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Games Day UK 2006 Gold Diorama: The Witch Of Praag...
By Matt Cexwish
Manufacturer: Games Workshop | Fantasy Category
Submitted: 01-Oct-06
Average: 9.5 | Votes: 425 | Views: 16296
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http://www.mattcexwish.com

Hi Di Ho!

The second diorama this year and again some success on Competition painting... this time a bit different than usual......

Here you can see something that wasn´t actually planned that way...

*Normally* I do one Diorama per Year, normally because of the Golden Demon Competition in Germany... normally I stick to my series (Leonardo DiMiragliano´s...), normally I don´t use any "Bad" Modells for my Dioramas... Normally I do GD Entries by my own... well, normally......

I changed my mind after I recognized how long term holidays as a student (my first this year...) can be... I had some time left without really realising that... and after Ben (Komets, he´s in the Team Germany and a Neighbour of mine...) called me to ask, whether I want to come to GD Uk... I said something like hell yeah......

In the beginning I wasn´t sure about doing such a complex project after a short time, which I had because of my "Leonardo DiMiragliano´s Answer..." Diorama... It was hard work... So I decided to ask Ben to do something together... Our Styles are quite similar, because he was the one who taught me NMM, plus he always has these ideas, that make a Mini or a Scenery something really special...

In general I had this Idea because of a Movie... "Guardian Of The Night", this russian Matrix like rip - off... shortly after the movie starts you can see a Battle between the Forces Of Darkness and the Army Of Light... there are some warriors, which drag a old lady on chains... hmhm...

I was wondering, what is it that makes this old, frail Woman so dangerous, that she has to be heavily chained and drag into a battle like a kind of beast...?... The answer is easy... Magical Powers Within...

I thought about transfering this into the world of Warhammer and I studied the background a bit... in this I found a description of the City Of Praag, which has been under the Siege of Chaos...

[i]"Nothing was the same again since the assault of Chaos... fearful screams sound out off the Walls, the Floors, the Stones, moaned by those, who are bound forever more... Terrible demonic faces form from blank rock, the border between this and the other World is twisted steadily, the City is turned into a Grotesque of it´s former shape..."[/i]

I sort of liked the Idea of one old, scruffy lady could have unleashed her power to destroy a whole City... she was the Witch Of Praag...

As Ben and me gathered Ideas he came up with a very good one... why not make the ground crush and errupt underneath her wand, as if she casted a kind of ritual spell, in the shape of a 8 armed Chaos Star... Believe me, I liked that image......

There was a Problem with this witch, because a Miniature like this had to be very complex in order to transport that image... she had to be old, fragile and seemingly weak, but evil, extremely dangerous and wicked at the same time...
Our sculpting plans had been discarded quite early (we had not much time left... about 10 days...)... Nevertheless I gathered some Images I found on some occasions... In the end this helped us to understand the mood, in which we wanted to settle our most important miniature... the Witch has been done by Ben, I love the result...

Here you see some of the inspirational pics...

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/117/altefrauika6.jpg ...

http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/6362/altefrauiizt9.jpg ...

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/9758/altefrauiiiuq8.jpg ...

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/4062/altermannju0.jpg ...

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/1889/lebrachieftainii6.jpg ...

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/3531/geigeriib7.jpg ...

After this I tried to do some concept art, but be warned, they are *seriously* bad (I can do it better, but I was in a hurry to show Ben what I mean so...)...

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9875/noobconceptire2.jpg ...

The problem grew bigger and bigger until I had this vision... "A Psycher with tits makes a good witch..."... That was it...... A sanctioned Psyker from the Imperial Army of Warhammer 40.000... another System, wrong gender, but perfectly okay after some modification......

The other miniatures are basically "new ones" from Warhammer Fantasy, One Leader with a hand raised in order to stop the Convoi, a Chaos Champion with a Shield, One Executioner with two Swords and a Shaman... all in all quite challenging Rebuilds... The Unit Symbolizes one Greather Whole, each of them symbolizes one Aspect that is needed to take care of a loonatic Olde, which is running nuts because of Chaotic Powers running through her while dragged on chains into the heart of battle in order to deliver unleashed raw destruction, where it is needed... Bam, Bam dilam...^_^...

Please notice that near the witch the chains begin to respond to the Magical Powers within her, they glow... further, the Show around her and the Star melted...

Look at the trophy branch... The Head is rotten long ago, the Skull rolled out of the helmet... now it lies in the Snow...

Please excuse the big labels there... a Coop work means double labels, the Demon came out a bit too big... well, if you want to see the pics without that follow that link......

http://coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=16494&pid=272731#pid272731 ...

I want to thank my buddy Ben for the very successful cooperation on this piece and the very well planned and funny journey to Birmingham... Without him this Diorama would have looked different and surely not as good...... Thanx, partner...^_^...

In Addition, my buddy Adam helped me to gather or judge background Material ("No, dude, stop bothering this old geezer, or give him at least some coins...^_^..."...)... He helped to have an objective eye on the Project... THX...

So... Thank you very much for your patience, I hope this helped you to get some insight on the ideas we had with this Project (and how we do projects in general...)...

I would be very happy if you leave a Vote or - even better- give us a Comment...




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Viewer comments:
Uncle Meat
14-Aug-08
#267269
Rating: 10
You really captured the fear and anguish of the witch. This is a work of fine art, not just a gaming diorama.
Mark
13-Oct-06
#199054
Rating: 10
I like your idea and your painting. Lot of atmosphaere in this pice. a great display base. A truly demon winner ! Mark
AinuLainour
09-Oct-06
#198666
Rating: 9
The fist on the one Chaos warrior, but the painting overall is really amazing. But the diorama just looks odd, overall. The way that chains are attached to high-ranking warriors or Chaos seems a little weird. I guess you could say that I don't like the composition, but the painting is just plain awesome. 9.7/10.
Micha
09-Oct-06
#198546
Rating: 10
Most impressive, I think this is your best diorama so far, I bow before your skill; the use of the IG psyker is a bold idea and worked out very well. The conversions areseamless and fit together perfectly. I do not remember the particular scene from Nightwatch, but the fact you drew inspiration from that movie is astonishing. Thank you also for your elaborate description. Micha
nano
09-Oct-06
#198538
Rating: 10
Firstly congrats Matt and Ben. About the scene I the idea and specially the witch. greetings!
luis gomez pradal
08-Oct-06
#198434
Rating: 10
THE IDEA IS SO ORIGINAL, I love the witch with the blue eyes, the result of the diorama is lovely . I love the Cartofellll
kowlown
04-Oct-06
#197899
Rating: 9
Really nice mate! Maybe the base is a little too flat but i really like it! Very original! - Michael
Torn blue sky
03-Oct-06
#197827
Rating: 9
..Damn you Cexwish... ONE DAY!!! *Shakes fist*
Matt Cexwish
02-Oct-06
#197767
Rating: -
Thank you for your comments...... @ Decoy Jeah, but this is a slight excurse from my Series, because it was a Teamwork, the new upcoming Dioramas will be Peacfully and full of Goodies again, haha......
CKY2k
02-Oct-06
#197758
Rating: 10
this is bloody georgeous, but i cant wait for engra deathsword, destroyer of praag, to rip her to shreds....teeheeee.
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