Farmer's Undead

[Borgnine]

Good work on those muscles! They look very convincing :)

Also, good that managed to do anything at all while redecorating xD Looking forward to your winter season ;)

 

[Irisado]

The work on the Vargheists is progressing very well. They look suitably menacing and imposing.

 

[Farmer7574]

Let's wipe the dust off this PLOG. It's been a while since I've completed anything but after a batch of gobbos as a warmup the next on the agenda was this guy:



The FW Wight King Standard Bearer. Way overdue the attention, it's nice to see this one finally done and with the rest of the army. It was nice painting him too!

A few more shots:



I didn't want to go for too many colours on the banner. I played around with a few ideas before settling on what you see here. The bat shows a glimpse of my Vargheist scheme.

Next up, a belated 3rd-year army shot:



...compared to the previous year:



It's more of a spot the difference shot as I haven't really done much this year. Actually I think I've only done 25 zombies and 2 wight kings :o

Vargs are currently on the table but they'll be a fairly long project, so you may see other little projects here before they're finished :)


@Borgnine Winter is here! And I have little planned beyond work and my painting desk, Glad our resident green stuff technician has approved of the muscles :thumbsup:

@Irisado It's going slowly but surely I guess. I was going to slice these into two batches but after realizing I have to mix paint for these guys I'll probably just tackle them in one (very long) fell swoop.

 

[Menkeroth]

Amazing, just amazing! An army able to conquer entire worlds if necessary! And I recognize that FW wight king, but never liked him personally, he certainly lacks armour for a king :)

 

[Borgnine]

This BSB is a great way to jumpstart the plog again! Absolutely great work on him, especially on the metals - all the silvers, browns and blues work here flawlessly! The one thing I don't like about him is how the banner pole is bent - but I guess when something so big and fiddly is made out resin, things are always problematic. I will be painting him soonish too, so I wonder how to tackle this thing...

Great army shot too! Your army is amazingly consistent :)

 

[Irisado]

I love the Wight King standard bearer. The shade of blue is spot on again, combining really well with the rest of the army, and the attention to detail is impressive.

You have a superb army there too.

 

[Farmer7574]

Layering on the 6 Vargs' wing membranes has started but I thought I'd spend a short amount of time working on something different:

Here's a test mini for my Grave Guard:



I figured there are plenty of skellies with shields in the army so far so want these guys to come across as elite foot soldiers. I really liked @Borgnine 's simple conversion idea of using great weapons and swapping the blades with sword blades, so put it to use here.

Much like the Black Knights scheme I've included rusty steel alongside verdigris brass, and used dark blue on the majority of the robes save for that small outer dress thing which I've done in the army blue. Unfortunately the lighter army blue isn't very obvious here as my Thunderhawk Blue has pretty much dried up, so I'll have to touch up his robes when I get another pot.

Let me know what you guys think :)


@Menkeroth Not sure about entire worlds at this moment but they're definitely starting to conquer my display cabinet! He does indeed lack impressive armour, but that banner is definitely worthy of a wight king.

@Borgnine Cheers buddy - that floppy banner pole is an eyesore to me also. I straightened it out as best as I could before summer but the heat and humidity here must've made it bend again. Hopefully I can straighten it again with the wife's hairdryer...

I'm looking forward to seeing your take on the FW wight - your work is never short of awesome!

@Irisado Glad you like the wight :)

Cheers for your comments guys... more in the works!

 

[Irisado]

I think that the colour scheme will look great once you've touched up the blue robes. The blue is just a little drab as it stands. The rest looks excellent, especially that rust effect.

 

[Borgnine]

Good to see my simple idea about their weapons finding some use for someone else! :) Good to see that armor so close, it's really well done, the whole unit is surely going to be amazing!

 

[Farmer7574]

Here she is, the winged vampire ready for paint:



After comparing the spear and the sword, the spear was the choice to go for. I wasn't a big fan of her original spear and so replaced that with a dark elf one from the Scourge Runner kit. Her shield has also been replaced with a Von Carstein one.

Let me know what you think :)


@Irisado I agree mate, he should look more or less like my black knights once the blue's been touched up.

@Borgnine I like these guys a lot - they're mostly armour and robes which makes them pretty quick to paint. Glad you like the concept mini, I've started removing mould lines off these guys during my lunch breaks :)

Thanks for your feedback gents, more on the way :)

 

[Irisado]

That's a really dynamic and threatening pose that you've made for the winged vampire. I can just imagine her swooping down to impale some unfortunate soldier with that weapon. I look forward to seeing the paint applied.

