Rökthane Schiltron Toothcutter - Röknaut Highander

 

So my friend Curis from Ontos Games has kindly offered me to paint one of the new Röknauts he's designed for Salute this year and true to tradition, the model is a Proud Highlander.

The sculpt is a variant from the original Rökthane hich is fun as spotting variants in old Citadel catalogues was a source of joy in my younger days.

The master I was given is honestly one of the crispiest models I've had in hand, it almost felt intimidating but with just a prime cat, I knew it ws going to be a fun one to paint. I reckon it's something we don't mention enough because the old ones amongst us have been used to tedious preperation and working from poor casts but starting from a perfect model is such a nice feeling.

Now of course, with the deep affection I have for my scottish friends, I obviously anted his Tartan to be as historically accurate as possible so I picked the best documented source material and came up with the most traditional Highlander possible :

The pattern goes something like this and I immediately realised I as going to simplify to make it work with my extremely poor freehand skills.

What I came up with is something I consider 'close enough'® and it looks the part at arm's length and tabletop distance (which is the most important to me).  I hope Curis and Scotland as a whole will appreciate the ffort for what it's worth, noone should be expected to successfully draw a geometric pattern on folded clothe.

I thought it would be nice too to give him a pheasant feathered beret to ground him in something traditional, ancient and out of place with a sci-fi setting

I obviously had to take a shot of Toothcutter along his other Rökthane fellows and it really shows how the range is growing and building its own identity.

And here's a view of him along his subordinates, I love how he fits in but stands out at the same time.

If you're willing to get your hands on this fantastic model, you can find it HERE.