This one is special. At many several levels special.

It took me few days to paint this ugly reptile bastard. I don’t know how many hours exactly, but it was really time consuming. I wanted this guy to look as neat as possible. Of course, there’s high chance that I could put more effort, but you know, that way, I could have painting it forever;). At some point, you need to say: Basta! Enough! and assume it’s over.

I had nice conditions to paint at Panglao Island, so I grabbed this opportunity and paint as much as possible there. Lovely patio almost all day in shade. There was no other option than paint:).

So, here it is – Gor-Rok. The Great White Lizard. Great, very enjoyable model to paint. Albino skin means it is al white (obviously, duh…), and white means the model is needed to be painted patiently and with care. Several, thin, watered layers of paint, very little wash and white paint used only as mix with grey. Rather annoying for me, as quite impatient fellow :P.

Next thing – Mace of Ulamak and Shield of Aeons. Made from obsidian or some similar material. I would love to look alike to polished stone with lots of cracks inside it. I used Incubi Darkness as base, washed it with Nuln Oil and gently added lighter layers to made the stone surface looks diversified and natural. The cracks were simply watered white paint. On the very end, I painted all with water mixed with Incubi Darkness (around 90% of water/10% paint) to made the the cracks look like they were in the stone.

I have some doubts about Gor-Rok’s scars. I’ve painted them pink with white highlights. In general, I think they look ok, I guess. However, when the model was finished, I’ve realised something. The scars were looking the same, and in fact Gor-Rok got them in few different combat situations, so the scars should have various colours. Well, probably I should have taken deep breath and sit and paint little bit longer, but I haven’t. Lazy me. These scars are good enough. It is decided…

The base. Few months ago I’ve purchased big package of bases from Micro Art Studio. Inside I have few dozens of Jungle Bases. And they suit perfectly for Lizardmen. Ground full of small plants, roots, flowers and moss.  So many details and colours! It looks just awesome!

As I wrote at the start – Gor-Rok is special (beside the fact he’s the special character;). The model is simply unique. The pose is so dynamic, and you get this feeling the Saurus is running at you with battlecry. Painting this guy, it was something new for me. Usually I paint Skaven, and believe me Rat-men are so  small folks comparing to Big White Lizzy. Big Lizardemen – that is what I want to paint right now! Sorry, Skaven, time for a break;).

Well, Gor-Rok is my number one. The first miniature from my next Fantasy project – Lizardmen. About one year ago I’ve found one of the biggest bargain deal in my hobby life. For about 100$ I’ve acquired almost 2000 points army of Lizardmen including  Army Book, Bestalion, Terradon Riders, Carnosaur, Saurus, Skinks, few characters and said Gor-Rok. I still neeed some stuff though – Slann for example, Cold Ones or Stegadon. But even without them – it’s still nice collection of growing Lizardmen army. Gor-Rok is perfect character for the start, and he just made my day. He gave me proper boost and urge to paint and play my cold blooded Lustrian friends:). I suppose it will take some time to complete this task – I think 6 months is probable period of time. Fingers crossed.

Well, now you understand, why Gor-Rok will be my special model from now on? That’s what I love in that hobby – you got attached to the miniatures you paint, to armies you play.

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Gor-Rok, however, is no more. At least in modern Age of Sigmar. There are no Warhammer world, no Lustria and therefore no Lizardmen. There was one big bang – and handful of Slann Mages rescued few chosen cities closing them in the bubbles of something.

I’m not expert on Age of Sigmar fluff – but what I understand, right now Lizardmen are called Seraphon, and they are not actual living beings. They are some kind of celestial creatures summoned by forces of Order to face Chaos. Well, this is one of the most stupid ideas I’ve ever heard.

For real? We had awesome background story of Aztec/Inca/Maya like Lizardmen living in cities of tropical jungles of Lustria, and now instead of that – they are Seraphon – good daemons. Oh, gosh – who on earth invented such dumb stuff?

Please, let someone enlight me, how they explain in new AoS fluff that they look like Aztec (or Incas/Mayas etc)? Is that a reason that this celestial incorporeal spirits has all this native decorations? Please tell me, at least they provided proper history background of Seraphon? Their orgin? Is it in The Battletome?

And what make me really sad – there are almost no old special characters in AoS. No Gor-Rok…

When I was looking for the reference photo in Games Workshop store, I’ve seen that good old Gor-Rok is now called Saurus Sunblood. It means that this cool White Albino Lizard is now anonymous hero. Too bad…

I get it – new times have come and old heroes have passed away. I can only guess, that in next few months/years, new Seraphon miniatures will be released to replace those obsolete, but I don’t have to like the idea that Gor-Rok is gone. Btw. one of my favourite Skaven characters is also out – sorry Lord Skrolk.

I got so emotional all of the sudden, but the decision of destroying Fantasy world is something that I cannot understand at all, and I can’t get over with it so easly. And when I see such nice characters trashed, my heart bleeds…

…but on the other hand – we have still older editions of Warhammer and we could keep Lustria alive, not bothering about Sigmar and his new era. No worries…;).

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Plans for the future: Now I’m in Taglibaran, Bohol Island for a few days. Friday I’m heading to Manila. In Manila, probably I’ll meet with some local gamers and hopefully I’m going to play some game. After weekend in Manila, two days in Kuala Lumpur and then, Thailand again. My travelling plans slightly have changed. I supposed to stay in South East Asia until May, but due to social/professional reasons we were forced to short out our trip and we are going back to Poland in March. One the one hand – shame, but on the other – I will reunite with my collection:).

Until next time!