Headsman

Got back into painting after a bit of a lull, and started polishing off some half-finished pieces, including this chap:

Executioner, torturer, and generally unpleasant chap.

There's something eerily iconic about executioners, and this guy was mostly inspired by the hangman from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - classic hood, studded leather, evil leer.

Inevitably, that meant a dip into my box of Bretonnian Men-at-Arms. While I did consider going full studded leather, as offered by one of those Bretonnian bodies, it seemed a little much, so I erred towards something a little less ostentatious. The hardest job was carving out the existing arms so that there was a flat surface onto which I could attach Frostgrave Barbarian arms while still leaving the studded leather collar sitting plausibly on the new shoulders. The rest was a doddle - Frostgrave Cultist head with minimal work to get it to sit flush and for the cowl to blend into the collar. Stuff on the back of the belt is my usual mish-mash of junk, including a skull (Frostgrave Gnolls, I think) as a souvenir of his work, a bottle (Cultists again) and a crossbow quarrel quiver (Perry Miniatures, I think), because it works perfectly as a generic belt pouch on slightly larger figures.

Despite using a GW body as a base, he's surprisingly squat, with the powerful arms and slightly too-small head giving him a really thuggish look that I'd love to claim was intentional!

A minor mishap with an over-heavy satin varnish means it's just a little too shiny (a matt layer took the edge off). After the disaster with the Greyjoys, I've moved from GW's evil Purity Seal to brush-on stuff, which is a) much cheaper, and b) gives me more control... or will once I get used to using it.