The monster I alluded to a few weeks ago has finally been finished. It takes longer when you daren't look the creature directly in the eye.
![Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar]( "Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar") |
| Watch the birdie! |
It's the Cockatrice! That poor maligned monster of 8th Edition - introduced in Storm of Magic, but not featured on Forge World; not included in the Warriors of Chaos army list, but hidden away on the website. Before the AoS re-categorisation of all the races, I'm sure the only way to find this model was via search engine.
A waste of a cracking model - but it's been reborn in Age of Sigmar, fully-integrated into the Warriors of Chaos army, with its own WarScroll and everything.
![Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar]( "Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar") |
| ... and see it coils so well around a round base! |
This monster is part of my 'what the hell, I just like the model' policy in Age of Sigmar. I'll throw it in with my Beastmen Gor, add in some other recent acquisitions (
dun dun daaan...), and see how it goes.
Painting this was a new challenge, not least because I don't usually paint large winged monsters. I was also trying to balance the look of a creature that was obviously magical and unnatural, but with some colours that were grounded in reality.
The key element was the plumage - it's a real focal point of the model, one of the reasons it caught my eye, and it gave me an excuse to break out my Hawk Turquoise (I love that colour, I need to find more things to paint with it).
![Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar]( "Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar") |
| Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue. Beautiful plumage! |
The basic idea was to make the body fairly plain, and just improvise with the feathers and tail.
- Plumage: Hawk Turquoise base, thinned-Blue Ink wash, Caledor Sky drydrush, Caledor Sky/White Scar drybrush
- Feathers: Emperor's Children base, thinned-Red Ink wash, Emperor's Children drybrush, Drakenhof Nightshade wash, Ushabti Bone drybrush
- Tail: Scab Red base, Nuln Oil wash, Mephiston Red drybrush
- Beak: Dryad Bark base, Dryad Bark/Golden Yellow layer, Golden Yellow layer, Yriel Yellow layer
- Talons: same as Beak, but with Agrax Earthshade wash
- Tongue: Worm Purple and Emperor's Children layer
- Body: Zandri Dust base, Agrax Earthshade wash, Zandri Dust drybrush, Ushabti Bone drybrush
- Wings: Balor Brown base, Agrax Earthshade wash, Tallern Sand drybrush
For the yellow beak, I thought I'd branch out from my usual 'wash n' drybrush' routine and try some layers (that every other painter in the hobby seems to do). I started with brown, then worked my way up with yellows. I'm not sure it made any more difference to throwing on brown ink, then drybrushing, but it's early days.
![Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar]( "Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar") |
| This is why the Cockatrice is always shown in profile. |
For those interested in mythology, a Cockatrice appear to be pretty much the same species as a Basilisk (an egg laid by a rooster, hatched by a toad, with a deathly stare), except Basilisks have no wings and better casting agents.
![Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar]( "Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar") |
| "I could have been in that Harry Potter movie, you know..." |
Anyway, I'm glad to finally have this one done - it's been on my wish list for a long time, but I never had the spur to get on and buy it. So I've got Age of Sigmar to thank for it.
![Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar]( "Chaos Cockatrice for Age of Sigmar") |
| But I'm still hedging my bets, so I magnetized the model and gave it a Chimera base too. |
