From the Archives: Sepulchral Guard

I’m still working on my next model, so it’s back to Shadespire. Here’s one of my favorite Underworlds warbands: Sepulchral Guard

As most will probably agree, these are gorgeous models! Maybe some of the best that GW has ever produced. Really dynamic and intricate, they really make me want an army of skellingtons. The regular AoS/old WHFB models are not quite at the same level though, so that’s good for the waller. But anyway, I liked these models so much that I bought and painted them right after Steelheart’s Champions, even though Garrek’s Reavers would’ve completed the core set.

Painting these guys was fun, I got to practice some new techniques and learned a couple of lessons as well. For the bone and the rusty metal I followed a splendid tutorial by RobPaintsModels. The bone uses a different palette from GW’s standard bone, and I really like it, but for some reason I have never gone back to it. I didn’t have sponge when doing the rust, so I stippled with a brush instead. Sadly I kind of messed it up by painting a coat of Agrax Earthshade on top (because everything needs a wash, right?), which got rid of the different shades of rust..

My wash-woes weren’t over with that though! I painted the blue cloth, gave it some nice highlights so that it looked pretty good to me. Then I thought that I’d wash it with Drakenhof Nightshade to enhance the folds. It absolutely destroyed Warden’s big cloak. I should’ve thinned down the wash as Nightshade seems to be a lot stronger than most other washes. But the biggest mistake was that I think I fiddled with the wash too long, so that it started to dry and I started lifting paint. The result was a terrible mess, which I should’ve painted again from scratch. Well, I didn’t do that, just layered the midtone and highlighted again. It wasn’t as good as before the wash, but I’ve kept telling myself that it looks worn and tattered, which goes with the “risen-from-the-grave” look.. I also washed the rest of the guys, which worked a bit better as they do not have large flat areas, but I think I didn’t shake the wash enough as some of them dried glossy. Some of these days I should give them a coat of matt varnish..

I also got a small taste of freehanding by painting a few millimeters of straight lines onto the shields. I chose the blue color for this warband so that I could have a “Finnish” theme for the shields with blue and white. I’m really happy with the different patterns on the shields, but once again I messed up a bit with the additional “scratches” I painted on. Shouldn’t have used metallic paints, and should’ve been a lot thinner. I wasn’t too keen on repainting things though (a habit which I fortunately seem to have recently lost), so I called it good enough.

All in all though, I still like the paintjob, despite the many “mistakes”. Teclis Blue is one of my favorite colors from GW and the bone and the rust were so easy and fast to paint. And not only are they a good-looking bunch, I’ve enjoyed playing with them as well!