The Undead Legion of Countess Ludmila von Karnstein

[Mad 'At]

Update with more Mordheim stuff!

I decided to touch up the faces of my Trust Companions, to make them look older and creepier.

I also gave Ast another whip and repainted her old one:

And I've finished up the new guy, the Hero who once was a Henchman. He's got a name now, Gregor Wieman. Also know as Mr. Charming. The reason is simple, has the the amazing Skill of Seduction. No really, I literally gave him a Skill called Seduction.

I also decided to take close up pictures of all their faces. And oh, the horror. All those mistakes that become visible. Parts of me want to toss the minis down the drain after looking at the pictures. Fortunately they looked a little better once I brought the resolution down, so you are gonna have to settle for 200px images.

Hashepsut

Ast

Sir Gaël Dubois

Yusuf Zaahir Abd al-Hamid

Zoltán Bodrogi

Gregor Wieman

The Trusty Companions

The Skulking Shadows

No images of boring ol' skeletons, nor of the puppy.

There is more to come though, as I have started working on a Highwayman (Hired Sword) and two zombies.

Feel free to comment

 

[Borgnine]

Great job all around! I especially like how the stark blue stands out amongst other, rather subdued colors on Mr.Charming And a scar on his eye looks terrific, just as the gradient on his sword.

As for the close-ups, I feel for you... Nothing tells harsher truths about a painter than a magnifying glass or a photo Supposedly it's about training, so we'll all get there! Even with that, they are an awesome work! Especially the third Trusty Companion - that's a face I'd rather not see in a dark alley!

And a side question - I began looking through Mordheim rules, out of curiosity - are whips really a thing with rules, or are those just counts-as for something?

 

[Mad 'At]

@Borgnine: Thanks!

Good to know I am not the only one who struggles with close-ups. Hopefully I can learn something from it and maybe improve my facepainting.

Whip are not in the original rules, they were added in some expansion or fan-made stuff. It is a one handed weapon that gives you Devastating Charge and lets you ignore Parry, but any hits give the enemy +1 armour (just like daggers). Not fantastic but alright. Ast uses Serpent Whips which also gives you Poisoned Attacks, and that is nice. I've given her the Whip Master skill that lets her reroll failed rolls to hit when charging, so on the charge she has 4 attacks with rerolls and poison. Lethal in other words.


In other news, I have an update for ya'll. I've finished my Ghouls for the Challenge. Nothing too fancy, just the 6th edition ghouls with some slight conversions to make them all unique.

I can also add that this is my last post before my two weeks vacation to the frozen north. I'll probably still be around though, and might even update my plog of randomness once or twice, but we'll see

 

[Borgnine]

Nice ghouls! This pale and cold skin is really well done and contrasts well with the warm colors of their weapons and loinclothes. Also good job on making them different, monoposes are what makes me dislike old models - it's still visible, but with metal minis it would be probably impossible to hide it completely, especially on such a small unit. You swapped their weapons and some guys got hair implants - did you do anything more with them?

 

[Farmer7574]

@Mad 'At These guys got one of my votes in the competition. As Borgnine said, the pale cold skin tones go great with the other parts of the minis. Nice conversions to make each one unique too. Awesome work, big fan of these!

 

[Mad 'At]

@Borgnine: Thanks
No hair implants actually. All I did was swap around some hands and weapons. Very simple but very effective I'd say.

@Farmer7574: Thank you, glad you liked 'em

 

[Azakael]

Damn. I love those ghouls. Mine pale in comparison. Those are also my absolute favorite ghoul models, too. I was happy to get about 25 or 30 of 'em.

 

[Mad 'At]

@Azakael: Damn, I was sure I replied to that before =/
Good to see you again buddy You should stop by the chat sometime.

In other news, I've got a small Mordheim update.

I've been working on a zombie beastman. This guy has joined my warband in unlife after being raised back by Zoltán, my necromancer. He was a Chieftain in another player's warband prior to this, but was slain by my Trusty Companions.

The resurrected model retains all weapon and armour of the slain one, which had a Great Weapon and nothing else. Sadly the only model I had was covered in chainmail and plates, which would be hard to pass as no armour at all. Therefore I covered the chainmail in green stuff and sculpted it like bloated and tattered skin. Finished it off with some guts hanging out.

