Born with an insatiable hunger no earthly nourishment could satisfy, the Judge-King grew to be a mad and tyrannical ruler; hellbent on fulfilling whatever debauchery could sate the gnawing emptiness inside of him. Early in his reign he was approached by an ancient Dark Elf mystic who promised him a cure for his hunger in return for the alliance of his kingdom. The Judge-King accepted and was taught the ways of consuming the souls of men.
Instilled with this great and terrible power the Judge-King pledged himself to the House of Doombringer, whom the mystic represented, and embraced the doctrines of tyrannical order preached by the scions of the Doom Spire. He saw that it was now his moral duty to purge his kingdom of sinners. He soon found however that souls would only sate his hunger for a while, forever needing more and more to sustain him. A reign of terror that lasted decades was brought about and thousands saw their souls torn from their bodies for even the slightest indiscretion. Whilst the High-Kings of Khemri feared the unholy powers of the Judge-King and his elven allies, the Mortuary Cult soon moved them to action and a great host was assembled to bring the mad king to justice.
The Judge-King upon hearing that Khemri moved against him proclaimed all life to be a form of physical sin and that he would consume the world. An assassins blade soon put an end to his madness and the succession of his youngest son to the throne led to a period of peace and prosperity for Zandri. Thousands of years later and reanimated as the living-dead the Judge-King returns from the forgotten depths of darkest history to bring his terrible soul-hunger once more to the realms of the living. Called upon by Doombringer to add his Tomb-ships to the Doom Spire Fleet, the Judge-King seeks to satisfy his hunger on the souls of all the miserable sinners the world has produced.
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| The Judge-King of Zandri |
Used as Arkhan the Black in games the Judge-King is one of my all time favourite models. I enjoyed the process of converting and painting him, and he he is always fun to use on the tabletop. He usually has a big impact on games as being effectively a Lv5 wizard, causing havoc as he flies across the battlefield on his winged chariot. He does however have a habit of blowing himself up, something he has done in every game I have played him in without fail; usually in the closing stages of the game when it would have been far batter for him to not die! Nevertheless I continue to use him in games even if he is a huge points sink that usually kills himself.
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| The Fell Executioner |
A sadistic serial killer whose talent for butchery saw him brought to trial before the Judge-King after a year of terror. The Judge King recognising his skills sorcerously bound him to the service of the Throne in this life and the next. Serving as the Judge-King's champion he despised his existence and when his master was assassinated he fled Zandri into the desert. The High Priest chased him into the wilderness and after a week of playing cat and mouse among the dunes the Fell Executioner was returned to the city in chains and buried besides the King. Upon waking as one of the undead his already fragile mental state was completely broken, capable now only of screams within his death mask and has adopted the habit of wearing the flayed skins of his defeated enemies.
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| Prince Akhraten the Lost King |
The Judge-King's heir, he was killed on the battlefield a day before his father was assassinated, allowing his younger brother to take the throne. A warrior of cunning and brutal temperament he is a student of war wholly devoted to the art of killing. Violence predominated his entire life as he was raised to succeed his tyrannical father. A keen hunter and charioteer his time spent off the battlefield was just as bloody as his time upon it. In undeath he has simply found more time in which to indulge in warfare, travelling across the world on the skeleton-fleets of Zandri to bring woe wheresoever his father demands it.
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| Prince Akhraten upon his crimson chariot leading Zandri's elite |
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| 'Prince' Kha'memnon the Good King |
Upon the assassination of both his father and elder brother the throne passed to Kha'memnon, youngest son of the Judge-King. He was the complete opposite to his father and brother which saw a period of peace and prosperity for the city of Zandri, those serving under the 'Good King' doing so out of loyalty not fear. He died an old man of natural causes and without children the dynasty ended, the Throne being passed to a cousin family. Arising in undeath he plays a lesser role to his father, acting usually as Prince-Regent of the Necropolis whilst the rest of his family goes to war.
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| High Liche Priest Rha'numhotep |
Eldest son of the Judge-King he joined the Mortuary Cult and possessing strange powers like his father he ascended to rank of High-Priest. In life and death he has loyally served the crown in peace and war, many feats of power and faith being attributed to him. Whilst practically a relic of ancient and fragile nature he refuses to be interred into a Hierotitan or similar construct, preferring to be at his father's side to serve the throne.
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Casket of Souls
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| The King's Artisan |
This army includes a lot of kit-bashed constructs as well as some unusual conversions. When the Judge-King was buried few of his subjects wished to be buried alongside him. Fearing a revolt, Kha'memnon instead had a team of artificers build all manner of daemonic-looking constructs to serve as the Judge-King's army in the afterlife. Huge creatures of sandstone, gold and fused bone march alongside the ranks of the Tomb Guard; spreading terror wherever they tread as harbingers of the Judge-King's terrible wrath.
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| Necrosphinx |
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| Necrolith Colossus |
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| Bow of the Desert |
My Tomb Kings are my second largest fantasy army after my Dark Elves and I really enjoyed painting them as something very different. I haven't worked on this army for about a year now and am already considering re-painting some models just because I think I could do a better job now. I reached a similar stage with my Dark Eldar a month ago and since then I have started re-painting them, whether I will have the time to work on my Tomb Kings as well I don't know.
At the moment though I am starting work on the 'Blancheification' of my 40k Imperial armies. Much as I like my 40k armies they seem to lack the extra level of grim-darkness that drew me to the hobby in the first place. Over Easter my Imperial Guard will be getting an overhaul to fit with the new Astra Militarium codex and will receive some reinforcements. I will take this opportunity to just make them a bit more interesting to look at rather than the wholly uniform but bland look they sport currently.
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