Orlaster's army blog - From the ashes of the old world
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Ouuuh there are a few reaaally cool minis around here! How exactly did I miss this? o.o
To go with the mainstream, the nurgle-vamp is my favourite! Love it. The harpies (harpyies? harpys? Dunno) are a great effect too. Looking forward for your future projects
To go with the mainstream, the nurgle-vamp is my favourite! Love it. The harpies (harpyies? harpys? Dunno) are a great effect too. Looking forward for your future projects
I must also doff my cap to you, excellent work! I've been looking at incorporating gargoyles for a while and finally gave up and bought a bunch of vargheists to chop and paint to resemble stone, I wish I'd seen your harpies first... Also, had to say I love the vampire! He looks like a gaoler, thick set and powerful, with a bit of a sadistic look going on...? Maybe just me! But I love the theme, very original in this setting.
Wow guys, thank you so much! I've been pottering away on various things recently so here are some snippets of what I've been doing...
I finished (mostly) the other necromancer, so now the band of crusty wizards numbers three. Gave one guy another lick of paint to make him more in keeping with the colour scheme, and I think it looks alright. I'm using a lot of washes and drybrushing, with very little actual detailed brushwork at all, so in time I might give them all a few little interesting highlights etc etc, when I feel up to the task, and when my eyes aren't strained!
Another thing I want to try is a unit of wraiths and a banshee. People say it shouldn't be done, that they're absolutely terrible, but i want to give it a try and see how they do. Here's the WIP (Wraith in progress)...
Also to add a bit of punch to the army, I've roughly started putting together a unit of crypt horrors. I thought giving them tiny little pinheads made them look particularly warped, and eventually the idea is to have them draped in chains and ragged cloth. I'm a big fan of the dark souls series, and I think the attempt at the weird, warped proportions come mainly from that. In the future I plan to modify a terrorgheist I have on the Gaping Dragon from DS I.
And lastly, the wardens of Carceri- Big bad vamp general, Wight King standard bearer, and high level necromancer (So much so that he's practically undead himself). Again, a rough draft, as they're only blu-tacked together at this point. I can't quite bring myself to finalise it just yet. I was particularly enamoured by the Blightking models, so I used them to make the massive, hulking blender lord and unkillable wight king. I'm going to remove all the Nurgle and chaos iconography, maybe replace it with a few bats and/or skulls, but seems to work so far. Also they look absolutely HUGE next to skeletons...
I'm going to try and keep the colour scheme consistent across the entire army- faded crimson/purple/brown grubby cloth, patina bronze, very pale skin, and bright turquoise fire/ethereal so hopefully that'll look nice. Took me ages to decide on, but I like how it's turning out so far. Also I've definitely gone way overboard with the special characters... No way I'll ever be able to field them all at once!
I finished (mostly) the other necromancer, so now the band of crusty wizards numbers three. Gave one guy another lick of paint to make him more in keeping with the colour scheme, and I think it looks alright. I'm using a lot of washes and drybrushing, with very little actual detailed brushwork at all, so in time I might give them all a few little interesting highlights etc etc, when I feel up to the task, and when my eyes aren't strained!
Another thing I want to try is a unit of wraiths and a banshee. People say it shouldn't be done, that they're absolutely terrible, but i want to give it a try and see how they do. Here's the WIP (Wraith in progress)...
Also to add a bit of punch to the army, I've roughly started putting together a unit of crypt horrors. I thought giving them tiny little pinheads made them look particularly warped, and eventually the idea is to have them draped in chains and ragged cloth. I'm a big fan of the dark souls series, and I think the attempt at the weird, warped proportions come mainly from that. In the future I plan to modify a terrorgheist I have on the Gaping Dragon from DS I.
And lastly, the wardens of Carceri- Big bad vamp general, Wight King standard bearer, and high level necromancer (So much so that he's practically undead himself). Again, a rough draft, as they're only blu-tacked together at this point. I can't quite bring myself to finalise it just yet. I was particularly enamoured by the Blightking models, so I used them to make the massive, hulking blender lord and unkillable wight king. I'm going to remove all the Nurgle and chaos iconography, maybe replace it with a few bats and/or skulls, but seems to work so far. Also they look absolutely HUGE next to skeletons...
I'm going to try and keep the colour scheme consistent across the entire army- faded crimson/purple/brown grubby cloth, patina bronze, very pale skin, and bright turquoise fire/ethereal so hopefully that'll look nice. Took me ages to decide on, but I like how it's turning out so far. Also I've definitely gone way overboard with the special characters... No way I'll ever be able to field them all at once!
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That fat vampire is probably the most sinister blood drinker I've seen :| The necromancers also looks really evil, reminds me of Electric Wizard Dopethrone -album cover 
Fantastic job, great idea. The rest of your army bears the same great quality, very good!
As you can probably guess, I won't sleep until you get your gaping dragon done, what a challenging idea, I'm sure you will nail it. Gwyn would be great Wight King btw
Fantastic job, great idea. The rest of your army bears the same great quality, very good!
