From BillA: Countess Winterthorn and Guards (35 pts)

"Ooh, Shiny" syndrome rears its head once again, like a cobra swaying hypnotically before me.  One of my local painting buddies has expressed an interest in his Age of Sigmar goblin army pulling double-duty as a Dragon Rampant warband.  He just needs opponents to play against.

Well, I dug out the skeleton army I built awhile back for DR, and I wasn't super happy with the force; I decided I would be better off building a fresh warband from scratch.  As I was brainstorming, a few figures in my project mountain caught my eye: "Adrasteia Winterthorn," a vampire countess Reaper put out last year as a promotional figure, and six copies of "Athak, Undead Knight," a Reaper Bones figure I'd bought en masse to use as a unit in the skeleton army.  An idea was born -- a vampire and their retinue, not of skeletons and zombies, but of mad and desperate mortals fighting for the vampire's promise of eternal life.

Adrasteia immediately became the army's general, and the half-dozen "Athaks" her robed, silent and highly-disciplined guards.  With their flowing robes, armored cowls and pole-weapons, they reminded me of the Emperor's Guards from the original Star Wars trilogy, hence the red robes (basecoated Reaper Deep Red, and drybrushed Reaper "Fresh Blood." The armor and shields needed some contrast though, and are done in a couple layers of Reaper "Gunmetal Blue," which is a much more striking metallic blue than comes across here.  The eyes and tongues on the shields were done in my usual gold combo - a basecoat of Ancient Bronze, washed with Citadel Nuln Oil and then highlighted with Antique Gold.

The same color scheme was carried over to Adrasteia - her dress is done in the same way as the guards' robes, and the batwinged armor covering her shoulders (as well as her bodice) are Gunmetal Blue trimmed in Antique Gold.  Her cloak was basecoated in Reaper Midnight Blue, and drybrushed with Twilight Blue.  I think the streak of gray in her hair looks neat as well.

That's seven 28mm figures so I reckon that's another 35 points to my tally.

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Vampires? Emperor's guards? Must be French somehow . . . . 

I've passed that Adrasteia figure in many hobby shops, and been sorely tempted to nab her for Frostgrave. You've done a smashing but simple paint job on both her and her guards. Well done. You've done smashing work on highlighting all those folds in both their robes and her cape. They stand out but don't look overdone; something I have struggled with in the past.

35 points well earned, and a nod for Sarah's Choice.