Unreleased Sorceress I - Part I

Unreleased Sorceress I

Through all my years collecting and painting Games-Workshop Miniatures I knew that there were a lot of unreleased Dark Elves miniatures because somehow most of these popped up in official Games Workshop publications. But there were also a couple which were unknown and which I get knowledge of first by the work of Michael Garza aka Heldrake who put up the Dark Elves in the CCM Wiki and created the Dark Elves Collectors Guide. From Michael we learned about the two unreleased Dark Elves Sorceresses. While the Sorceress II can be seen in multiple collections in painted and unpainted versions, the Sorceress I is missing even in some of the most ambitious collections for unreleased Games Workshop miniatures out there. Asking around in the collectors scene you quickly get the feedback that this miniature is extremly rare. At that time I only know of three copies. For sure there will be some more but not that much. Therefore, this miniature is very hard to find and it has become that this special lady became my holy grail.

Hunting the Sorceress

With returning to my 4th Edition Dark Elves project in fall 2018 I also started to check Ebay and the Oldhammer and Middlehammer Trading places on Facebook very frequently looking for my missing pieces. Independently of the platform, "Buy it now" offers on Ebay and offers on the Facebook marketplaces required very quick reactions because first come first served. Therefore, I already spent a lot of time checking these sites each day triggered by the fear missing anything. The drama continued in June the 5th in 2019.

I get up early and as ususal the first I did was checking Ebay and the FB marketplaces. I found nothing and get up, starting taking care of our little son which was just three months old at this time point. When checking less than an hour later the sites again I can´t belief my eyes. 

 

Original picture of Brads identification and valuatio request

A guy named Brad from Canada posted the Unreleased Sorceress I on a Facebook trading group asking for an identification and valuation. So far no replies. I wrote as quickly as possible my interest and a personal message. Then I saw in an other group that Bruce, a Dark Elves collector from Australia had already posted the devestating words: "First in line for the Sorceress" 16 minutes ago and 15 minutes after Brad had posted his offer. I sat down and waited for Brads reply to my message. We changed some offers and I was informed that I was second. Brad also told me where he gets the miniature from: 

My bro died...I inherited his collection and found the mini mixed in with a large collection of dark elves. It was an odd figure..tried researching...found it on a site as unreleased and started asking...ppl messaged me and the battle was on.... Never posted it for sale

I was sad for Brads loss and hoped to get this miniature also to paint it in memorial of Brads bro. Make a long story short, Brad found himself in a bidding war and finally the miniature went to Australia into the Collection of Bruce. 

The unreleased Sorceress I; painted by SkitsMix Commissions for Brads Collection

I was very, very sad. I missed that chance by 16 minutes! The fear missing anything gets bigger and with time checking for updates on the marketplaces has become a bit of an obsession.  I do not know how much life time I has lost checking these sites, but it was a lot. I knew that I could relaxe first when having this collection completed. I realised that simple waiting won´t solve my problem quickly and I started to become more active. First, I moved on and painted more references for this project. Second, with having good references at hand I started asking in the Facebook groups. This way I get hold of the Unreleased Sorcerers II from Emiel in the beginning of 2020. I painted his unreleased evil lady a couple of months later and whenever I posted an update in the Facebook groups I noted that I am still looking for the Unreleased Sorceress I. The community quickly noticed that this particular Sorceress is my holy grail and that I am desperatly looking for this lady. 
     

The Replica

A very generous gift

In June 2020, one of my oldhammer friends asked for my address. One week later I received an anonymous envelope. You couldn’t imagine my face when this little evil lady fell out of it. 
I hold a casting of a beautifully sculpted replica of the unreleased Sorceress I in my hands. I received her with a picture of her green and the short notice:  

A gift for an inspiring collector . 

 

I felt very honored receiving this gift and I started to paint her immediately. She would be a nice addition to my collection and I hoped that her original reference will join her one day.

