Why I painted a Mourngul

This time of year is always filled with excitement!! The weather gets cooler, the days get shorter, and I get to look forward to a well-known American holiday meant for dressing up (and I don't mean in tuxes and gowns). No I mean dressing up as a pretty little princess or a horrifying aBoMiNaTiOn meant to scare the kids (and some adults) into a panic! With all of the scary horror flicks and deathly vibes permeating the local Walmart, I tend to feel especially excited about playing with my Age of Sigmar army. Admittedly, I don't just have an army, so much as I have a whole faction: Death.

It started with an interest in the color schemes and simple models. I love purple and black together and thought something like skeletons would be a breeze to paint. Jay had some death models (vampires, skeletons, and zombies mostly) as well as a gorgeous zombie dragon! These models inspired me and I began working on a small unit of skeletons. I was frustrated with myself in the building and painting process, particularly because I was so slow. But when I completed painting my first unit of skeletons, I couldn't help but to beam with pride. I found myself staring at them trying to pick apart what I would do differently or better. Eventually, Jay came along and teased me for 'admiring them', but he knew exactly what I was really doing. He has been painting miniatures for well over 20 years. 

So after I completed that unit, I decided to try the grand zombie dragon. It took a lot of time to put together, but was well worth the wait! I was truly pumped for death after that model. So I wanted to get onto the next set of models I could build or paint. The next set was a few horses-skeleton horses of course. I excitedly started this next unit and completed it in half the time I did the first skeleton unit! I was starting to make this a habit.

Well, my timing was very good and a short time later, Games Workshop released the Legions of Nagash, along with the avalanche of models that came with it. Neferata had me hooked! She would be the next model I STARTED to paint, but I would not finish her for years! I wanted to make sure my skill level improved before I continued with her. Oh, but the models they released!!

It was around this time that a close friend of ours graciously sent me a horrific creature of doom, released by Forge World. He sent this to me so I would have some advantage on the game table when I played Jay. I did not anticipate the look or power of this model. So when it came in the mail, I could barely contain my excitement! The model I received is known as the Mourngul.

This is one big baddie and a creature that gets both Jay, and our son, groaning whenever they know they will face him on the battlefield. He does go down, but it takes a lot of hits to do it! So I used my mourngul many times with all different kinds of lists, but I never quite got the nerve to paint him. It would be another two years before I finally touched him with a paintbrush.

Meanwhile, the next year went by and Games Workshop began their next batch of releases for AOS death-a bunch of wicked-looking GHOST models! And I thought I liked my skeletons, but these ghosts were even more enticing to me. I had to have it all-and we kinda did get it all! This is also when the new Nighthaunt codex was released, so I was able to oooh and aahh over all the new models. This was a good time for death!

Actually painted by our son - Great job!

At this point, I had increased my confidence in painting, starting to delve into my Sisters of Battle in 40K and continuing to paint different death units that caught my interest. I painted several more units of skeletons, including grave guard. I also did complete Neferata in 2018. And as you have seen in my blog, I also painted Necromunda models within the last year here. And yet, the mourngul sat...

But then I wanted something fun and BIG to do. The mourngul called my name... it was at the tail end of another painting project I had just finished. I was looking for a single model that was exciting, wouldn't take too long to paint, and really had an impact. With his horrifying body, only comprising of his torso and above, as well as this huge gaping mouth and menacing claws, I knew it was time.

Now let me take a moment to familiarize you with the Warhammer lore of the mourngul. Originally this model was released in a newsletter from Forge World towards the end of 2012. The model was thought to be used for chaos, but that was before the "end times" referenced the end of Warhammer Fantasy. Shortly after that time, the 9th age began and this was where Age of Sigmar (or AOS) was born. In this new universe, the mourngul was to see it's time, but more as a death model, than as a chaos model.

The lore refers to the soldiers that succumbed to the cold and gnawing hunger of survival in the bleak cold regions of the world. They turned on their countrymen or tribes and became wild cannibals. The individuals would eventually die and attract "the most destructive and insidious magicks" and they would take the spirits to "taint and saturate them into existence. Then their cadavers [were] warped and twisted into inhuman proportions, and they [became] something neither ghost nor revenant" (reference source here). This monster is neither alive nor dead and actually derives from a real-life mythical creature called a wendigo. It is driven by insatiable hunger, attacking living flesh with malice and never satisfied before seeking out the next warm-blooded victim. In other words, this is a baaaaad guy!

http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/lost-tapes/creatures/wendigo/

So, when I started painting him, I had this vision of an arctic undead creature with shades of blue, gray, and black throughout. However, when I began laying the brush to the model, I shifted to more of an undead green color. As far as I'm concerned, he is a zombie. lol I began adding bloody details, using older Games Workshop colors (such as red ink) and really started getting into this model!

The horse, that he modeled to be ripping open with his giant claws, was a breeze as well. Though the gaping hole in his gut was a little more challenging. I didn't really see the model as the horrific scene it was, but more as a canvas where I wanted to get the colors just right. It was gory alright, but an absolute blast to paint!

So here is my mourngul, completed in a week (maybe a total of 8-10 hours?). You can see how mortifying this disgusting creature is! And with the special abilities he has in the game, you can't go wrong to carry one of these bad guys in your army.

Not only does he cause fear, not only does he cause 2 wounds on 6's to hit, but he also heals each turn he takes an enemy model out of action! You can see his full war scroll below:

So that is why I ended up painting a mourngul. Now you know how and why I ended up playing the death faction, as well. I absolutely loved painting this model and look forward to throwing it down on the battlefield soon. Maybe it will pop up in a graveyard somewhere, what with Halloween on the horizon...We'll see!