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Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
I had to wait until I had the right thread title before I finally started a plog. Actually, I had to get over not wanting to show works in progress before I could start this plog. Mostly, I had to admit that I needed a few things a plog might give me.

1. Some motivation to paint more. Way in need of this.
2. Some comments and criticisms on how to be a better painter. I would like to be better, because I know there is a lot of room for improvement.

So here we go. VC is my first, and mainly only army in WHF, starting back in 6th edition. I started playing with high school friends like 11 years ago. Then college happened, then alcohol and punk rock happened, then a nice girl and better times happened. I fell out of the game for a while, but I got into a situation where I could pick it back up. This was during our 7th edition book. Anyway, blah blah, get to the pictures right?

Most of my pictures are going to be from my mobile. As I do/finish something, I've been taking quick shots mostly for facebook. Some of these pics are old, or show passages of time that have already happened. When I get something finished and get unlazy enough for real pictures, the lady of the house has a good camera so I'll try to have good pictures sometimes.

First up, this is an army shot taken on January 11, 2012. This is very outdated now, and wasn't even a complete army shot when I took it.
oldarmyshot.jpg

Some Ghoul pics:

Here's 60 assembled Ghouls (well, 59 and a groovy Ghouly King. I do have that 60th Ghoul model, though).
ghouls60.jpg

The painting began, in groups of 5 and 10, sometimes more.
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This one shows my giant and Titan Forge Zomblins Zombie unit fillers.
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Here's a few finished. Note the OG metal Ghoul model. He's that 60th model I was talking about earlier.
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That's probably enough for now. I've got tons more pics to send up, so it shouldn't be long before another update. So in the words of Marceline the Vampire Queen, "Corpses buried in mud that's black, from Death I command you to come back!" Maloso vobiscum et cum spiritum, my friends.
 
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Lynks

Lord of RAW
True Blood
Dec 29, 2010
2,215
Sydney
Looking good so far! I tried to start a plog to increase the rate at which I painted (Link in sig!!!!) but alas, it was to no avail. I wish you good luck however! :tongue:

Were you planning on painting the pupils of the ghouls? If not, might I suggest a very light shading of some other colour (greens, yellows, purples, basically any shade you haven't already used) just around the edges of the eyes to give them that menacing sorta look. There is a tendancy if you don't that they can look like deer caught in headlights, not very threatening :tongue: You don't need it to be too powerful but it helps them look a bit more 'natural' (despite being horribly unreal). If you don;t want to do this though I've seen just plain white pulled off quite well before as well.

Looking forward to seeing more so keep painting! :thumbsup:
 

xFallenx

Grave Guard
Nov 15, 2012
200
Calgary
Congratz on starting your PLOG, I am looking forward to further entries. The great thing about these is that they not only give you the motivation to continue, but gives us all a bit of motivation to do the same. It totally spreads; I can't wait to pick up some stuff to start my own.
 
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Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
Thanks, everybody. @Lynks The plan is to leave the pupils on all my dudes blank white for this army. Sort of a 60's horror comic book feel. But thanks for the tips. My next army, outer space totemic vikings--er, I mean Space Wolves--will probably need some pupil action.

So a little background for my army. I miss the Necrarchs very much. The coolest thing I've ever heard of is a vampire mad scientist wizard. Seriously, I can't string together a cooler collection of words. So my army is based around a Necrarch theme. I'll spare you the army list, but suffice to say I'm going for Necrarch feel but as viable on the table as possible.

And on that note, here's my second Corpse Cart. My first cart was pretty vanilla out of the box. Just added a bunch of the tiny rats from the Abomb kit to run around on the base. For my second Cart I wanted something a little different. Unfortunately, going back to that bit about being viable, neither cart sees play anymore. Which is a shame, because I finished painting the first, and went through all the trouble of converting the second. Did somebody say "Blah blah, moar pictars now!!"?

