Since the last hobby blog reinforced the Stormcast Sacrosanct Chamber, it was only fair to reciprocate for the Nighthaunt. I chose my favourite miniature in the new range: Reikenor the Grimhailer.

I’ll be running this guy with my (mostly) Deathrattle army so black and blue had to be the main colours to keep the unifying theme. Even the undead are fashion conscious. Having painted my way through 50 skeleton warriors, the process and colours for his robes/rags was well established: black base coat, drybrush Vallejo Magic Blue, line highlight Vallejo Electric Blue, extreme highlight Vallejo Glacier Blue. Very quick and easy.

Ethereal Blue and Wings

The ethereal glow for Reikenor himself was a quick and easy method. Thinned GW Guilliman Blue glaze (3 parts water to 1 part glaze) over a Vallejo Glacier Blue base coat did most of the heavy lifting here, pooling in the recesses without looking too dark or thick while giving the rest a translucent glow. I wanted the blue to be more pronounced closer to the body as though his wispy trails faded behind him, so thinned down some Vallejo Glacier Blue and (2 parts water to 1 part paint) and painted the wispy sections. I followed by painting the edges and end of the wisps with Vallejo White. Those last parts are entirely optional but they’re easier than they sound – the key is thin paint.

Most of the effort was spent blending the wings. From front to back, they go from black, through GW Incubi Darkness, to Vallejo Magic Blue. Most was done by thin layers and some mixing at the transitions. I found the transition from Incubi Darkness to Magic Blue too stark at first so switched to wet blending here. No retarder medium, just extra water in the paint. The edges were line highlighted with a mix of GW Incubi Darkness and Vallejo Magic Blue with more blue around the sharper edges.

Rust and Ruin

The rusty scythe blade and barding on the mount uses a couple of GW technical paints. After washing Vallejo Gunmetal Grey with GW Nuln Oil, dabbing some GW Typhus Corrosion around the sculpted damage on the metal gave it an aged, pitted look. A quick drybrush of GW Ryza Rust, as you might expect, made it rusty.

The Finished Product

I’m quite pleased with the result. It was good practice for some blending and special effects as well as giving my Death army a frightening leader.

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