The next model is a Hired Sword I've added to the warband. I present, my Highwayman:

Even though my warband is an undead one, he will get a head before I'm done with him. Since I imagine the guy as Asian, I immediately ran into some trouble, cause I didn't have any Asian heads. But I think I've found a solution:

Which is actually an empire head with some green stuff. I am quite happy with the result. Below you can see the head without the b&w filter:

That is all for now folks. Feel free to comment

 

[Mad 'At]

Time for an update with painted stuff.

First up is the Zombie Beastman. This one took longer than expected so I sadly didn't have time for the Highwayman this week. Hopefully I'll get some paint on him during the next (will need him for the weekend as I have a game coming up).

Not overly pleased with this one, though as a first Beastman ever I guess I can't expect too much. I'm pondering to redo the black plate armour. Never was very good at chipped painted armour, so I thought I use this to practice, but seeing the result I regret it. Anyone got tips on how to improve it?

Next is my entry for the challenge. The Pyromancer! Aka a necromancer who uses Path of Fire.

Halfway through painting this guy I noticed the twin-tailed comets and realised that this is not a necromancer model at all. I had just assumed it was due to the obviously evil beard he is sporting. He turned out alright though and I doubt I'll run into much trouble for it

C&C is much appreciated.

 

[TMS]

I think the beastman is good as he is. The varying skintones you've got going are really icky.

The pyromancer is great, too. I don't really know what I think would improve it. What I'm really looking forward to though is the asian guy painted!

 

[Borgnine]

Nice progress and quick painting! That beastman is awesome, it's a nice model and you zombiefied it great. Did you took the model from the player who got his slain? I never thought Mordheim is so hardcore

Also great sculpting work on that asian guy, you nailed it. The skintone would probably will also be somewhat a challenge...

Painting awesome as usual. I like that combination of verdigris and rust on your models, makes me recognize them as yours instantly I think you could make that armor chipping a bit more subtle - not silver lines along the edges and then chipping, but rather only chipping, with more breaks and thinner. At least that's my quick idea how to improve it, I'm not sure how it'll turn out.
The pyromancer is also great, very nice set of various colours and materials. I bought an Empire Wizard set to make a Lore of Fire necromancer, but it seems you beat me to it I'm sure he'll make a great necromancer, even with those comets on him

 

[Mad 'At]

Thanks guys

@MasterSpark: I attempted to paint most of his skin as if it was covered in fine fur. Something I dislike about the GW minis is that they look too naked. The fur effect I did doesn’t show to well in the pictures I see now, and I perhaps highlighted it a tad too much.

The Highwayman is under way... or rather his horse is. I started working on him yesterday but decided to tackle the mount first. It is looking promising so far, that much I can tell you.

@Borgnine: I didn't take the actual model, but the spell allows me to gain a zombie with the exact same characteristics, weapon and armour as a slain hero. It is pretty gruesome, and very storytelling imo.

Glad to hear you liked the plastic surgery I gave him, it means a lot. I am very much undecided on the skintone, since I haven't quite decided on which culture in Asia this guy's background will be based on. I was thinking about Mongolia, but am not sure. I guess I'll make it up as I go along.

About the chipping. Are you suggesting I should do without the edge highlight of silver? Not sure about that really, but I guess I could try doing the chipping first on my next try. If I don't like it I could always add the edge highlight after XD

 

[Farmer7574]

@Mad 'At I really like your zombie beastman, he's turned out great. The guts sagging over the axe shaft are a nice touch! Only thing I'd like to see is another coat of paint around the sides of the base - call me picky, but the unevenness stands out like a sore thumb on such a nicely painted mini.

Nice pyromancer too - I especially like the highlighting on the clothes.

 

[Mad 'At]

@Farmer7574: You are absolutely correct! How on earth did I miss that?! I am usual quite pedantic about getting the brown edges nice and smooth. That one will definitely have to have another layer or two. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[Mad 'At]

Update time! It has been too long.

First I have a few painted models to show you, that I painted up for a tournament I went to some weeks ago. It was all additions to different units, so nothing fancy.

Two new Wraiths to bring my collection up to 5, meaning I could field a unit of them:

Two new Barrow Guard to bring my unit up to 36:

How they compare to an old one:

They blend in quite well despite many of the colours having been discontinued.


And a new banner for the Skeletons. I cut off the old one with the moon and the rose, slapped a magnet in place and painted up a new banner for my Nosferatu army. Will paint up other banner for them in the future. Might put a magnet on the old one but probably not since Von Karnstein is spelled differently now.