 

[The Gunslinger]

Here she is, the winged vampire ready for paint

A beautiful conversion. The only problem is you have made me want to do the same thing! Damn you and your hobby inspiration.

But I do agree, Valkia is a lovely model and I have wanted an excuse to get her for a while so she might need to be the bases for my flying Lahmian Vampire instead of using leftovers from my combination of Isabella and Neferata.

Can't wait to see her painted. Well done.

 

[Sharkbelly]

Great work. The base model is cool, but I've never liked the shield. This conversion is cool!

 

[Borgnine]

She turned out great and looks like a really fun model to paint! Are her wings going to be similar to those of Vargheists or are you planning something special for her?

 

[brr-icy]

Just flipped through the entire thread, loving your vc army, immaculate paint work and beautiful colour choices. Look forward to seeing more.

 

[Farmer7574]

Nothing big to post yet but here's something I was messing around with the other day - Crypt Horror conversions.



These are going to be dead easy to paint when I finally get to that stage but the conversions are taking quite a bit of time and work.

The heads: I've had a scramble through the skulls box as @Borgnine recommended and actually quite like the Blood Letter skulls. Those horns are pretty easy to 'tree-up' with spare Dryad bits, the proportion is right and they look much less humanoid than the previous ghoul head idea. I would like to give them jaws though as this will make them look more intimidating.

The talons: I've gone ahead and just taken up the work of chopping all the long bits of the Dryad talons and repositioning them. Each 'finger' is getting positioned and glued on individually - a fair bit of work but it's giving me the result that I'm after!

Let me know your thoughts and ideas if you have any.

Other stuff on the table - I've just started my Chinese New Year holiday and have a nice bit of time I should be able to spend on hobby stuff. I've got back to work on those Vargs and also started piecing together a unit of Grave Guard. Sifting through bits boxes to do something special for the command though. Pics coming in all due time.


@Irisado Thanks mate, glad you like the pose. I was a bit indecisive about certain parts but am happy with how she's turned out.

@The Gunslinger Glad you found inspiration here mate – I look forward to seeing your take on her!

@Sharkbelly Thanks mate, glad you like her :)

@Borgnine I'm actually undecided about her wings right now and would love your input. She'll have flesh like Vlad earlier in my PLOG but not sure whether to go for reddish wings or very dark grey/black. Also unsure about the armour – same as Vlad or something different? I've toyed with the notion of doing a blueish black...

@brr-icy Thanks a lot mate, glad you like the army. :)

Thanks for your comments chaps, more in the works :)

 

[Borgnine]

Those crypt horrors are looking better and better with every update! Good to see that using those skulls is working out for you. Wondrous work on the claws too! I would consider leaving some of them jawless - it looks disturbing and creepy, even if the amount of teeth is lessened - and it would differentiate them even more than now, which is always nice when it comes to tree/plant-monsters ;)

As for your vampire, I allowed myself to do some quick photoshop work and try out your options (better this way than using just guesswork):

The wings are either red or black and the armor is either light or dark, 4 variants. Taking them out of context, I like the one with red wings and dark armor - but thinking about the rest of your army, I would try to arm all the vampires rather similarly, with light armor. Red wings would also tie her with the Vargs nicely, that's why I prefer them to black ones. Still, the final decision is yours - I hope this picture will make it a bit easier :)

 

[Saikological]

Such an awesome topic! Love it!

 

[Farmer7574]

A bit of a mixed bag this update.

First up, I've finally managed to finish the membranes on the Vargs' wings:



That took a bit longer than expected. After putting down a rough basecoat for the skin the overall colour scheme is visible:



I'm pretty happy with how they're looking, but one thing I intend to change is that giant rock base – I think it will look pretty bare when painted so I'm going to green stuff some vines creeping over it, that should break up the massive block of stone grey nicely.

Next up, here's a unit of Grave Guard I'm putting together:



Early days yet but they shouldn't take too long to paint once assembled. Those 3 gaps in the front are for the command group - I want to convert these guys to make them stand out a bit more but haven't started work on them yet.

Then we have a couple of zombies:



I've always liked the chaos minis and have wanted to start an army of them several times. I abandoned that idea a while back given the amount that I still have left to paint, but after seeing @Borgnine 's work I decided to settle for a few undead Chaos Warriors for the zombie unit. Only two here thus far, but more will follow in the future...

