jungle. Everyone else has been poisoned permanently, and can't spawn.
The initial list I am building will consist of:
Skink Mage Priest
Skink Priest on Engine
Skink Chief on Stegadon
16/2 Kroxiskinks with command
11/1 Kroxiskinks with musician
32 Skinks with command
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
3 Terradons
3 Terradons
2 Salamanders with Extra Handlers
From there, I will expand out. Everything will look pretty much like what it's supposed to be, except I have some conversions planned for the Kroxigors and for the Slann.
Okay. That's enough of that. On to the painting part.
I decided to start easy and sort of work my way up to the more complicated stuff. I figured the little 11/1 unit might be a good place to start, so I cleaned them up and threw them up on the paint rigs.
I had an idea for my bases, but to do it, GW's bases won't work. I bought a few bags from Litko, and they turned out to be perfect. If you buy from them, get the 3mm ones. They are awesome.
So. Painting, then. I started off by primering everything in white. Normally, I primer black, but I want my colors to pop a little here, so I went with white. After priming, I gave them all a thin coat of Vallejo Golden Yellow. I wanted some of the white to shine through at the high points, so the basecoat was pretty thin.
When that was dry, I washed the whole model with Gryphone Sepia. I freakin' love Gryphone Sepia. I have run through at least four pots since it was released. Best. Wash. Ever.
After the sepia was dry, I went back and washed the recesses with Ogryn Flesh - especially the face, back and hands. I wanted a little deeper shadow in those parts.
To do the basic skin, I started by lightly layering Vallejo Golden Yellow back onto the skin, being careful to avoid the shadows I'd just created. I highlighted with a light layer of Vallejo Golden Yellow mixed with a little Vallejo Lemon Yellow and a tiny drop of white. The top highlight on the most raised edges was done with straight Vallejo Golden Yellow and a white, in about a 50/50 mix.
I want my army to be visually stimulating while sticking to the same basic color palette, so I think what I am going to do is paint each unit in a different pattern but keep the same colors. So this first unit, I decided to do striped. I started the stripes with GW Calthan Brown. I like this foundation color, and I use it to basecoat every time I do browns, reds, and oranges. Love it.
I started highlighting the stripes with GW Calthan Brown mixed with a little white.
The top highlight just adds a little more white.
Still WIP, obvi. More to come!
Those skinks look amazing