As you can probably guess, I won't sleep until you get your gaping dragon done, what a challenging idea, I'm sure you will nail it. Gwyn would be great Wight King btw
The Bray Shaman necro conversion is simply mindblowing. I'm putting it on my nigh infinitely long list of things to do to try and emulate it. He looks utterly badass.
Love the fat Vampire, I've had a name for a fat vampire for a while, but the use of the Blightkings to achieve it is inspired. I was going to use Bragg the Gutsman but I may be changing my mind...
Love the fat Vampire, I've had a name for a fat vampire for a while, but the use of the Blightkings to achieve it is inspired. I was going to use Bragg the Gutsman but I may be changing my mind...
This whole thread is fantastic and you sir make me jealous! If only I could make stuff like this! One can truly see the Dark Soul inspiration in all your work. Feels like I'm back there struggling to reach Anor Londo all over again. I really like your dark way of painting to!
Hellion Nox
Grave Guard
Some amazing conversions that give a personal touch to your army. Looking at these makes me want to give converting my own models a try. Though for now I'll just try and stick to the normal models 
Jake
Zombie
@Farmer7574 I reckon so, yeah. If you get the angle right you could make some sweet blood knights using the handmaidens and dark elf cavalry. Once again, I have to thank you guys for the compliments. It's great to have so much positive feedback.
As usual, I don't like posting here without something to show, so here's a bit of a WIP I've got going. My own take on a wight king with battle standard. As much as I like the GW wight king, he doesn't look quite tough enough to carry that massive banner. And this guy is a beast, standing about 1.5 times taller than the average skeleton. The bronze armour is pretty much done, but other details need finishing off, and I haven't plucked up the courage to paint the banner yet. My freehand painting kind of sucks, and I want to do something more than a normal banner. I was looking at baroque textile patterns and medieval heraldry, so perhaps something along those lines if I can ever manage it.
On a critical note, I think it might need a bit more highlighting, especially around and within the pitted marks on the armour, and on the cloth, but I'm not 100% sure how to go about doing that without it looking too conspicuous. Let me know what you guys think.
Also yes, I think I am going to stick resolutely to square bases. Round just feels wrong, regardless of how much better it may or may not look. I think I must be a salty grognard in the making. But I must say, it's a massive relief not having to ensure every single model ranks up nicely in a unit. Furthermore, I do hope the wight king makes it into the undead AoS army, especially now that I've butchered several different kits and precious bits to make it.
Also @Sessioni A wight king based on Gwyn would be absolutely great! Flames everywhere. I want to try this for sure.
p.s. please ignore the obvious mould line on the bottom left picture. I have to do something about it...
As usual, I don't like posting here without something to show, so here's a bit of a WIP I've got going. My own take on a wight king with battle standard. As much as I like the GW wight king, he doesn't look quite tough enough to carry that massive banner. And this guy is a beast, standing about 1.5 times taller than the average skeleton. The bronze armour is pretty much done, but other details need finishing off, and I haven't plucked up the courage to paint the banner yet. My freehand painting kind of sucks, and I want to do something more than a normal banner. I was looking at baroque textile patterns and medieval heraldry, so perhaps something along those lines if I can ever manage it.
On a critical note, I think it might need a bit more highlighting, especially around and within the pitted marks on the armour, and on the cloth, but I'm not 100% sure how to go about doing that without it looking too conspicuous. Let me know what you guys think.
Also yes, I think I am going to stick resolutely to square bases. Round just feels wrong, regardless of how much better it may or may not look. I think I must be a salty grognard in the making. But I must say, it's a massive relief not having to ensure every single model ranks up nicely in a unit. Furthermore, I do hope the wight king makes it into the undead AoS army, especially now that I've butchered several different kits and precious bits to make it.
Also @Sessioni A wight king based on Gwyn would be absolutely great! Flames everywhere. I want to try this for sure.
p.s. please ignore the obvious mould line on the bottom left picture. I have to do something about it...
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I'm surprised by how insanely cool that nurgle model looks when converted to undead. My only criticism would be the shield, while you removed the nurgle symbol on his chest and replaced it supremely, the shield is still essentially just a big nurgle symbol. It doesn’t fit IMO.
Also, how did you paint the bronze armour? Never seen patina painted quite so realistic.
Also, how did you paint the bronze armour? Never seen patina painted quite so realistic.
I'll have to second Mad 'At that the shield is somewhat out of place. Everything else about the model is great.
NebuchandnezzarCD
Zombie
Oh wow that armour looks amazing, how did you get that effect? It looks like super layered drybrushing or something like that, anyway brilliant conversions I think my personal favourite is the bare plastic vampire in the middle further up the page.
That guy looks insanely good.
I think the whole idea of fat vampires in heavy armour bloated with dark magic is really jumping out to me, could make for a really cool and fluffy bloodline :konrad:
That guy looks insanely good.
I think the whole idea of fat vampires in heavy armour bloated with dark magic is really jumping out to me, could make for a really cool and fluffy bloodline :konrad:
I think the shield is fine, provided you can get your head around triangular collections of three representing Nurgle. It IS, after all, three skulls...
