Sword-play is an odd thing; you don't really use your mind, it is much
too fast for that. Your wrist thinks and tells your feet and body what
to do, bypassing your brain...Hammer-play, on the other hand, is reasonably straightforward.
The Fennblade Kithkar was a late addition to 'blades, and while the model itself was a bit of a hack (and slash) job, my compatriot channeled everything he learned painting the unit here and produced a really fine result.
An astute observer will note that the model does not utilize any parts from the official kithkar, but is instead an amalgam of parts from the fennblade and champion kits, supplemented with a single, unusual space marine shoulder pad. This was originally a pragmatic choice (we couldn't get ahold of the then-brand-new kithkar and wanted a proxy) but I was so happy with the finished result I ended up keeping it intact and adding further details to it.
Unfortunately, given its origins, it appears I didn't keep any photos of the model from before it was primed. However, you can still see in the painted model where most of the parts were sourced from. The body is a trollkin champion, with the head mashed together from a helmeted orc and a pair of the champion heads. The left arm is a fennblade sword cut to a different shape, and the right arm is a hybrid of a spare forearm, two champion hammers, and a big pile of green stuff.
The paint scheme is an iteration of that used on the main Fennblade unit, with a bit more polish (and burnish). I particularly like how well the tartan scheme was realized here.
 |
| Who knew the Adeptus Mechanicus had such a foothold among the United Kriels? |
And I particularly liked how many different textured surfaces were all used next to one another to create a bunch of interesting points of contrast. I made concerted efforts to put several different shades of metallic colors next to one another on here to really give the model a distinguished, officer look. This gets achieved by using several different shades of similar paints, like GW Leadbelcher, Ironbreaker, Runefang Steel, Hashut Copper, and Brass Scorpion in tandem with varying degrees of brown and black shade paints.
Overall, I think the model gets the point across that the Fennblade Kithkar is a veteran of many a campaign, and his armor is a collection of the various pieces recovered from each, with not single definitive matching color scheme, save the matching red tartan with the other melee oriented infantry.
