Warhammer Fantasy - Scenery - Dark Elves - Altar of Khaine
Warhammer Fantasy - Dark Elves
The Altar of Khaine
In my recent Tomb Kings Temple of Souls Post (see it HERE) I used some spare Arcane Ruins columns and lintels and a few Tomb King bitz to put together some scenery pieces for the desert board theme we have for our "Two Brass Pass" board and I referenced that I had used the the rest of the Arcane Ruins kit, which included the base and the obelisk, to create an Altar of Khaine for my Dark Elf force, somewhere suitable to dispose of the Asur and Asrai we often find ourselves wading through.
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| The Khainite Shrine from page 124 of the classic Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition Rulebook from Games workshop 2009. |
I always liked the conversion illustrated on p124 of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle Rulebook, so I based my conversion using a similar theme.
UK - Element Games The Outpost Firestorm Games Wayland Games
USA / Canada - Games Kastle
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Crystal Codes for Element Games RIC134 or ROB8508 |
Parts Used
Note there is a Handy Links Section included at the foot of this post.
The major headache for me was how to get hold of the very cool and evil looking blade-vanes that give the Altar it's characteristic Druchii look.. When I studied the pic it looked like they had used parts from the 40K Dark Eldar vehicles but I did not want to buy any just for a couple of parts....after I'd discussed this with the Dwarf of a particular "rotund" nature, he scoffed something about dainty Elven construction techniques and waddled off into his workshop for a few weeks and returned with all the parts I required.
THE FAT DWARFS NOTE: I refer you to the Engineering Guilds Rule 1256, sub paragraph, 17.4 of Stone Construction: never trust and elf to build anything...
It was of course always going to happen that I would step in to bale the pointy one out again. I saw him struggling with those dainty little hands to build this structure, and thought I would utilise some good old Dwarfen engineering and industry to resolve this issue.
So my real life job is that of an Architect, so I used my knowledge of CAD to draw up the required vanes for the elf. These were then cut from 5mm acrylic on the office Laser Cutter. this cut out a nice representation of the required vanes, and I sent off a selection to the elf via good old Royal Mail...
(its well known that the High Kings correspondence is delivered by a reliable and stout Dwarven mailman, while perhaps not the fastest delivery, it will get there..)
I clipped the torch holders and inserted them into the top of two skull piles then glued these onto the to flat areas at the front of the base, suitably illuminating the main stair.
I used a small hack saw to cut the obelisk along the border, two thirds down. This is probably the trickiest part of this conversion. The blade-vanes that fit in here require careful measurement and the cut to split the obelisk needs to be level all the way round. The open ends of the obelisk were covered with appropriately sized sections of 'acrylic' cut by Dwarfen hand. This not only covers the cut area but also provides a level base to glue in the blade-vanes.
The brazier supports are Dark Elf swords with their grips cut off. Leave the hilts on as these form a good bracket for the brazier to be glued into. The swords blend in with the blade-vanes and were glued to the top of the obelisk with no trouble at all - the fit was practically perfect.
Lastly, I glued the banner pole icons onto the parts you want.
Base Coats
All the stone areas were base coated with Mechanicus Standard Grey, the skulls with Mournfang Brown and the metal areas all base coated with Abbadon Black. The cracks in the floor stones and the cracks on the obelisk and columns were base coated with Khorne Red and Skull White for the coals in the brazier and the torch flames.
That's the base coats done and from here I like to work from the inner parts of the model to the highlights.
Layering
So first up I used Blood for the Blood God technical paint for all the recessed cracks in the stonework to give the appearance that blood has seeped into the fabric of the structure.
I then picked out the edges with Dawnstone - this includes the edges around the cracks.
I was happy with the torches, blade-vanes and the brazier supports being black so just gave them another light coat of Abbadon Black.
The flames and the brazier coals were painted Bad Moon Yellow (Old Paint) then the raised areas painted Fiery Orange and the ridges and tips highlighted with Khorne Red.
HOBBY TIP: I find painting flames is like reverse highlighting; as the flame gets further from the heat source it cools so the brighter colours work well in the recesses and the darker colours further from it. If you want a more sooty looking flame then you can add very dark browns or blacks to the tips and edges.
