A Butcher Witch? Yeah I’ve heard of them. Looking for signs and portents in the entrails of slaughtered cows and pigs, using blood and organ as fuel for their magics. Frankly, it’s a wonder the Church of the Empress hasn’t locked them all up, but the Butcher Witches as an order are much more careful about not being seen as otherworldly or somehow corrupted. They hide their markings under their clothes, taking part in the day to day life of the village to be seen by the common people rather than living in a hut in a bog.
It probably also helps that most Butcher Witches are the daughters and wives of the local butcher. Such a pillar of the community is unlikely to let his loved ones be taken away. Plus, never annoy a big man with a big knife and the know how to use it.
Witch Hunter Werner Krause
When Vae Victis ran a sale last month, I couldn’t help but pick up some some of their great and characterful STLs models. After finding several of them to be supportless, attempting to print them on the print bed, then realising the Saturn actually doesn’t print the bottom few layers, I finally managed to get out one of the figures I was really excited to paint – The Butcher Witch.
It’s such an evocative name when I scrolled past it, before I looked in at the model. The look of the butcher mixed with the skull in her hair and the exposed leg. While she was printing I was already working out the idea for the Butcher Witches in my Midgard setting, as well as what her look should be – practical clothing that would fit into any village with a slight hint of something more eldritch.
Painting wise, I managed to get her painted up in basically one session. I originally started off with her in a brown dress but it looked a little drab and boring, the green making her a touch more lively. I was very keen to have the white of the apron to make her stand out, as well as showing off the Blood for the Blood God technical paint. To make her exposed leg stand out, I painted on some tattoos in watered down Caledor Sky, making them loop around her limbs. I’m still not 100% on my flesh painting skills, but I think it ended up working out okay.
As for how she’ll be used on the table top, I can see her being a great NPC that joins the party for a specific scenario. With her being a butcher, she has some skill with the blade but I think coming up with some magic that relies on an opponent being injured, I might be able to get across some of the Eldritch ideas behind magic in this setting.