Lastly we have something a bit off-topic - a mini I painted for my missus as a Valentine's Day gift:



I looked at quite a lot of minis and found this one to be the most suitable due to her elegance and beauty. I went for a satin white with blossom designs on the larger open spaces. My first time doing this kind of stuff but I think she's turned out alright. Here are some more shots:




@Borgnine Thanks a lot for taking your own time to experiment with colour schemes in photoshop, seeing these images has given me a decent idea of how she can look without having to apply any paint. I really appreciate that mate.

After a bit of thought, I'm very much swayed towards the red variants; one for keeping her united with the other vamps and three for keeping her unique. We'll see what happens when paint starts going on :D

@Saikological Cheers buddy, it's all coming together slowly but surely :)

Thanks for taking a look guys. Work continues...

 

[brr-icy]

Vargs look great, really like the colours you used for them. What about a smashed open helmet for the one Chaos warrior with part of a zombie face greenstuffed inside? would make him look less alive.

 

[Irisado]

Those Vargheists are fantastic. I think that you've got the posing just right and the colour of the membranes is spot on. I agree that adding some features to the base would be a good idea, especially as that rock would only look right for landing near to an old ruined castle in my opinion, and Vampire Counts don't tend to fight the living in their own castles :D.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the Grave Guard develop. Mine are the old one piece metal models, which would look okay if they are painted, but the newer plastic ones are far superior sculpts.

The model that you've painted for your wife is outstanding. I love its seductive, but without revealing too much, look. You've done the model justice too. Great work.

 

[Borgnine]

The Vargs' wings look AMAZING, easily one of the best that I've seen, I look forward to the painted ones more and more with every update ;) Grave Guard looks promising too - at first I thought that pile of weapons in the front is supposed to be another filler - and actually, maybe that's not a bad idea for something else ;)

Chaos Warriors are cool too, some great kitbashing there. I'm unsure of how little their 'deadness' is visible though, besides that lone stake lodged in the neck. Do you have some additional ideas for them, or are you going to do it with just painting effects?

Awesome work on the valentines day miniature too of course! Interesting to see a normal human painted by you, the skintones look especially great! Also, good to see you try some freehanding, it turned out amazing and it fits the character to boot :)

I'm also glad that you found my little photoshopping helpful ;) I find it extremely useful to try out some rough color schemes before you even try applying paint - and it doesn't have to be photoshop too, there are plenty of good programs for that. Paint would probably work too in a pinch xD

 

[Farmer7574]

Not much painting happening these days but things are still progressing.

I've recently finished putting together 40 Grave Guard:



Here's a shot of the converted command group:



I wanted the champion to easily be identifiable in the unit, so opted for a duel-wield gladiator-style pose. He got dark elf, black knight, skeleton warrior and grave guard bits.

The standard bearer needed to have a better banner than the skeleton regiments, so he got a banner from the Mournfang Rider kit, Arkhan's staff top and various other skull bits.

The musician was the easiest and just got a black knight sword conversion. They all then got some greenstuff vines added to them.

Next we have the current state of my Vargheists:



All the details have been painted and it's pretty much just the skin, hair and bases to paint (all the big stuff).

I've also added some vines over the Vargoyle's rock base here to break up the gigantic chunk of greyness that would otherwise be here:




Regarding earlier posts:

@brr-icy Thanks mate. I like your idea with the zombie and will do this when I get around to putting more together. I also want to do one with his guts hanging out.

@Irisado The Vargs are coming together slowly. Quite a long project for me but will be worth it in the end! The old classic Grave Guard are awesome too – I have a bunch of them painted up for my old VC army, but prefer the newer plastic ones.

The missus is really happy with that mini – she's been asking me to paint something for her for years and so it made a great gift :)I've since bought a plinth for it to make it more of a display piece.

@Borgnine Cheers matey. I suppose weapon piles could make decent objectives in some games :)

The chaos guys will get more visible signs of death in the future, and will also have blood over them & rusty armour to display the fact they aren't living anymore. These were just a few quick ones I put together to see how they'd look among the zombie units.

The photoshopping was indeed helpful. I've still yet to paint her but at least I've got a clear idea of how I'll go about it now :)

Cheers for looking guys, more on the way.

 

[Irisado]

The champion's pose is dynamic and impressive. I really like how you have modelled that.

The Vargheists are progressing very well. It doesn't matter if it is taking a while, it is the result that counts. They are looking good from where I am sitting.

 

[Borgnine]

Amazing job on those GGs, much coolness there as usual. Great work on the command group, you've used those bits really well to create some really unique pieces :) If I had to do another unit of those, I would certainly copy your ideas ;)