Ann's Immaterium

Mostly physical culture but also writing, gaming, and other dark procrastinations

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Sebelex: Devourer of the Dead

I was rummaging around in a game store bits box sometime in late 2016 or early 2017 when I found this thing.  I did the white prime job shortly after slapping my two bits on the counter as payment in full.  From there it continued to languish for maybe about a year until I started working on plaguebearers.

This miniature struck me as being pretty old so I poked around a little trying to learn more about it.  The notation M22 1984 was on the bottom of the base.  I found out that the model was produced by Grenadier Models with M22 referring to the model and 1984 to the year it originally came out.  Further, this rather humble (by today’s standards) little bone waver had a name:  Sebelex, Devourer of the Dead, and was one miniature that came in a boxed set of ten demons.

I vaguely remember this box from back in my teenager D&D days.

I also acquired a few other old looking pieces at the same time.  One turned to be a colleague of the Devourer, the somewhat frightened looking Mxomyceles, Duke of the Mire, and the other a humanoid brain thing with fairy wings.  I thought they were all part of the same set but I guess Brain isn’t as it turns out.

I’m thinking the Duke of the Mire will declare his fealty to Slaanesh while the Brain, appropriately enough, will enter the service of Tzeentch.  Goodness knows I have plenty of Nurgle minor champion types in the ranks and/or in production so I don’t need more of those.

Sebelex proudly displayed top row, third from the left.

Below is how our ancient demon turned out.  Since the metal Sebelex is going to be joining the Swelling Horde as a plaguebearer I applied a coat of gloss varnish and then a matte layer for protection against grasping fingers and rolling dice.  The thing I like best about this miniature is its age:  it is older than many of my regular opponents and we all know in 40K that the older something is the better.  Let the galaxy boil (break out in, that is)!

As I said in my previous post, Sebelex here is a double threat.  It is a natural to fill the role of a plaguebearer, and as for being a neglected miniature I wouldn’t be surprised if it has a neglected history of decades before it fell into my greedy clutches, where I duly neglected it in turn.  So I declare my little lead demon grist for both Squaduary and the Neglected Model Challenge.  Let it be written, let it be done!

Completed Sebelex the Devourer

The blurry plaguebearer lurking in the background of the picture above is yet another body I finished for the Squaduary challenge.  She’ll be one of the worthies in the group shot of the completed mob (hope festers eternal!) I’m planning for tomorrow to get in under the challenge deadline.

Then the plan will be to inflict/feature a few posts of individual plaguebearers or small groups, as is my normal practice.  I’m not sure yet what I’ll be working on for March.+  I accepted a job offer to drive a bus and if everything goes well I should start soon.  I imagine that will cut at least somewhat into my painting time, but we’ll see.

+  Because I truly haven’t had enough plaguebearers in my blog so far!

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23 responses to “Sebelex: Devourer of the Dead”

  5. Given the age of some of my models, it’d probably be surprising if I didn’t comment! Sebelex has come out well, different colour overall, but your painting style means this mini fits in well with your other figures, and probably makes an older mini look all the better for it! Like it! Hope you enjoy the job (just don’t read Gaslands before you start)!

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    • Thank you. Yes, he did come out a bit different though I painted it mostly the same. The gloss then matte varnishes changed it a little more, of course, too. Since it’ll be a gaming piece and it’s metal. I used to varnish my plastics but over the years I’ve figured out I don’t really need to. I do think Sebelex fits in ok though, as you say.

      Thanks, I’m looking forward to the job. I am starting some training and such tomorrow for it so that’ll be good.

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    • Thank you, me too, which is one of the things I like about your blog. No, I don’t think Sebelex will end up as a herald though you can never say for sure with daemons. Besides, I don’t think Urnafortuna would accept such a skinny daemon as herald even with those proportionally enormous hands and big bone club. Those hands make me think that our ancient daemon’s name should have been Sebelex the Throttler … lurking about in dark caves muttering about “The Precious”.

      Still, you are right, seniority should count for something so I think if I end up breaking the twenty daemon squad up into two ten’s then Sebelex will lead one of them as mob champion. Not an entirely bad start, wouldn’t you say?

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      • I think that would work nicely. It lets Seb have their moment in the sun occasionally and be up front and centre so your opponents get to see the old, cool, weird model stand out.

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  8. Great paint job and love what you did with the base! I don’t think I’ve ever seen an actual “bits box” in a store. Might be a good thing, as I imagine my closet would become even more cluttered up with all my “finds”!

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    • I’ve seen a few, sometimes they aren’t apparent and you have to know about them. Yes, you are right, it can be easy to clutter up things with cool-looking bits that seem like a good idea at the time but never get used, inevitably … and then there is the issue of organizing them once one’s collection builds from store bit boxes and even more horribly, from left-overs from assembled kits. Those plastic boxes with lots of little compartments are duly bought but never seem to get filled and instead I find myself with plastic sandwich bags of nameless plastic shards or if the plastic boxes do get filled, and even initially organized then over time there is a certain leaning toward entropy in the universe it seems….

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      • I live in the U.S., and we have very few game stores in my area. Most of those concentrate on boardgames or comics. Maybe someday I’ll luck into something like that. Sounds cool. Several year ago I started to put together some bit boxes, like you mentioned. I tend to organize by type, weapons, gears/mechanics/electronics, and separate body parts. I don’t have a ton, so it works well enough. I’ve started using sandwich bags for some miniature production stages, as it takes up less space and works for keeping all the pieces together. Yea, the danger of having too many of anything for me, is that I will sometimes forget and buy it again. Do you have a lot of game stores where you live?

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        • I’ve lived in places where there aren’t many game stores, that is for sure. There are quite a few game stores where I’m at now. There is a pretty good one about 20 minutes from the house and then various others that are further away but still a reasonable driving distance. Mostly I play at the nearby store and occasionally branch out when I want a change or want to play an opponent I haven’t seen for awhile. Some of the stores also seem to cater to different things, i.e. one store has a lot more painting stuff for general wargaming, etc. so that is good too.

          Your organizing system sounds like mine. In theory my set up should work great but user laxness on my part often makes theory not work out as well as it should in practice, lol. Oh well, at least I’m really good about cleaning my brushes. 🙂

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    • Thanks, Mike. I’m pretty excited about the new job. I haven’t been involved in transportation since I hauled tankers of cement dust up to Maine from Boston back in the early/mid-2000’s. I quite enjoyed the work and missed it when we moved out to California, though apparently not enough to get back into it out here, it seems.

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  12. Oh, wow. I don’t recall that specific box, but seeing that Grenadier style really takes me back to my own teen D&D years. They turned out some really good stuff for the time. That Floating Death model must have taken so many tumbles, tho. Metal on a flying stand never did work out well.

    Nice work on Sebelex there, and I’m definitely interested in seeing what you do with the Duke of the Mire and the other, still anonymous one.

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    • Yes, that’s true, we do have to keep our sense of proportion and priorities … can’t have the important work of painting mini’s and gaming inhibited by such crass considerations as work and career. 🙂

      You are right about that project, it would be interesting though alas I’m more of the type who rummages around for the occasional old piece when the mood strikes and the moment is right rather than an antiquarian or collector. I do have to say that even so some of those old miniatures hold up pretty good even today. That Duke of the Mire thing, for example, has a certain something to it that for me at least is more evocative than the more polished pieces of today.

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