• It's time once again to ferret out those murderous vampires in a new VAU - Vampires Amongst Us. A cross between Cluedo and a roleplay, sometimes gory and often hilarious! Find out more and sign-up! here.

Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Mad 'At Cheers :) Thankfully the cake was minimalistic, so the minis weren't lost amongst other decorations ;)

@Hardt von Carstein Thank you on the behalf of us both ;) At the beginning I never even considered going red - I was really impressed with the effect undead from Heroes of Might and Magic 5 and 6 had - green, glowy and powerful, universally necromantic and not only bloody vampiric ;) They are overdetailed, but the colors themselves are great.

szijGuWm.jpg


My dudes got more dirty and swampy along the way, but that turned out okay in the end ;) Thank you for your kind words xD

@Dragonet two shields to be exact ;) One high above, second one in the vampire's hand, both bearing the emblem ;)

@Farmer7574 Shame you didn't went with that, green undead from you would be really interesting - but I understand that you got your fair share of green on orcs and goblins ;) I also consider red colors rather standard choice, especially for vampires, but I've seen too many awesome artworks and minis to not at least try doing something more in this style ;) Glad you like the WIP, hope you'll like the finished piece ;) And all the goodies, I have so much of them, I would need a year long vacation to get them all done ;)

---------------------------------------------------------

Okay, I managed to finish him - behold Abelard von Greifen, the Battle Standard Bearer of the von Greifen vampire family. A short backstory here:
Before being turned, Abelard was a loyal and honorable soldier from the eastern parts of the Empire. After becoming one of Constantin’s gets, he kept those qualities, only now he was supporting the von Greifens’ cause. He wasn’t bright enough to be entrusted with governing or leading, but as the bearer of the House Standard, there’s no one better. The giant icon with the family’s coat of arms need inhuman strength to carry it - and the cries screamed by the souls trapped in the cursed banner require great mental durability to withstand them. Abelard posessed both qualities and Constantin was never disappointed with him.

First thing's first, the inspiration for the banner: THIS banner done by @Dibidoolandas I pimped it and made bigger, but in the end maybe I got lost amongs all the freehands - and it wouldn't be the first time for me ;) I bought this guy long time ago to be my BSB, back when vampire BSB's were still a thing - and I convered him to hold that pole and prepared the icon. Only recently I made the flag itself and painted him - he waited really long for his turn ;)
Very on topic regarding the last comments about colours used in my army - this guy is probably the first one when the vampiric reds clash with ghostly greens/blues. Going full green would probably work better, but I already have a scheme I have to follow ;) Coven Throne will have the same problem going on.... I considered making the flag bloody red, but that would probably be overkill. In the end I'm rather satisfied - he fits well with my other vampires.

KlwhYOx.jpg


Monique Denoir from Reaper (a female vampire foot knight) is in the making right now - and will be ready soon. I intended to post them both, but I had to hurry this one to get on the competition... ;)
 
Nov 20, 2008
70
Stockholm
Wow this one is seriously looking great! Very nice job on everything. I especially like the cloak and glow effects.

Not to be that guy but some brown is missing from a corner of the base in the pic, you might want to fix that so it is all perfect.
 

Farmer7574

Vampire Count
True Blood
Dec 10, 2013
1,587
England
@Borgnine He's turned out really well! Everything from the OSL to the colours of the tabard work awesomely together. While it's a bit of a shame to see you stray from your dirty green pallette, red wasn't a bad choice at all, and I think it's a nice contrast with the glowing ethereal colour.

Top stuff. :)
 

Irisado

Ancient Vampire Lord | Siphoner of Spammers
Staff member
True Blood
May 22, 2010
718
Nottingham, UK
I love the cloak. The level of intricacy that you've used with that red pattern is very impressive. It's a great concept for a vampire standard bearer and the swirl of spirits would be enough to send many mortals fleeing the field in terror. Great work :).
 

Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Hardt von Carstein Thanks! Better to be that guy, than to leave a messy base - I fixed it right away ;) Even the lightest touch makes everything chip.....

