As you know, we here at Master of Magics we like to keep our eyes peeled for interesting and unique painted miniatures and armies, in order to show and inspire you in your own hobby adventures. Hobbyists spend hours of their time creating, for lack of a better word, art. So, when we see some mini’s that impresses us, we reach out and ask the owner if they want to tell us about how and why they came up with their ideas. While I was perusing one of many Age of Sigmar groups on Facebook, David Clarke’s converted Cities of Sigmar army, and knew I had to ask if he would share his vast collection with you all. Luck for us he said yes. So, let’s have a look at some of the noble warriors of the free cities.

How long have you been into Warhammer: Age of Sigmar? Are you primarily a painter, a gamer or both?

When it comes to miniatures, I think I’m mostly a modeler. That is, the part of the hobby that I enjoy most is assembling and customizing miniatures. I usually have to force myself to paint my miniatures, and while I do enjoy the finished result, that part of the process feels more like a chore than the other. But this might just be because I feel my modelling skills are better than my painting skills.

As for gaming, I was running a Necromunda Campaign and had just started playing Age of Sigmar with some friends when the Pandemic began, so that has since ceased and I have not played a game for over a year at this point. I primarily play miniatures games with a Narrative focus, as I tend to find the competitive element of most miniatures games to be lacking the appropriate amount of balance and structure to be enjoyable.

That said, I’m definitely a gamer, but mostly I enjoy Video Games and Magic: The Gathering for the purpose of challenging myself and competing with others.

Magic you say. No James, focus. So, what drew you to Cities of Sigmar?

When Warhammer Fantasy ended, I was perhaps an optimistic sceptic about Age of Sigmar. I thought the designs of the Stormcast were neat, but I felt that the lore lacked moral weight. The Stormcast Eternals seemed like soulless automatons without proper motivation for their actions or existence, which didn’t make for an interesting setting.

But the game was new, so I tried not to make any premature conclusions. I tinkered mostly with Necromunda and other projects in the hobby while remaining an onlooker. Next, I was greatly inspired by Chris Peach’s Freeguild army featured in the White Dwarf. He had crafted an army that was a synthesis of all the factions of Order and painted it in a beautifully cohesive colour scheme. This began to answer the question for me of what the Stormcast were for, they were to defend these folk. The free people.

That was all finally codified with the release of the Cities of Sigmar Battletome, which explained (to a much greater extent) the nature of the plight of the forces of Order. It was at this point that I challenged myself to build an army using miniatures that I already possessed. So, I grabbed all of my unassembled Dwarfs, Elves and Men and crafted them into a force of Duardin, Aelves and Humans.

Well, the final results look great. How long did it take you to complete the army?

I modelled the army over the course of about 40 days, then, in fits and starts, it took me 16 months to fully paint it (perhaps this proves my point about being a modeler first and a painter second!). I consider it to be in a “Battle Ready” state, and it could definitely benefit from a few more rounds of highlights and attention to the details of the face and eyes.

Well they say no army is truly finished, don’t they. Do you have a particular model you are the proudest of?

Model wise, I’m quite happy with the Hammerers, which are a mix of Humans, Elves and Duardin wearing plate mail armour. I also like the Steam Tank conversion. Painting wise, I’m quite happy with how I painted the blue capes on my Outriders.

Yeah, the tank looks sweet. So, what’s next on the painting table for you?

I’m always working on multiple projects simultaneously. I’ve been working on an army of Hedonites of Slaanesh concurrently with my Cities of Sigmar army. I’ve painted maybe 1200 points of that force and want to bring it up to 2000 points as well. I’m also working on a Death Guard army that’s an homage to Jake Vlemmix’s Death Guard army featured in White Dwarf #198.

Great stuff. If someone wanted to see more of your work, where could they find you?

You can follow my progress on this and other projects on my instagram here.

Thanks to David for sharing their work. If you have a unique and interesting army you have been working on and would like to share it with the wider community, then you can contact me via twitter @TenguPlaysGames or via our FaceBook page, and maybe yours will be the next army featured in our showcase. If you have enjoyed today’s article, please like and subscribe to keep up to date with all we do here at Master of Magics. You want to support the site directly; you can join our Patreon for as little as a $1 a month. Until next time though remember, Stay Safe and look after yourselves.

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