I started by loading the cart with something like twice as many bodies as it comes with. I started to build up what can best be described as a corpse shell, with the intent of putting the regular Cart body pile on top. Like a big rotting hat. :pumpkin: The corpse shell is hollow, and I didn't like the way light shone through it, so I cut some round (probably 40k, I guess) bases in half and stuffed them inside to block light from passing through. It worked pretty nicely, and it helps that the bases are black so your eye kind of ignores them if you ever catch a super close look. You'll recognize various Ghoul/Zombo/Skellie/etc. bits.
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The horse skeleton takes up a lot of space. Therefore, horse skeleton is my friend.
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Next I lopped a Necromancer's legs off right below his waist. A friend of mine that I bits swap with a lot gave me a spare Mounted Nurgle Something Or Other plague horse that I've had my eye on for like a decade. A real stand up guy, that friend o' mine. The Nurgle dude's legs are part of the horse, so a little green stuff happened, and then I had this:
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And the whole thing together, on a base with the Giant sign/crow bit, and a couple crows that came with a gravestone set (one that I definitely recommend to everybody. I think the company signed a deal with Mantic, so you can get them there). That's one of the Ghoul dead body bits on the ground, with a crow getting his eat on. Also, did I mention I cut that stupid top off the Necromancer's staff? It was a little too over the top for me. Here's my second Cart, still unpainted to this day. All dressed up with nowhere to go.
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"In my best suit and my tie. Shiny silver dollar on either eye." Oingo Boingo (Dead Man's Party)
 
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Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
Thanks, Mad 'At! Dude, I gotta be honest, there are a few people I'm really hoping to hear a little praise from in this plog because I enjoy their work so much, and you're one of them. Your VC are killer and your OnG blow me away, man. Glad you like my Cart. Steal away!

Just a quick pop in tonight to announce the good news. My Abyssal Terror bits came in the mail finally! Now, I know I know, she's like the red-headed stepchild of the VC mounts. But because I'm going for a Necrarch theme, there was really no buts about it. My Lord will be riding a stitched together monster, cackling madly all the while. Plus I've had a decent go with him mounted thusly in the list I'm building towards--never lost him, and I play against Empire, artillery-mad OnG, and now Dwarves on the regular.

You'll all recognize what I consider the only way to model an Abyssal, I'm sure. Raven Torrid's the Master Necrarch behind this idea, and all praise be unto him (plog here: https://www.vampirecounts.net/Thread-Raven-s-Nest-O-Bones-Update-12-06-Painted-Zombie ).

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Now if I can just figure out how the Tyranid bits go together without the instructions. :zombie: And from Forge World comes my Necrarch Lord himself. The Renegade Psyker looks exactly how I wanted my Necrarch. Dessicated, but muscled, and techy. He's a mad scientist, after all, so all those tubes fit the bill perfectly.

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Gunna have to hack off his bottom half to get him mounted on the ZD neck saddle, but it's all robes on his bottom bits so no big. Also, I'm probably going to put something in one of his hands before it's all over.


"Just a feast of gore and blood." Misfits (We Bite)
 

Mad 'At

Dumb enough to work
Staff member
True Blood
Apr 2, 2011
2,378
Grödinge
I'm honoured by your words :)

And great find for a Necrarch vampire :thumbsup: Looking forward to seeing the whole thing finished.
 

Archean

Ghoul
Sep 16, 2011
132
DUDE! What an awesome corpse cart, I can't wait to see it painted, some inspired ideas there and the double bodies thing works really well!
 

Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
Thanks, Archean! It's a shelved project at the moment, unfortunately, but I'll get around to it eventually. I've got it about 25% painted right now--stopped right when the new book dropped.


I got this ol' girl stapled together today.

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Still needs a little green stuff work, but from this far away it looks like a finished monster.

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And here's the good Doctor himself. Again, still needs some gs'ing, and I'm probably gunna whittle down that one leg. He kinda has Hammer-pants right now.

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And here's one of the 3 Necromancers in my list. This is my lvl 4. His name is Taft, and he's the new Necromancer model, with a Flagellant headswap. He's on one of the bases that came with my Titan Forge Zomblins. Really nice graveyard scenic bases that all my Necros are going on. Left off the spiney collar thing. Killed the top of the staff. GW doesn't really do subtle, do they?

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And here's a closeup of his rat familiar. All my Necros and my Necrarch Lord are going to have rat familiars, named for the four real world ratties I've had as pets in the past four years or so. They'll all be painted to match their namesakes, of course. Here's Marie. She'll be the albino of the four familiars, just like my real life Marie. :3 All the rat familiars are from the Abomb kit.

2012-12-04_23-23-30_634.jpg


"Fok julle, fok julle, fok julle naaiers." Die Antwoord (Fok Julle Naaiers)
 

Lynks

Lord of RAW
True Blood
Dec 29, 2010
2,215
Sydney
That looks really great Adam_Barrow, I'm probably going to have to make myself one of them now... curses...