@Farmer7574 Cheers! Congrats for both you and Hardt for noticing, the OSL is rather subtle on this one ;) There will be plenty dirty green things in the future, so don't fret! And it's not really straying - since the beginning I was doing all of my vampiric units in reds, contrasting them with green necromantic undead, so it's not really straying - but I understand what you mean.

@Irisado Thanks! Glad you like it, I also had fun doing it - dots and points make it look more detailed, while making it easier xD

---------------------------------------------

Second day off, also fruitful. I managed to finish Ioana von Greifen! Played by Monique Denoir from Reaper Miniatures.

Her backstory:
When brothers were escaping from Castle Greifen after killing their sire Laurentin and heading for Varsavia, they found themselves needing money and a cover for giant Fledermaus traveling with them. An armored wagon belonging to a Tilean caravan was perfect for that - even the guards didn’t put much of a fight - except one that ise. A single mercenary woman stood up to Sorin, completely surprising him. Her moves fast and attacks precise, she kept up with the vampire's speed and was using his own strength and size against him. Only after a lengthy fight, when she got fatigued, Sorin was able to defeat her, barely winning. But instead of killing her, he captured her and turned her into a vampire. Ioana was her name and she became the youngest von Greifen that night. She rather quickly accepted the new situation and the new family, becoming quite an asset. She followed Sorin on his missions, learning the craft and improving her martial prowess. After the turning, she became ever quicker and stronger - clad in heavy armor and with an elven sword, she bested many warriors eager to test themselves against her. There are stories that even the self-proclaimed master of the sword, Lucan von Greifen, tasted defeat after duelling Ioana, but the stories themselves are unclear and Lucan is known to cut such short - often literally!. A temperamental woman even before her turning, others quickly learned a wide plethora of curses from various languages from her, for her tongue was as sharp as her blade.

Another mini that waited long to be painted - I started both she and Abelard few posts above at the same time, she got delayed a bit to get the other one ready for the competition - and it seems I would have managed with her too ;)
I always liked art of white-haired vampire women and that was the guideline for this model - all the rest had to accomodate that. I tested various schemes out and choose this one, black, red and white, even without adding gold details that some other vampire got. I'm pretty satisfied with the effect - especially the hair, scabbard and the back tabbard... actually, her back is much better than her front xD I need to paint something without shiny armor now...

EDQjmtf.jpg


Hope you like her :)

Now I'll be finishing Haralamb Gudvanger. While painting him I'm also converting something for Zombie Expansion, Part 2. The topic: beasts ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dragonet

Irisado

Ancient Vampire Lord | Siphoner of Spammers
Staff member
True Blood
May 22, 2010
718
Nottingham, UK
I always like to see female vampire models and you've done a great job with painting this one. The metallic and red combination has turned out very well, and I particularly like the work to distinguish the different armour plates and the shading on the sword.
 

Farmer7574

Vampire Count
True Blood
Dec 10, 2013
1,587
England
@Borgnine Great job, I always thought this character looked too 'good' or too much like some kinda holy warrior/paladin, but you've made her work as a vampire really nicely!

Keep up the great work. :thumbsup:
 

Mad 'At

Dumb enough to work
Staff member
True Blood
Apr 2, 2011
2,378
Grödinge
Man, I think I'm in love with that banner bearer's cloak. That freehand is just amazing :o
The banner itself is of course awesome too, but that cloak. I find that more subtle kind of freehanding so tricky to do, but you've nailed it. It actually looks embroidered on, with the individual stitches being distinguishable. Very clever brushwork and great choice in emblem to really fill the whole surface out. Seeing this immediately inspired me to add some freehanding to the robes of my Highwayman.

Very much like the female vampire too for the similar reasons. Great detailing on the cloth and indeed on the scabbard :)
Nice work with the limited palette too. If I were to criticize on something though it would be the face. While very neatly painted, I feel it lacks some colour. Maybe just a tint of red to her lips could help, of some blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
 

Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Irisado Thanks! Glad you like her!

