I started painting an Elric model earlier this year, but managed to finish his companion Rackhir first. Elric still broods on my painting table, appropriately enough.
Rackhir and one of Bulldog Lopez Dark Elves parlay last summer.
Although I am very far from an expert on Michael Moorcock, I did enjoy the Elric books when I read them back in the early 1990s.
Rackhir as planned for a vaporware game
Whiskeypriest organised an Eternal Champion game inspired by Michael Moorcock’s books to take place at Bring Out Your Lead at Foundry near Nottingham earlier this year. Players had to supply an Eternal Champion and a sidekick, so I picked Rackhir the Red Archer and a boozy model that I use to represent me in games from time to time.
Note that the model shown is not the official Citadel Rackhir, but it’s a pretty decent proxy I think.
Rackhir doing his thing with some of Whiskeypriest’s miniatures.
Rackhir is one of the very many Eternal Champions from Michael Moorcock’s writings. Other than the six Elric books, I dont think that I have read any other Moorcock, certainly not any with Rackhir the Warrior Priest of Phum in it. Everything that that I know about Rackhir is from his appearance in the first Elric book and some brief Googling.
I was in a rush when I painted Rackhir, so I approached it in a very free form , fine art sort of way, with several red paints in front of me being applied pretty rapidly without a concrete plan. I rattled the paint job out in very little time. It was an enjoyable way to paint and I learned a bit from it, quite different to the rather regimented way that I tend to approach it.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2017, Citadel, Elric of Melniboné, Fantasy, Warhammer |
sho3box 
Top stuff. Medieval archer type in red – I assumed he was Will Scarlet at first.
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It was fun firing watery reds and oranges at the model. To be honest I’m surprised that it turned out as well as it did.
Thanks for the feedback Curis!
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I haven’t read any of Moorcock’s stuff to be honest. I should give them a go, keep hearing good things about his writing.
I like the red colour scheme you’ve chosen. As with all your paint jobs, their so good I don’t know what else to say, other than its great!
Top stuff mate 🙂
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Very kind Shane, thanks.
The Elric books are an easy, enjoyable read. Pick up Elric of Melniboné and see what you think.
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Very nice dude, I really like how your free-style painting experiment has translated here – it can’t be easy to make all of that red work, but you’ve managed it beautifully mate. Bravo!
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The pink feather looks a bit iffy with the rest of the colours I think, but other than that playing with washes and glazes over ruddy browns and reds tied it together.
Just don’t ask me to repeat it 😀
Thanks for the feedback Alex!
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I don’t know if his bow is meant to be so pale, but it works great with all the reds. He’s a wee cracker.
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Thanks!
I figured that he needed something to break up the red, but something neutral rather than contrasting. The fletches on the arrows were mentioned as being red in the text I think, so I wanted them to be a red calling card.
The bow was the obvious accessory really. The vaguely bone like finish added a bit of texture too.
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Not a fan of that style of figure tbh – seems a bit cartoony to me. But the painting is excellent, great job.
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It’s very much an old style of sculpting, the figure is about thirty years old. A lot of the fondness for old sculpts like that comes from nostalgia: they are not for everyone 🙂
The painting approach was an experiment really, but it worked out. I’m glad that you liked it duncanmcfarlane, thanks for the feedback!
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I got to see this one in person, and these pics still dont do it justice. The way you blended the diffrent shades of red, and brought up the color in the bow. Very impressive, and such a different style then my own.
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It’s funny, but it’s only sort of my style too, weirdly enough 🙂
I ended up pulling the various browns and reds together with glazes and common highlight colours in the end airbornegrove26. I very much made it up as I went along.
I’m glad that you liked it, I’m pleased with how it turned out.
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It’s a nice sculpt… I like how the curved feather on his head echoes the parallel curve of the bow… orthogonal to the S-curve formed by his bent arms. For a paint job you just “threw together” it’s very impressive, especially his face.
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It’s not a case of bullshit false modesty fishing for compliments, honestly. It’s just a case of an experiment that worked out surprisingly well.
It’s a retro, hunched, two dimensional sculpt with a rubbery face, but it has some charms for sure.
Thanks for the feedback Al!
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Great work, really pops
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Thanks Mark!
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