 

 

Painting the Replica

I wanted that this Sorceress joins my other sorceresses which share a Ghrond theme. Therefore, I decided for a purple colour scheme with white hair. While painting her I get the idea to paint her as a Morathi Prototype reflecting some of the elements Mark Gibbons used in his famous Artwork of the Dark Queen. For that there was need to add some additional decoration on her clothes by freehand. These were the gold linings on the bra and the spike pattern on her skirt. The latter also can be found on the skirt of the Sorceress riding the Dark Pegasus and is a nice detail linking these two. I started by preparing the miniature as usualy. My copy needed a bit of repair work and I had to rebuild some edges and repair her right eye. I used a simple basing for her as her two sisters already have very complex bases. Then the whole miniature was primed and was ready for some colour.

I painted her skin tones first with my typical light color scheme. You have to know, that the north of Naggaroth is not a sunny place and painting these Dark Elves with a very white skin tone helps to seperate them from their Caribian Cousins of Ulthuan. Next, I painted the clothes and the central juwelry. I spared the gloves because at this point I had no idea if these will follow the purple or black direction. I also added the freehand work to the skirt and used the skirt from the mounted Sorceress as reference.

First steps on painting the Unreleased Sorceress I replica

With completion of these elements I realized that the gloves would work best when repeating the colours of her boots. To break off the black I added some further freehand details. Here I used the Champion on foot as reference, painted the edge in purple and added some freehand gems on the back. 

The weekend in the end of July my wife and son visited my parents in law and I had a lot of spare time. I took the chance and tried to finish the Sorceress. First, I painted the sword and the staff. I decided to vary a lot between silver and gold to maximize the contrast. How to do the flame pattern on sword, staff and crest was a bit difficult question. The flames are a very dominating symbol on this figure but can also be found on other miniatures of this range. I had three options in mind, painting it as well in gold as a metalic element, in a more redish gold or in the corresponding army colour. Finally, I decided for the gold variant to mark this element as clearly decorative part of the metalic object. The result looked fine and painted in my NMM style the golden flame looked metalic but also hat a flame character with a light glowing inside. Then I painted the leather parts and scrolls.

Next I added the decorative gold elements on her bra. I used Mark Gibbons Morathi Artwork as reference and painted the curls freehand on the cloth. In the following I added most of the missing details and did a lot of corrections works. Finally, I painted her eyes which I had spared since the beginning.

Maximizing contrast on the metalic elements and the result of adding freehand curls to her bra

The last part on this miniature was the Base. I painted it in my typical light colours for High Elves ruins and added some grass and further details later.

Finally, I was able to finish the miniature on this weekend before the return of my family. In the end it was a bit a rush but painting was so much fun that I can´t stop. In general, painting this miniature was a lot of fun and a great honour. I moved on and posted her painted on the Facebook groups and told her story. The community enjoyed this miniature a lot and I get a lot of very kind feedbacks. I also used the attention with this posting to remember that I am still desperately looking for the unreleased original. But here the final pictures of the replica.

  

Happy Ending - Receiving my own copy

The 2nd of August I found a message from Bruce in my FB Mailbox I had to read twice:

Hey Mate
Shoot me a message when you get a chance. I've seen your recent posts and that inspired work you did on the unreleased sorceress #2. I think it might be time for you to have my Sorceress #1

I will never forget this day! I received my copy of the unreleased Sorceress! The same copy I missed two years ago by 16 min which was sold in the OTC to Bruce from Australia. The one of Brads dead Bro. Bruce was very touched by my recent work and my painting of the replica so he decided to sell her to me for no more than his own costs. That was very very generous, especially because he looked desperately for this miniatures for more than six years. I am more than happy and feel very honored.

My own copy of the unreleased Sorceress I after stripping the paint

Until today I am often sitting on my desk in front of this evil lady, looking in disbelief on her. She had observed how the Dark Riders get finished and waited patiently until some work in progress stuff was finished. Now she knows that her time has come. She get a proper cleaning, basing and a fine coating. Time to get dressed.

Stay tuned for the next part when I will paint my holy grail!  

As always I am interested to read your thoughts in the comments. And please do not ask about the sculpter of the replica because he decided to stay anonymou

Kind Regards,
GeOrc