The Eternal Court of the Carmine Rose

[Borgnine]

It may be crude, but they surely look different and interesting, so the mission is accomplished

I am really eager to see your idea for the construct And all the vampire ladies, especially the one on the dragon

 

[Shadespyre]

Thanks, that was the idea, after all.

Two bat swarms:

These are from Mirliton - they come 3 to the pack but are identical, so it's hard to make them look different. I'll hang on to the third to see if inspiration strikes!

The statue is a very old Knight of Origo - he's damaged and suffering from "lead rot" so I thought this was a nice use for him. I made the vine on the other model using copper wire not greenstuff - it's easier but looks a bit too regular. Hard to get it tight to the tree, as well.

Got a day off work to recover from the weekend (3 gigs and got evacuated from Old Trafford stadium in the bomb scare!) so I'm doing a bit on the Undead Construct. But not much, cos I'm tired and don't want to mess it up!

TO DO LIST:
*Undead Construct (TBA)
War Mammoth No 2
2 Skeletal Dragons
Vampire Lady on Dragon
1 x mounted Vampire Lady
3 x armoured Vampire Ladies
*3 x unarmoured Vampire Ladies
at least one more Lady Necromancer

 

[Eyeless]

Great bat swarms! Way better than GW's you did a great job there! keep it up

 

[Borgnine]

It's nice to see someone else using those bats And you did them much better than me - making wings different than bodies was a good idea Also, mounting them on that tree supports their rougly triangular shape and they look more natural. Good work on them

Also, you enjoy that teasing about the construct, don't you?

 

[Mad 'At]

@Shadespyre: Loving those bat swarm. I have to remember the company as I am myself looking to add some to my own army.

 

[Shadespyre]

Glad you like those simple things

@Borgnine The two-tone bats idea came from my Varghulf - everything batty is in the same colour scheme as him. And if I'm coy about the Undead Construct model, it's because it hasn't been working for me! So much so that I changed my plans so I could stay home and work on it tonight, and after a couple of hours work I'm happy again

 

[Shadespyre]

Okay, after a sticky patch in the middle of painting, I'm happy with this:

Blood Rose Unithorn

The concept is that the same Blood Roses that form the Rose Maidens (ghouls) and are intertwined throughout the army got hold of a unicorn (or unicorn corpse) and this is what results!

I can't claim too much credit for this, as the name (and model) come from the minds and hands of Warploque Miniatures

In their Arcworlde setting, the Unithorn is summoned by Wild Elves. It is a creature made entirely from briars, and sustains itself with the blood of its enemies. So, already vampiric!

As you can see from the picture, the whole model has a wooden appearance - there are no actual Unicorn parts involved. To switch the model to my different fluff, I removed the thorn-horn, and replaced it with a more traditional style twisted alicorn which I made from Milliput. Then I smoothed out the skull with liquid GS until it had more bone-like contours.

I enhanced the thorniness of the model with bits of dryad branch and milliput, and added the familiar roses and leaves. I didn't want to overwhelm the model so I left it at the three roses, and added some to the base instead.

For a long time I have planned to put a rider on this model, but never came up with anything I liked. Instead of a mount, this will now count as a Varghulf - it's about the right size, and the profile fits the model quite well.

 

[robtion]

Wow what a great find. Never seen this mini before and it suits your army theme perfectly. Lovely subtle conversion too.

 

[Borgnine]

Beyond vampire ladies, this is perhaps the model that fits your army the best Also, very nice painting. Light endings to the thorns give a nice effect. I have a few branches to paint today and I think I'll try to copy that Also congrats for being the first actual participant to the competition

 

[Shadespyre]

Thanks guys! Yes, this model was pretty much made for me. The light thorn tips are the same as I painted the Rose Maiden claws, and it was going wild with this that brought the model together for me. And also why I'm experimenting with photos on a black background. The other vital touch was adding a dark green into the deep gaps between vines. It's hardly visible in the pictures but really changes the model for me.

 

[Shadespyre]

New Necromancer and Vampire Ladies:

I cheated!!!

These models were painted by our friend @ZeroTwentythree in the USA and have arrived back with me today (along with an Empire wizard which I'll picture elsewhere). Two of these (centre and right) are models I'd painted and stripped and repainted and stripped and given up on. He was kind enough to take these on for me in exchange for a bunch of miniatures which will hopefully be appearing in his own armies in the future.

The faces are especially good on these models, I think I can learn from seeing his work in close up, and he's brought out the Vampire side of these two really well. Sometimes even an eternally beautiful Vampire lady wants to scare the heck out of the enemy, after all.

I just need to add my basing touches, and these ladies are ready for action!

TO DO LIST:
*War Mammoth No 2
*Skeletal Dragon
Skeletal Dragon
Vampire Lady on Dragon
1 x mounted Vampire Lady
3 x armoured Vampire Ladies
Unarmoured Vampire Ladies
at least one more Lady Necromancer

I've also been on a shopping spree at www.heresyminiatures.com because they're having a bit of a sticky patch. I picked up a Werewolf, a Vampire in Manbat form and a couple of evil females to add to my ranks (plus a Manbane minotaur and a Snow Troll for other projects). If you use non-flowering Ghouls in your army you must see his Ghoul Tribe, and there are also some great ogres, demons, and a science fiction range too. If you order something Andy would really appreciate it right now! (and appreciation = sweets in this case!)

 

[Borgnine]

As expected of @ZeroTwentythree , they look superb! Black, red and gold look so frickin' regal on them! Especially the one on the right, awesome! It makes me consider adding her to my collection later

As for the heresyminiatures - I didn't knew they had some problems. I wanted to get those ghouls at some point, but my painting plan list is ever full and as of lately - also my expenditure list... Still, thanks for the info - I hope they'll hang on till I get my situation sorted out.