The Khainite symbols were simply painted Brass Scorpion.
The metalwork of the brazier was painted Leadbelcher.
I picked out a few areas on the stonework and painted them black. The big skull on the obelisk was highlighted with Dawnstone and the eye sockets painted with the citadel technical paint "Blood for the Blood God".
Adding the old Cauldron of Blood painted up by the Dwarf back in the noughties will allow for a suitable upgrade from a lesser altar of Khaine to that worthy of Morathi herself!
You'll notice Hellebron and her Witch Elves preparing to defend / sacrifice some victims in the shrine...I'm certain they will appear in a future post as part of the Dark Elf Khainite Army I'm currently assembling, and that already includes a the War Hydra which we posted about in a previous article HERE.
(its well known that the High Kings correspondence is delivered by a reliable and stout Dwarven mailman, while perhaps not the fastest delivery, it will get there..)
Assembly
The columns come in two halves - just apply a little glue and push them together. Wipe away any excess glues that seeps out. The two wall torches are glued the side of the column that will overlook the side stairs of the Altar base. I glued the Blade-vanes directly onto the tops of the columns.
I clipped the torch holders and inserted them into the top of two skull piles then glued these onto the to flat areas at the front of the base, suitably illuminating the main stair.
I used a small hack saw to cut the obelisk along the border, two thirds down. This is probably the trickiest part of this conversion. The blade-vanes that fit in here require careful measurement and the cut to split the obelisk needs to be level all the way round. The open ends of the obelisk were covered with appropriately sized sections of 'acrylic' cut by Dwarfen hand. This not only covers the cut area but also provides a level base to glue in the blade-vanes.
The brazier supports are Dark Elf swords with their grips cut off. Leave the hilts on as these form a good bracket for the brazier to be glued into. The swords blend in with the blade-vanes and were glued to the top of the obelisk with no trouble at all - the fit was practically perfect.
Lastly, I glued the banner pole icons onto the parts you want.
Painting
Undercoat entire structure with black spray, I use Chaos Black from Citadel, purchased from Element Games on the link below.Base Coats
All the stone areas were base coated with Mechanicus Standard Grey, the skulls with Mournfang Brown and the metal areas all base coated with Abbadon Black. The cracks in the floor stones and the cracks on the obelisk and columns were base coated with Khorne Red and Skull White for the coals in the brazier and the torch flames.
That's the base coats done and from here I like to work from the inner parts of the model to the highlights.
Layering
So first up I used Blood for the Blood God technical paint for all the recessed cracks in the stonework to give the appearance that blood has seeped into the fabric of the structure.
I then picked out the edges with Dawnstone - this includes the edges around the cracks.
I was happy with the torches, blade-vanes and the brazier supports being black so just gave them another light coat of Abbadon Black.
The flames and the brazier coals were painted Bad Moon Yellow (Old Paint) then the raised areas painted Fiery Orange and the ridges and tips highlighted with Khorne Red.
HOBBY TIP: I find painting flames is like reverse highlighting; as the flame gets further from the heat source it cools so the brighter colours work well in the recesses and the darker colours further from it. If you want a more sooty looking flame then you can add very dark browns or blacks to the tips and edges.
The Khainite symbols were simply painted Brass Scorpion.
The metalwork of the brazier was painted Leadbelcher.
I picked out a few areas on the stonework and painted them black. The big skull on the obelisk was highlighted with Dawnstone and the eye sockets painted with the citadel technical paint "Blood for the Blood God".
Adding the old Cauldron of Blood painted up by the Dwarf back in the noughties will allow for a suitable upgrade from a lesser altar of Khaine to that worthy of Morathi herself!
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| Its "Girls Night" at the Altar of Khaine. |
You'll notice Hellebron and her Witch Elves preparing to defend / sacrifice some victims in the shrine...I'm certain they will appear in a future post as part of the Dark Elf Khainite Army I'm currently assembling, and that already includes a the War Hydra which we posted about in a previous article HERE.
Glory to Khaine!
Gildoren and The Fat DwarfHANDY LINKS SECTION
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