Lord Berengier the Hawkfriend

In addition to the common warhorse, the Bretonnian menagerie also has powerful and terrifying animals. I am talking about hippogriffs - strong-willed beasts of mischievous character. For this reason, they are difficult in getting them to do the will of their rider. Thus, in order to tame the ferocious temperament of this creature, training is needed, which may often cost the animal's keeper his life. Only a fully obedient beast can be ridden by a Bretonnian duke and fight by his side on the battlefield wreaking death and havoc in the enemy's ranks. The sight of a leaping hippogriff tearing apart foes with its claws is a blood-chilling one.

I am very pleased that I was able to paint this model. It waited a long time for its turn. I was finally motivated to do so by a gift I recently received: a hand-painted banner. The story of its creation is not so coincidental. As a result of a lost bet, I had to pose in the river as the Lady of the Lake. My portrait just ended up on one side of the Bretonnian banner. The other side depicts the lion used in the heraldry of the Dukedom of Couronne. A normal knight would not be worthy to hold such a banner, so the perfect candidate necessarily just happened to be a duke on a hippogriff.

I promised myself one day to paint this beast to resemble my cat's fur. Her beautiful black patterns make me think of tiger stripes. The original hippogriff is a fusion of an eagle and a horse, where the patterns are usually seen on the front paws. I decided to paint him my way and cover his whole body with stripes. The model itself is from the 5th edition and is one of the most enjoyable miniatures I have had the opportunity to paint. The problem proved to be the lack of space to attach the banner. Normally a Bretonnian duke on a hippogriff cannot be the army standard bearer. In order to play by the rules and be able to use this model in battles, the banner has a magnet attached. In its place, a falcon can be placed. This bird of prey has a blue ribbon in its talons, making it look as if it flies. I made it according to my own idea using modelling putty and heat-bent plastic to imitate the ribbon. As you may have noticed, the Duke's shield is different. Unfortunately I lost the original shield and had to improvise. I made my own version with a lion, which comes from the English Lion set from Green Stuff World.

Feel free to take a look at the photos.