Lord of Bleak Fell

Shunned by man, haunted by dire wolves and ice trolls, Bleak Fell lies deep in the jagged mountain range known to the dwarfs as Helsberg. At one time in the distant past, it was the burial place of kings, a place where the dead were honoured. Interred in palatial tombs, those people are now long gone, a lost and forgotten civilisation, whispered of only in ghost stories. And yet, a few still seek this place. Most perish, for the road is long and hard, the old paths are gone, and many terrors lie in wait. For any mortal foolish enough to seek out the rumoured treasures, there can only be pain, failure and death. 

Kulgin Bachensteiner long gave up his mortality. His foul necromantic rituals and unspeakable acts have extended his life far beyond the span of any mortal. He has studied old maps and lore for decades, to seek out the Lord of Bleak Fell, to enact the magic rituals to restore his corpse, to learn from him the deep, dark knowledge. And so he braved the dark forest path, hidden from the wolves and beasts by his magic. He ascended the long, icy road to the summit, the freezing winds and snow no hindrance to his cold, unbeating heart. He found the hidden entrance and descended into the dusty crypt, with no fear of the spirits haunting those old passageways. Finally, he unlocked the mystery of the tomb, chanted the forbidden verses, and saw the Lord of Bleak Fell rise once more, to do his bidding.......

Or something like that. This is an old metal figure from the 1990s, a wight. Back in those days, the Undead army book contained wights as a unit and a small number were released. At the time I thought they were really cool. Now I look back and think that the Undead were possibly the goofiest army ever released!

Still, when I was looking around for a figure to lead my new Undead force, I chose this old wight for nostalgic reasons. The Undead were my first fully painted army, the first army I took to a tournament. Though I never actually owned any of the wights at the time, I did pick up a few on ebay in later years, again mainly for nostalgic reasons. And finally one of them is painted. The only concession to the modern era is the plastic skeleton shield.

In truth, as an Undead lord, it's not a particularly special figure. The plastic army of the dead figures would have probably been better candidates. But I wanted to pay homage to the old times, so here we are, the Lord of Bleak Fell rises once more......

Skyrim fans will recognise the setting I have stolen from been inspired by - the Bleak Falls Barrow. I live on the edge of the Lake District in the north of England, and here our mountains are called fells. It didn't take much work to arrive at Bleak Fell as a location for my Undead Lord.