@Farmer7574 Cheers! You know, it's all about the gloomy colors xD

@Mad 'At also thanks! I have similar feelings about the banner/cloak thing - the banner got lost itself amongst all those faces, but the cloak turned out fine. Those little dots make the freehand and all the shading easier to control - and they were inspired by THIS piece, even though I'm still far from that level ;) I wonder how your freehand will turn out :)

@benvoliothefirst Thanks too!

------------------------------------------------

Okay, a bit of an update! I stayed home last week and besides finally trying out Total Warhammer, I painted a lot. My converted Nurgle Lord is finished, but I still need something before he's ready to be posted here. In the meantime I finished the next expansion for my zombies. I decided to make all the batches thematic - current topic was "beasts". Only the little wolf was laying around in the bitz box, other three I bought specifially for this task.

Fluff:
Constantin doesn't discriminate at all when it comes to recruits in his zombie horde - animals are more than welcome, especially when ferocious beasts are so abundant in Varsavia. Wolves are the greatest local menace, some of them - deified often by the villagers - are twice as large as a horse - all of them get into the undead legion after death. Other than that, numerous battles fought with invaders make the land seem like a menagerie - elvish lions, lizards from the far west and other bizarre creatures are ready to be taken by a skilled enough practitioner of the dark arts.

HXATDwD.jpg


And how do they look like amongst other zombies (still need more trees before it looks like a forest):

t6Enmr3.jpg


And because I filled up the second tray of zombies, I finally have two full trays of them, worth 100 little 20x20mm zombie bases xD One third of the whole plan is thus done!

2mqpWdC.jpg


Also, I think I got to the point when I don't need to keep track on every ebay post looking for goodies. I have lots of fine minis, now I need to paint them all ;) Pictured below are the best ones, all of them OOP, they did cost me a lot - hopefully I won't have to regret it when GW is doing that "Made to order" action ;)
From left to right: Forge World Preyton and Wight BSB, Sartosan Vampire, Kingdom Death Savior (to be painted as a witch of my story here) and Green Knight (without rider, as I'll be putting a vampire on it either way).

sDQ7GUO.jpg


Cheers! ;) Next update coming up soon!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Dragonet

Shadespyre

Vampire Count
Aug 11, 2012
1,023
The beasts are glorious! Are you familiar with the Bog Unicorn from Dragon Age? I'd love to see you model one...

download_zpsvge9exvo.jpg


Yeah, it's a bog-mummy horse with a damned great sword rammed through it's head.
 

Farmer7574

Vampire Count
True Blood
Dec 10, 2013
1,587
England
@Borgnine Beautiful update, as always! I love the beasts theme and I'm with @Adam_Barrow here - the cold one has to be my favourite :) I like the half-decapitated head there (It makes me think there's a Lizardman equivalent of Ser Gregor Clegane out there). This of course doesn't diminish the quality of your other beasts, the dire wolf with the mashed-up face is a close second favourite!

Your horde of zombies as it currently is looks great, big fan of the mix n mash of undead humans of different factions, monsters and other beasties.

@Shadespyre 's post is awesome - that 'Bog Unicorn' would totally fit into your tide of zombies! It would be a well-spent few bases (after all you've got 200 left to fill!) :)

Top stuff.
 
Nov 20, 2008
70
Stockholm
Great looking zombie horde! I like how you implemented so many different types of models and made them feel like a united shambling hungry dead mass at the same time, very inspiring work indeed.
 

Absyrtus

Zombie
I'm late to look at these and admire, but the BSB is amazing - the freehand on cloak and banner in particular are incredible! Ioana is brilliant - I love the red and the metal together and even more, the subtle flesh tone which really ties her together and helps to make her look like exactly what she is - a hard nosed mercenary-turned immortal death machine.

The zombie horde with beasts is absolutely outstanding. I think that the addition of the trees and beasts really turns it into an atmospheric vignette, a piece of the Old World (or Shyish) captured in a small area that tells a story of a ravening horde.
 

Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Shadespyre Thanks! That bog unicorn looks great! I need one! xD I don't know if just for a zombie filler, or maybe as a modification of THIS vampiress' horse ;) Thanks for sharing, I never played that game.

@Adam_Barrow Glad you like them! It's zombies, if they aren't gory, what else should be? ;)

@Farmer7574 Much appreciated! That cold one was a very spontaneous thing, I came up with that idea after basecoating him - I never really had an idea what to do with him ;) And those zombies will get much more diverse along the way, I got still torture devices, spiders, minotaurs, a cannon, a terrorgheist head and many others - I only hope I'll live long enough to model and paint all that xD

@Hardt von Carstein Thanks for the comment! I'm glad that they work together despite being painted years apart :)

@Absyrtus Thanks, especially for paying attention to my fluff pieces - and for such a nice comment :) I'm glad that you liked them vampires and saw that vignette there - made me look again at them at home xD As for the trees, they still somehow get lost amongst all the zombies, still need to get them higher!

------------------------------------------------------

An update! Ladies and gentlemen, Haralamb Gudvanger finally got his mini painted!

His fluff story first:
Varsavia has many locations never properly described on maps, but the so-called Black Bog especially interested the inquisitive vampires. Visitors either never returned from that place or came back disoriented, having no recollection of anything. When Sorin was sent there, he found himself surrounded with ghouls and other twisted creatures, all the land covered in misleading black fog. Not so easily fooled, he managed to locate the dilapidated stone building in the center, hiding enormous underground labyrinth of passages and rooms. After fighting his way through it, he was approached by the master of the place. A strange, corpulent creature, surrounding himself with severed hands and deformed servants - called himself Haralamb Gudvanger. The vampire, normally very confident in his abilities, found himself confused and completely unable to assess his opponent. Before the situation could escalate into something unpredictable, the creature said that he’s impressed with the vampire reaching so far into it’s lair and offered a deal - a cooperation to further both parties goals. Gudvanger wanted to use some of the influence that vampires had on Varsavia, both living and unliving parts of it - mostly to learn more and get rare body parts for his experiments - for he was a necromantic master of fleshcrafting. In return, von Greifens would be able to employ in battle both ghouls he had great control over and his hulking creations. Vampires, needing every possible help during an upcoming raid of chaos barbarians, were forced to agree. Gudvanger’s monsters were certainly helpful, but their master was way too enigmatic to be simply accepted as an ally - only time will tell how this cooperation will turn out.

And a picture showing a part of that story:
pZvaYVF.jpg

Drawing that picture is what delayed this post by a week. I hoped to make it a quick impression, but as usual, I got bogged in the details ;)

I invented this character back when I did my zombie ogre crypt horrors, I needed some guy who stitched them together - so I looked up a name and bought a Nurgle Lord mini for him. At first he was just a weird, mutated necromancer, but then got into a much more important character, with unique properties and introducing yet another faction into my story. I got to like him very much, that's why I really did my best on the mini and drew that little comic for him ;)

As for the model - conversion can be seen here - he became a collector of hands, gathering them and using for some unholy purpose ;) I tried my best while painting and at the moment he's my favourite mini - I finally learned the true value of strong contrasts. Nagash may be bigger, but as for the quality and detail of painting, this guy wins. I also tried to make a puddle on the base, using Vallejo Still Water, but it didn't turn out that good. I had to use about 20 layers - and the middle part is still concave.... Ghoul-gnoblars were a late addition, as I got those guys from the Ironguts set. Those merry companions of his fill his base and frame the flesh-stitcher nicely ;)

WJW32je.jpg


Next project - Age of Simgar minis as zombie fillers!

Also, I finally finished all the entries that had WIPs here, but no finished ones xD
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dragonet

Farmer7574

Vampire Count
True Blood
Dec 10, 2013
1,587
England
@Borgnine Killed it again! There's no stopping you :)

The fluff is awesome and hats off to you for drawing that comic, I thought it was something you DL'ed off the net at first.

Beautiful conversion and execution - I like the whole hand collecting thing he's got going on. Great stuff as always!

