Ankhara City of the Dead part 7- Ankheftu the Skull Collector

This excellent mini was originally painted sometime in the late '90s or early '00s. She's a RAFM miniature from their line of angels. She saw a little use in WarGods games for the 'Lair of the Monster' subplot (using the rules I wrote for the issue of Croc Tales with different monsters to use- she inspired the Harpy rules before there were Harpy rules for Olympus). I wanted to repaint her and use her as a powerful beast in the Ankhara skirmishing setting.

The original paintjob was not so good. For the time, it was passable. So into the jar of LAs Totally Awesome and she came out nicely clean. There was a tiny bit of cleanup that was missed back when she was originally painted.

But first, a pile of skulls based on the sketchy lore I created as Ankheftu was getting painted. This is a weird 25x40 MDF base picked up from the bins at the Gale Force Nine booth at one convention or other. The skull are a mix of my preferred (but dwindling supply) of resin skulls from a couple different Kickstarters, some GW plastic skulls, and one or two plastic skulls from some other source. 

The painting was some simple drybrushing of various lighter colors followed by a wash, then some touchups. I haven't decided if Ankheftu will perhaps use these as a cache to throw at people or just as an objective marker.

Painting Ankheftu using better primer and modern dropper bottle paints was a joy. I used cork chunks and some resin skulls on the 40mm base to help her fit into the necropolis setting of Ankhara. 

Drybrushing and washes help Ankheftu turn out closer to how I think I originally wanted her to look. Ive had trouble with pale skin in the past, but I think her skin turned out pretty good thanks to all the practice I've had painting skin over the years.

Ankheftu's sketchy lore took shape during the painting process. There was a moment where I thought maybe she would be the protectrix of Ankhara, that didn't last long. Then I remembered the art from the WarGods rulebook showing an Asar Harbinger of Horus with the Aspect of the Avenger power. Then it clicked, she was a fallen Harbinger of Hors. Killed in some way that when she was raised as a Dark Harbinger it didn't quite take. She's very powerful, but not a Dark harbinger. She's got her wings and a couple of other powers that I haven't decided on yet. And she likes to collect skulls.

I think she may be a rogue element in Ankhara, guarding her precious skulls. Maybe she can be 'hired' by a party for a game or two, they just need to promise her a certain number of skulls. But it's all just in progress right now. I won't mention the possibility of her having an undead version of the Falcon Servant until I can find a good miniature for it.

with a couple of Ankhara-specific mummy conversions

with the Scorpion Sorceress and a Heru Hero conversion

with a Heru speraman conversion and a Crocodiliopolis City Dweller spearman

Aegyptus April 2026- Dark Fable Physician and Whisper of Nepthys

 It's Ægyptus April and I actually managed to get a couple Ægyptians painted up! These are both from one of the many Dark Fable crowd funding campaigns I bought into far too heavily, but I think they were worth it.

First up is the Physician, or perhaps he's an Alchemist. I love the little spoon he's got. I tried to make his medicines look bright and exciting. 

For his wig, I wanted to do something strikingly different from the norm, so a couple layers of different oranges were used. I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out. I'm glad I forced myself to focus on him.

Next is a Priestess of some sort. While I was finishing her, I came up with a specific use for her in Ankhara, City of the Dead Skirmishes. It's still a work in progress, but she will be a type of undead- a "Whisper of Nepthys" or maybe a "Shadow of Nepthys," something to do with Nepthys. I'm not sure if she should just be a single entity, or a class of wandering undead in the necropolis.

I'm really happy with the green of her dress, it stalled out for quite some time, but when I started working on the Phsician again it all came together for her. She's sculpted by a different sculptor than most of the rest of the range, but I think she fits in well to the civilians of Ægyptus.

with a Crocodiliopolis Asar Spearman and a Dark Fable maiden who might be Doc's assistant

with a heru Spearman conversion and the Scorpion Sorceress conversion

Ankhara City of the Dead part 6 - Carrion Beast

While looking for something else, I came across the bits for this "carrion beast" (that's the working title, it may change) and decided it was time something be done with the headless undead body that I've had since last century.

The body is an ancient Grenadier miniature (a demon dog? maybe a blood dog? some kind of dog, I think). I needed to find a head and eventually settled on this Nurgle hero head from an Underworlds figure who got turned into a Hapi-folk Crypt Lord. It was that simple.

I pinned the head and there were really no glaring gaps to fill, so then I could focus on removing the accursed thick intergral base. I decided I would only remove part of it, leaving the rocks the back legs are standing on to help show this beast is in the ruins of Ankhara.

The final touch was to chop off part of a metal ankh bit from some unknown source to act as some more rubble to reinforce that this is Ankhara.

This beastie is the first of some number of things created by the Carrion Queen. I've been slowly working on various Eater of the Dead sub-factions controlling parts of Ankhara. The Carrion Queen is either going to be an Undead Beast Mistress who has unlocked some serious power in death (including control of most of the Ghouls throughout the City of the Dead); or, she's a Khemru Dark Harbinger who has begun experimenting with what abominable things she can create (plus the Ghoul thing). The Carrion Beast is the first of these to actually be built and painted. I have no concrete ideas about what sort of powers it has, but it will be something simple and weird. 

...witha Heru champion and the converted Scorpion Sorceress.

Here we have the Carrion Beast with various WarGods miniatures to show how well he fits in with them.

...with a couple of fancy Crypt Lord conversions.

...with the mummy lion from the undead beastmaster.

Ankhara Necropolis Scatter Terrain

I've long pined for those glorious days of the WarGods Ankhara campaign and the aftermath of that epic finale at GenCon. A year or so ago, when I learned of the Necropolis28 game, I started musing on something similar with an Egyptian theme. When it clicked I lost my mind for a bit- Ankhara after the Rise of Khepri would be a  great setting for Mummy vs Mummy games. 

I planned a fancy Necropolis board that has since been put on hold, but it would be cool to have a purpose built Ankhara board. Instead, I decided more scatter pieces needed to be made. I've got several pieces that will fit in nicely with the theme, but more is better. 

This first smaller piece is on a 60mm base. It's got some skulls, a canopic jar from Crocodile Games,  and a sarcophagus top also from the Croc. 

Next comes a couple of sphinxes from an old Kickstarter Egyptian-themed dungeon tile set. They were not as detailed as I had hoped, so the whole set has been in the original boxes for a decade or more. But these sphinxes were good enough to be damaged a little and block movement and line of sight. This piece is on a 100x80mm base.

There's a random mummy with its head in the sand to help spice up this piece, I actually snipped off the head and used it on the first base with the two skulls. A couple shields add a bit of color. 

Finally, we have another 100x80mm base. This one has a single Sphinx on it, it could nicely serve as the objective for the "Riddle of the Sphinx" scenario. This base also got a pile of rubble with a sarcophagus lid. There's a fancy sword sticking out of the rubble and a rogue canopic jar.

These three pieces are hopefully just a beginning to a series of Ankhara-themed terrain. I want to use a few of those dungeon tiles that came with the sphinxes. I also have plans for a few raised areas to add a height component to the skirmish area.