Thorns of the Briar Queen

After many many years of painting miniatures, I've finally painted my first Games Workshop figures.  I've always preferred historical gaming to sci-fi or fantasy (even if I'm at the Hollywood end of historical with Wild West and Pirates), and was never interested in Warhammer 40,000 (Space Marines) or any of the fantasy stuff.

However, Perilous Tales has been nudging me into the fantastical with the supernatural villains, and when I spotted some amazing looking spectres on the Facebook group, I had to track them down.  I was told they were from the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar high fantasy range - a set called "Thorns of the Briar Queen".  Originally quite cheap, the packs of plastic figures were sold with loose leaf A4 sheets of painting guides and additional rules for just £7.99 but cost almost twice that at Games Workshop now.  I managed to get hold of an unopened pack on eBay for just a little more than the original price.

Being used to lead figures, I wasn't expecting an Airfix-style kit:

Unlike traditional Airfix, no glue is required, the figures all snap into place, including into the detailed bases.  There was a little bit of filing and gap-filling but not much.  The challenge was not snapping anything off - the figures are so fine and thin, something which clearly couldn't be achieved with lead, but it does make them a bit fragile.  Even the painting guide noted not to press too hard when dry brushing.  

In order to give them a little bit more weight, I filled the underside of the bases with Tetrion, and then primed and started painting.

I'm pleased with the final result.  Here are (from left) Varclav the Cruel, the Briar Queen and the Ever-hanged:

And the four minions called "chainrasps":

Here's a group shot which gives a clearer view of the excellent bases provided with the figures:

So who you gonna call to deal with these ghosts...?