BTW: just looking over your zombeasts and they're really inspiring. I'd love to see that spider with something like 6 and a half legs, and a gash in it's body with all it's juices leaving a snail trail behind.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dragonet
Apr 13, 2015
123
Cleveland, Ohio
Everything looks great. I really like the addition of the zombie animals (zombimals?) to the unit. All of your characters are great, and I really love the subtle detail on that Nurgle lord!
 

Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Shadespyre Big thanks! Glad you like the comic - I'll condier doing more - after all it takes a lot of time to do it, time that could be spent painting xD

@Sharkbelly Thanks too!

@Farmer7574 Cheers! I thought about simply reposing the spiders and painting them menacingly, but ripping them open and pulling of legs seems like an awesome idea - thanks! xD

@ZeroTwentythree Also big thanks! Zombiemals look like a good name for a rock band ;)

-----------------------

And some progress on the zombiefied Sigmarines and their colleagues ;)
First one is the Sigmarine himself - doesn't look much changed, painting will help to bring out his deadness more. Still, he has holes, scratches and bents - I even used a red-hot scalpel to do some of them, fun work :D

DauMYAi.jpg


And second one is Bloodstoker - that guy looks pretty gruesome on his own and isn't yet another steroid monster like other new khornites - actually a pretty cool mini. Still, he looked a bit too fancy for my zombies, so I started to simplify him - for example, to make his missing arm much more proletaryan than the original ;) After that I thought, why not go for something more - and I turned him into an obese cossack - well, cossack-like. He was fun to convert, hopefully painting will be just as fun :)

w5dpNtX.jpg


In the meantime I am working on the dragon - maybe I'll show a teaser of the progress after I'll have some more ;) This will take LOTS of time xD
 
Last edited:

Farmer7574

Vampire Count
True Blood
Dec 10, 2013
1,587
England
@Borgnine Nice conversions as always! The sigmarine is a vast improvement from the original :)

I have a few riderless spiders knocking about that I got in an auction a while back, and will play around with your idea of zombifying them in the future. Great idea, and I look forward to seeing what you do with them.
 

Borgnine

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jun 15, 2013
2,036
Pruszkow, Poland
@Farmer7574 Thanks! I would really like to see your take on such spiders ;)

-----------------------------

Two Age of Sigmar minis I have, slightly converted Sigmarine and more heavily converted Bloodstoker.

Yesterday I had the sigmarine ready and I went to paint the cossack. Suprisingly, I painted almost entirety of him in a single day, with good enough results :) Watching Warhammer TV really gives good tips how to paint model quickly and decently, especially when it's just another zombie filler.

I updated the Sigmarine slightly from yesterday after a comment from @Farmer7574 - adding verdigris to him really helped :) Thanks! I was reluctant to try it, but it really adds another change from the standard clean Sigmarine.

Some small fluff piece:
Yet another two warriors in the von Greifen's vast zombie horde. The armoured one stumbled into the forest one day, looking somehow lost. Without a word, he got into a battle with the undead forces. He may have looked tough and regal, but zombies just kept coming and after all the cuts and jabs, he was felled down just like any other and was quickly incorporated into the same horde he so valiantly fought. The second one was a commander of a Kislevite bandit band - who thinking himself nobility, greatly opressed the peasants. The vampires found him troublesome at some point and got rid of him - turning him into a zombie afterwards, for his fat body would make for a great meat-shield. As an ironic accent, Sorin stuck a peasant's pitchfork into his hand's stump, finding it fitting for such a rotten 'nobleman'

41a7Bzf.jpg


And another picture of a single sigmarine, one I used for the competition.

jodHjB7.jpg


And a teaser of a dragon I am patiently preparing while they paint is drying on the more current things:

9SUdvXm.jpg


And that's it for now!

Next project: The Coven Throne
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dragonet

About us

  • Our community has been around for many years and pride ourselves on offering unbiased, critical discussion among people of all different backgrounds. We are working every day to make sure our community is one of the best.

Quick Navigation

User Menu