What did you do about the robes? did you just split the model down the middle and then stick the robes angled to the side or was there a little more involved? also, any indication of when it will be all painted up? xD
 

Cthulhu

Grave Guard
Jan 22, 2012
239
Awesome conversions! Are you going to paint the exoskeleton on the tyranid parts as bone and the skin as exposed muscle, or do you have something else planned?
 

Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
Oops, it's been a while, but I haven't gotten much done recently. Bad Mr. Barrow. Very bad.

Thanks, guys!
@Lynks Pretty much cut him in half, then halved the legs. I'm considering losing those legs for the Zombie Dragon Vampire Lord's legs anyway. I've had a little while to look at them now, and they might be a little too goofy for my taste.

@Cthulhu That's the million dollar question. I still haven't decided on what the color scheme is going to be. I'm pretty sure the exothingies will be bone, but that doesn't leave me much of a starting point so far.

So like I said, not much done lately unfortunately. Been magnetizing a litte:

2012-12-18_12-30-28_836.jpg

The big news is I've been building my Vargheists. The idea came from meowser's Hellsteed (plog here: https://www.vampirecounts.net/Thread-Crypt-Lords?highlight=hellsteed , all praise be unto him). To fit my Necrarch theme, I thought some Vampire ladies riding stitched together flying monsters would be a killer Necrarch Vargheist unit. There's gunna be four of these. It's Black Knight Skeletal Steeds, Vargheist Wings, and the Handmaidens from the Coven Throne. Way WIP at the moment.

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"Behold!, the black sheep of the Bible Belt." Those Poor Bastards (Behold Black Sheep)
 

Kubikajiri

Zombie
Oct 23, 2011
43
Love your conversions! That corpse cart looks nice and fat. I like the rider on the horse way more than the kit's zombie guys.
 

Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
@Kubikajiri Thanks! I've enjoyed your plog a lot, too.
@J-C Steal away! I'm stoked people like it.

Gunna be a big post today. I've got a lot of pics. First, I thought I'd show another unit that I managed to paint completely that doesn't make it onto the table anymore. Or as I call anything that I've finished that isn't viable, "Zombie Unit Fillers."

Here's 6 Fell Bats/Bat Swarms. I put both on most of the bases so they could get fielded either way. These were painted something like a year and a half ago. I'd like to think I've gotten better since then.

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And now on to more relevant entries. My Necrarch's main battle line is anchored by a unit of Crypt Horrors. I decided not to go with the Horror models for a couple of reasons. First, the cost of three dudes was too high, even with the Varg bits left over. Second, I needed something that broadcasted my Necrarch's experimentations a little better than Ghouls on steroids.

The Ogre box was a no-brainer. It was a blast to think up different ways these Ogres have died in various battles, only to be raised in the service of the good Doctor. These are all very WIP.

This first guy has been sliced and diced. He's close to finished here. Still needs some work, though.

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My Zombie skin starts at purple. Hence the grape flavored Zombie Ogres. This guy has taken a cannonball straight through the gut.

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The guy behind him caught the cannonball, and it's squished his guts out.

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Somebody nailed a giant ram skull to this guy's face. I think I've seen another Horror like this floating around someplace.

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Pin cushion.

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And this one is probably my favorite. He's caught the wrong end of a bear trap right to the noggin.

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Here's my Horrors unit in it's earliest stage.

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Stay tuned for what I think will really put this unit over the top. I've got a cool idea for the Gnoblars that came with the Ogres. My Gnoblars' lives didn't change very much when their Ogres died. The Ogres lied down, and then stood back up just as hungry as ever. The little shit heads didn't really notice any difference, except now they paint their faces in skull paint to fit in with their Ogres' new friends. Living Gnoblar death cultists hanging off their Zombie Ogre gods.


"Face us, face death." The Banner (Devilhawks)
 

Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
Oh no, double post!

Got the bits in for my second Necromancer finally. This is Nikolas. He's the Corpse Cart driver minus the cowl, another beardy headswap, and the spellbook from the Empire Battle Wizard kit (he gets fielded with the Cursed Book in my list). He's on another Titan Forge Zomblin base, and of course his ratty familiar is an Abom rat. This familiar will be mostly white, with some grey spots here and there like my rat Lydia.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you. "PICTARS NAO!"

Don't mind the mold lines. They'll be dealt wit'.

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I like these heads so much better. Maybe it's from my wish to have a Merlin beard in real life. Damnable health profession spoiling my beard plans.

