Painting Nighthaunt as the Scourge: a Lich King-inspired ghost army

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Short version: I painted my Nighthaunt in the style of the ghosts and ghouls from Arthas the Lich King’s Scourge, the undead army from World of Warcraft. It is an easy theme to love- and it suits the models- so this post is a general guide to the icy ghost look, timed for Halloween.

The idea

Nighthaunt are Age of Sigmar’s ghost army- spectral figures in tattered robes, chains, and lanterns. That already sits close to the undead look in Warcraft. The Scourge is the undead army of the Lich King, which Arthas led after he became the Lich King, with its capital in the frozen north of Northrend (the Warcraft Wiki has the full lore). Its forces include ghouls, skeletons, disembodied spirits, and death knights.

So the translation is easy. Take the ghost models, push the palette toward icy blues and pale cold tones, and you get something that reads as “undead army from a frozen wasteland” with no special conversions, if that makes sense? I am not reproducing any official art here- this is a color and mood idea, not a copy of someone’s design.

Frostmourne not included.

It also gives you a clean answer to “what is your army about?” at the table. One sentence- and anyone who played that game gets it right away.

Why it works as a Halloween project

Ghosts are already the Halloween army.

Add cold colors and it gets a bit more eerie, like fog on a window. If you want a seasonal nod, a pumpkin on the objective marker is cheap and…funny.

How to get this look

Quick note before the list: this is general technique pulled from published tutorials, not a log of my own process. Nighthaunt are popular enough that there are plenty of good ones.

My own habits, for context: Army Painter is my daily driver, and I reach for Games Workshop for technical paints and the specific bright hues it does best. Technique-wise I lean on slapchop and drybrushing. Nighthaunt suit that style well, since the ghostly look depends on a pale, textured base and thin color over it.

• White first. The Fauxhammer Nighthaunt guide starts from a white primer made for use with Contrast-style paints, then shades the whole model with a thinned white-ish wash. Starting light is what makes thin color look glowing and translucent.
• Glaze the blue in stages. That guide builds the blue with three increasingly strong mixes of paint and medium, each covering a smaller area. The strongest tint sits on faces, hands and robe hems and fades up the body. As the author describes it, the first glaze is meant to be “gossamer thin.”
• Use a fade, not a flat color. The Tale of Painters Chainrasp tutorial gets the ghostly look through a wash for the base color, white drybrushing for highlights, and a dark glaze or airbrush fade on the lower robes so the bottoms blend into the base.
• Pick the blue that suits your scheme. Some of these guides lean teal or turquoise. For a Scourge feel you may want a colder, bluer tone, so try a few mixes on a spare model or a bit of plastic first.
• Finish with edge highlights. Thin white on edges and faces makes the shapes pop. The Tale of Painters guide notes the white edge highlight is optional and can be limited to faces and hands to save time.
• Keep the non-ghost parts simple. Metal, wood and base details can be done with ordinary basecoats and washes, so the ghostly parts are the focus.

You do not need an airbrush. The Tale of Painters guide says a heavily thinned glaze works as a substitute for the airbrushed fade.

Wrap-up

If you already have a Nighthaunt force, or you are thinking of starting one, a themed palette is a good excuse to try the translucent glazing everyone talks about. Pick a cold blue and keep the layers thin- the white undercoat does the rest.

Happy Halloween.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5