Next we have my current project, cavalry!

This started out with the idea to build and paint a unit of 10 Barrow Knights using Black Knight parts and old skeleton horses, 8 Spectral Hunters using Hex Wraiths and some characters. Though the project expanded, atm I am up to 12 Barrow Knights and 9 mounted characters. No Spectral Hunter though, that will been a later project.

So, onto the pictures. First up is the 12 Knights:

Simple conversion using old skeleton horses to get the most out of the Black Knight kit. There is again a magnet in the standard bearer (this time hidden in the hilt of the lance) to let me switch banner depending on Bloodline. I only have the one built so far, for Von Karnstein, but I will make a Lamia one shortly.


Then we move onto the characters, with a Barrow King up first:

Another fairly simple and common conversion with the rearing horse. Not much to say.

Next is a Fell Wraith on Skeletal Steed, converted using parts from a the Mortis Engine kit:

And finally, the Vampires.

Two Von Karnstein vampires:

Two Brotherhood of the Dragon vampires:

And one Lamia vampire and one Nosferatu vampire:

Now, if you look closely you will notice that it is the same two horses in all the vampire images. This is because I've magnetised the riders. Other than that there is not much in terms of conversions. Some cleaning up of the horses' armour to remove corrosion and such, and some decoration to their head plates.

On the vampire there is really only the Lamia one that is at all special. Built out of Neferata from the Mortarch kit. I shortened her dress a fair bit and repaired the cloth pieces flowing from her arms (vampires are fancy, not wearing scarps). I also didn't like the head so swapped it out for one from the Coven Throne kit.

That is all for now folks, feel free to comment

 

[Mad 'At]

Almost forgot the latest Mordheim stuff. I finished painting the Highwayman long ago, but here he is finally:

And a close up of his face:

And I also have an image of the whole Warband, where you can also see some of the terrain I've painted:

 

[Borgnine]

You surely were busy lately

At first I was disappointed that your cavarly won't have the robes on the barding, but your heroes filled for that They are so cool, those added decorations on the heads are great. I really look forward to seeing them all painted

The Highwayman is also terrific. I love those freehands on his robes, they look vaguely ethnic, but I can't say what exactly they remind me... The work on his face paid off, he really does look asian. His eyes are a little too 'forward', especially on the first photo, but I can imagine how difficult is sculpting faces... Also, why is the area around his eyes so dark? Still, he looks great and really convincing

Nice terrain too. Those raised areas beg for some safety railings though

 

[Mad 'At]

The lack of robes on the knights is a bit of a shame, but it does mean that the characters will stand out more which is nice. Also mean that they are a lot easier to rank up, not a fan of the newer horses in that aspect

My idea for the Highwayman is that he is of the Makhar tribes. A nomadic people greatly inspired by Mongolian culture. Not sure how well that is enraptured but I think the freehand helps a bit. The darkness around his eyes is meant to give him a haggard and haunted look, like he hasn't been sleeping well. Might have gone a bit overboard on it but I like the way it makes the eyes pop (which I guess is basically the point of eye shadow so maybe that is what he is wearing).

 

[Nagash Worshiper]

Your conversions are brilliant! There's a lot of this stuff that I'll probably steal without shame. I like the use of old skeleton horses, got my hands on some old black knights and have been looking for a way to spice them up.
That Barrow King is brilliant and I've already decided to copy it as far as I can!
Down the line I'll probably convert some units to go with my Mortarchs and the way you make 9th age bloodline units are very inspirational. Looking forward for more!

 

[Mad 'At]

@Nagash Worshiper: I'm glad you find it too your liking. Feel free to take inspiration in any way you'd like

 

[Farmer7574]

@Mad 'At Lovely work lately, I especially like your old school 'Brotherhood of the Dragon' vamps mounted on the latest black knight steeds. Great work.

 

[Eternal Salvation]

It's great to see others with an interest in Mord still! That game is awesome! I really like your highway man, Mat 'At, cool conversion!

 

[benvoliothefirst]

Always inspirational. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Adam_Barrow]

That terrain looks great! Have you shown a shot of your Mordheim board all set up yet?

 

[Mad 'At]

@Eternal Salvation, @benvoliothefirst & @Adam_Barrow Thanks for the comments guys

I have not show a picture of the full board yet. Might do after this weekend since I will be having a game on Sunday.