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Lydia is studying up on the contents of Nik's Cursed Book. She's going for her National Necromancer Familiars assessment test soon.

2013-01-10_20-44-51_458.jpg


"A short walk to the cemetery to pay respects before I leave." Defeater (Red White and Blues)
 

BloodbathMcGrath

The Butcher of New Liberty
Sep 9, 2012
493
Joliet, Illinois
Your conversions are fantastic! The necros with beards look bad ass, and I'm glad you ditched their pointy collars (GW tries too hard with that whole Aristocrat look- that's why my Lords will come from Reaper most likely)
Ogre horrors are funny and are a smart idea since horrors are strong in big blocks- I've seen a lot of people with that idea (hint to myself...lol)

Looks great so far. Some more painting would look better though :tongue: good stuff!
 

Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
@Bloodbath I hear ya. I promise I'll paint one of these days. And thanks for the kind words!

@Malikos Thank you! That means a ton coming from you, man. I love your whole plog, first page to last, and I'm stoked for your Chaos Dwarves.

More monsters!

Let's get some Vargheists built, shall we?

2013-01-15_16-19-30_141.jpg

My little Vargs are a mash up of a lot of kits. Hexwraith steed, Vargheist wings, Coven Throne ladies, and the Titan Forge 40mm sculpted graveyard bases. Scroll up a ways to see the link to meoewser's plog. Blatant ripoff of his Hellsteed. First things first is cutting off and carving out the front limbs.

2013-01-15_17-25-19_586.jpg

Every Doctor needs nurses. Allow me to introduce you to the Blackhearts. The good Doctor stitched together some nice ponies for them. They're going on flight sticks, which would have happened tonight but the damned clouds opened up a flood of rain, so no priming the models/bases before I glue them to clear stands. Bummer.

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I'm really looking forward to painting the dresses and whatever the word for the horse blanket thingies is (I always forget that one). I think there's a lot of potential for a cool look with these.

Oh, and for fun, this is Engineer Malthus from my Skaven. I'm sure you can guess what toy he brings to the battle.

2013-01-11_23-33-37_867.jpg


"In a box made of pine lays the sweet love of mine." William Elliott Whitmore (Pine Box)
 

BloodbathMcGrath

The Butcher of New Liberty
Sep 9, 2012
493
Joliet, Illinois
Haha I knew I saw them before, but it is an awesome conversion and the coven throne side-saddlers look pretty cool too. The only problem is they don't look very scary, as they are all dolled-up, unarmed and have poofy hair lol. But I love the horsies/vargies and the girls look cool since it's not what I'm used to seeing people on horses looking like. Great stuff!
 

Adam_Barrow

Sleepless Knight
True Blood
Dec 25, 2010
3,068
Nashville, TN
@Bloodbath I like how they turned out too, and for some reason I think they fit the statline of the Vargheists better than the GW model. Being vampire ladies with no armor, they look like they could deal some damage but not take much in return. Something about the big beefy Varg models doesn't translate into the glass cannon they are in-game. I think of them as a needle tornado: lots of pain, but not a lot of substance behind it.

Okay, these pictures are worse than usual, and there's not a lot of change here from some of the other posts, but I wanted to show what I've finished in the past few.

Here's the good Doctor and his four nurses, the Blackhearts (if anybody has seen my Terrorgheist in the Show Us Your thread, you know her name is Joan--named after Joan Jett--because she screams the whole show. It seemed right to name Joan's flank-mates the Blackhearts.)

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Here's the ladies on their flight sticks and scenic bases.

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I played with ideas for what to put in the Doctor's hands, as his YMCA pose brought back terrible memories of, well, almost every character model GW put out before 1999. I ended up with a sword and the cloudy skully smokey thingy, both from the Empire Wizard kit. I lopped the bag off the skull smoke and sat it in his free hand as a summoned ghost. Or something. I dunno, either way, I like it, and it'll give me a chance to have some ethereal green on the model to tie it together with more of my army. Also, don't mind the robe abortion going on around his hips. I know.

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And as promised, like every caster in my army, the Doctor has a rat familiar. This is Claudia, and she didn't get glued on before the priming happened because I'm a bonehead. She's gunna be white with brown and black spots, and it'll be easier to tell she's surfing in front of the Doctor's saddle on the Abyssal's neck when there's some paint to differentiate all the crap going on around her.

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"I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard." Bobby Dylan (A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall)
 

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