Also, what is the name of the lady on the left? She's reaper as far as I recognize the style, but I don't know which particular mini is it.

 

[Nagash Worshiper]

Out of curiosity, what do you play the Blood Rose Unithorn as? Fantastic looking mini! Are you going to attach a female Vampire rider?

 

[Shadespyre]

@Borgnine Yes, I was very excited to have him paint my miniatures The three ladies are the Witch Queen (Reaper Minis), Vampire Countess (Avatars of War) and Vampiress (Madpuppet Minis).

I don't think Heresy are in immediate danger, but Andy had to let his assistant go because he couldn't afford him, so that's not good. I just went and bought those models which I've liked for ages but didn't really need - and then a few more to get free postage!

@Nagash Worshiper I think I'll count it as a Vargheist, it's about the right size and it sort of fits the profile. I planned to put a rider on, but it needs wings to be an Abyssal Terror and it seems a waste as just a nightmare! So, no rider.

 

[Farmer7574]

@Shadespyre Nice work you've done these days. You've done a really good job of making those bat swarms different from each other. And that Unithorn is great, very fitting for your army.

 

[Shadespyre]

Thanks a lot

Here's something else I painted for myself - the third (and last) of the Grenadier Undead Warbeasts:

This is the one I bought new from Mirliton: the crew seem to have been replaced by much more modern sculpts, which is both nice and a shame at the same time.

 

[Farmer7574]

@Shadespyre Really nice! Is this a necrosphinx for your army?

I'd never seen this mini before but you've integrated it into your army well with your trademark rose shields and leaf & stone basing. Good job!

 

[Borgnine]

Grenadier made TWO of those mammoths?! Awesome! Terrific job as usual, Shadespyre Red accents are really nice on him. That scaled armor on his 'chest' looks flat and weird, but that's probably the sculpt. Still, it's an awesome model - those skulls at the corners of the side boxes - at first I thought crewskeletons were looking out of them A photo with all three beast would be cool

Those things are completely metal? They must weigh a lot...

 

[Shadespyre]

They each weigh around 400g - the rhino is the heaviest because the prisoners mean that it is the least hollow.

 

[Farmer7574]

@Shadespyre They look great together, very impressive!

 

[Borgnine]

I kinda expected the rhino to be smaller They look awesome!

 

[Shadespyre]

Sadly, we're back to this again... I'm a big fan of Heresy Miniatures, one of the UK's finest independent miniature makers. There's a sale on (with up to 25% off metal minis) until July 29th to boost orders to help keep them running.

Please check it out, and if you fancy something, buy it!

www.heresyminiatures.com/shop

Full message from one-man sculptor, caster, order picker, owner and tea-boy Mr Andy Foster below.

Thanks for looking!

Massive Sale On Now!

The workload situation has become somewhat intolerable for me these days - with Dan the Minion gone there just isn't enough time to get much sculpting done on the final Kickstarter figures when I have to do all the regular orders and stuff during the week as well. I've racked my brains to get around it and without the funds to hire 3rd parties to do the casting and packing I have no choice but to try and take the time 'off' to finish the last few figures and this means the regular orders will pile up. It's a vicious circle of work that I'm trapped in, but this is probably the best thing to do!
So, to try and accomplish the first stage, I shall be taking the next two weeks or so to concentrate on things like finishing the last bits of sculpting on the NetherLord II, the Deathball Ogres and so forth and the regular orders will be piling up in the meantime. To compensate for this, I will be running a MASSIVE sale. There is up to 25% off metals, and even up to 10% on some of the resin stuff! It starts from NOW until Midnight UK time on the 29th of July. Orders will ship at some point from the end of this month, or as and when I can find the time to pack them in amongst everything else. I have the workload of at least 3 men and not enough hours in the day to get it all done!
Also, as ever, I really need the money too, so please chip in with however much you can, it will be a BIG and direct help!
And with the huge discounts, there will still be free shipping, if you spend £100 or more!
With the pound currently struggling against the dollar and euro, this sale is INSANE value!
Sale starts now! Please let all your friends who've been umming and arrh-ing about buying from Heresy know by sharing the link!
www.heresyminiatures.com/shop

I'm off to sculpt a massive wang on a Netherlord (still only half the size of the old metal one), before covering it up with a severed elf torso in the name of taste.
Much obliged,
Andy Foster

www.heresyminiatures.com

 

[Shadespyre]

Oh, I finished this, it was just waiting for me to paint the horns and stuff for a month...

Another Grenadier classic, the Death Dragon of the Undead Legion. It came with a nice "evil" wizard to ride it, but he's a bit small and a bit male for my army! I'll probably paint him up for completeness some time. It's a bit dull as models go - not much to paint which isn't bone. I painted the horns etc in deep red, as it matches the army palette and I liked how it looked on my Imperial Dragon.

 

[Mad 'At]

You sure are churning out these skeletal beast @Shadespyre
And I must say you are doing a great job with them too.

What's next on this list?

 

[Shadespyre]

From that series there's also a chariot, I don't own one though. They also made several other undead dragons which I need to hunt down. As I collect dragons and plan to paint them all they may as well appear in this army!

Right now I'm working on some skeletons and a Heresy werewolf.

TO DO LIST:

*Werewolf
Skeletal Dragon
Vampire Lady on Dragon
1 x mounted Vampire Lady
3 x armoured Vampire Ladies
2 x Unarmoured Vampire Ladies
at least two more Lady Necromancer
*unit fillers
*random skellies