However there are plenty of skelly/grave guard/ black knight and even von carstein shields to choose from that would possibly thematically look better.
Let that not detract from the conversion though... I can see myself buying another box of Blight Kings soon...
However there are plenty of skelly/grave guard/ black knight and even von carstein shields to choose from that would possibly thematically look better.
Let that not detract from the conversion though... I can see myself buying another box of Blight Kings soon...
Count Raffael
Skeleton
@Mad 'At @Nagash Worshiper @Banat Yeah I know what you mean about the shield. I sort of overlooked it because the thing itself was covered in skulls and I thought the crest on the top looked vaguely tomb king-esque. I might give it another think and do something about it. The only problem with the grave guard or other shields is that they looked really small on him, and I wanted him to carry a sturdy slab of metal that would cover him sufficiently. I was going to tool him up with loads of defensive wargear (but alas, no longer) to reflect that. Thanks for the feedback though. I do agree that perhaps something a little more vampiric would fit the theme a little better. After looking at the thing for so long and agonising over how specifically to put it together I tended to ignore certain aspects of how it looked.
@NebuchandnezzarCD Thanks! I'm quite pleased with how the metal turned out. It started as a base of balthasar gold, then a bit of Ghenna's gold drybrushed on top. Then I washed it with a watered down kabalite green, drybrushed hellion green, and selectively brushed on a little bit of nihilac oxide. After that I gave it successive washes of coelia greenshade and a bit of black, followed by a bit more hellion green. Basically I started with the base metal and aged it all over with washes and drybrushing in various shades of turquoise-green. Then to finish it, I drybrushed very lightly with some more balthasar gold onto the large areas of metal, and highlighted individual bits of damage and pitting with runefang steel. It didn't feel like it took long when I was doing it, but now having written it down it sounds like a lot of work. It wasn't really. It was quite messy and lazy, but that gave it the rough quality it needed to look so aged.
@NebuchandnezzarCD Thanks! I'm quite pleased with how the metal turned out. It started as a base of balthasar gold, then a bit of Ghenna's gold drybrushed on top. Then I washed it with a watered down kabalite green, drybrushed hellion green, and selectively brushed on a little bit of nihilac oxide. After that I gave it successive washes of coelia greenshade and a bit of black, followed by a bit more hellion green. Basically I started with the base metal and aged it all over with washes and drybrushing in various shades of turquoise-green. Then to finish it, I drybrushed very lightly with some more balthasar gold onto the large areas of metal, and highlighted individual bits of damage and pitting with runefang steel. It didn't feel like it took long when I was doing it, but now having written it down it sounds like a lot of work. It wasn't really. It was quite messy and lazy, but that gave it the rough quality it needed to look so aged.
If you added more smaller skull icons between those on the shield it would loose all nurgle-likeness. The shield don't have to be changed it can just be readjusted . But anyway, it's not that big of a problem and fits him weel! It doesn't matter really!
. But anyway, it's not that big of a problem and fits him weel! It doesn't matter really!
This is pretty damn inspiring dude! I never would have thought about using nurgle bits into making VC conversions (maybe besides the mounted lord one), but you did it awesomely! Fat vampire is probably my most favourite vampire ever! Now I am thinking how could I fit minis like these into my army The painting is also top notch, especially the patinated armor.
EDIT: Also, I really, really can't wait to see those CH finished
The painting is also top notch, especially the patinated armor.EDIT: Also, I really, really can't wait to see those CH finished
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benvoliothefirst
Grave Guard
@Tawg Errr yeah... You caught me. I thought the nurgle-ish bits would work well as semi decayed, partially mummified flesh but the hoof is a little incongruous. It's small though so it's not massively noticeable. I thought I'd just leave it instead of making a hash of converting it!
@Borgnine @Farmer7574 @benvoliothefirst Thank you all, I'm glad you like it!
As a quick update, I don't like posting without something to show, so I knocked up a quick image with a few things I've been working on. I painted a bit more on the wight king banner bearer, and he's coming along nicely. Nearly done. I changed my mind about the big vamp in armour and mocked up another wight king instead. I have another vamp conversion in mind, but what do you guys think of this guy? Also I started painting some ghouls. The most recent white dwarf has ghouls painted almost exactly how I intended to do mine, which is both helpful and annoying, but here they are anyway. I also started basing some of them. Finally.
@Borgnine @Farmer7574 @benvoliothefirst Thank you all, I'm glad you like it!
As a quick update, I don't like posting without something to show, so I knocked up a quick image with a few things I've been working on. I painted a bit more on the wight king banner bearer, and he's coming along nicely. Nearly done. I changed my mind about the big vamp in armour and mocked up another wight king instead. I have another vamp conversion in mind, but what do you guys think of this guy? Also I started painting some ghouls. The most recent white dwarf has ghouls painted almost exactly how I intended to do mine, which is both helpful and annoying, but here they are anyway. I also started basing some of them. Finally.