The Undeadish

[ZeroTwentythree]

When I started my current project and returned to painting and making plans for doing some gaming (no games yet...) at the beginning of the year, a large part of that decision was as a way to find some peaceful time to deal with a lot of the stress that has been consuming my life. It may seem like a small thing, or an escapist thing, but it's my "meditation," for lack of a better word. It gives me something positive to enjoy and look forward to.

Earlier this week a mystery package arrived at my home from overseas (UK.) When I opened the box, read the enclosed note and saw what carefully packed inside, I was overwhelmed. I had been having a really bad day up until that point. But it was suddenly washed away by the random generosity of someone I know through the online miniatures community, but have never even met in person. Here's what was inside:

A couple weeks ago I wrote about my quest for the old Nightmare Legion, and the frustration of a limited budget. Fellow forum-goer and "Undead enthusiast," Shadespyer, had offered to keep an eye out for a more affordable Legion than I had been seeing on eBay. He ended up sending me his own figures.

So now I once again have one of the classic Regiments of Renown from my youth. The presence of this nostalgic unit in my project means a whole lot to me. It's a reminder of better times and the enjoyment of care-free gaming. More than that, it is a representation of the kindness of strangers, a reminder that there are many good people in the world, and how amazing it is to live in a time/world where modern communication creates a worldwide community from those with unique interests. I really can't thank him enough.

I'm guessing you've got a Titan Forge Drakskull's Menace flying squig-like thing in the pot...

Nope!

 

[Farmer7574]

@Shadespyre Good on you mate, very thoughtful of you!

@ZeroTwentythree Lucky man! I can totally see them fitting in with your army. They'll look great once added to your tabletop. I'm especially a big fan of the command group in that set.

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

I fell behind in posting here. I've been switching back and forth between the Undeadish and several other projects. So here's a few photos of what's been going on with the not so living...

 

[ObliviJohn]

I like the theme you got going. Those big skeletons are great, if I had thought to look I'd have definetly had them instead of gw's crypt horrors.
Nice painting too. A slighly different color theme with the yellowish bone. I like the dirt on the black knights barding cloth =)

 

[Shadespyre]

Looking good. I especially like those big skeletons, something I've neglected so far. And I love how colourful the army is despite the limited palette - it could have ended up being quite dour, but you've avoided that.

 

[Borgnine]

Once more I am impressed with this color scheme - and it convinces me even more on the black knights, as I really know the models and this scheme is really very original. The empty shields look a little bit off on the knights (they look great on everyone else somehow to me..), but I understand that's the idea for them The spiky walls of spear skeletons also looks awesome, especially coupled with the giant ones.

 

[Farmer7574]

@ZeroTwentythree Great work as always, big fan of how the black knights have turned out!

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks!

As much as I've been wanting to stick with plain shields, I think I agree with @Borgnine 's comment. I may have to make an exception and do something more interesting for the knights. I'll have to think about what I'd like to do as I finish painting the rest, and then do the shield designs at the end. Thanks for the input!

 

[Mad 'At]

Must agree with what's been said here. Those knights look great. Loving the stark contrast between the armour and the cloth.

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

I continue to fail at keeping up with this plog...

As I was finishing the Black Knights, I unexpectedly won a unit of the really old plastic cavalry on eBay. They were basecoated, so I added some washes, details, etc. and based them up. Now I want more of these. So here's both units....

And some characters.

The vulture critter is something I sculpted that was available through Black Orc Games, though they seem to have disappeared. I have a small bag of metal castings and figured it was about time I painted one of my own figures up to use in a game! (Not that I know what to use it for...)

And a GW figure that I knew I had to have the moment I saw it. I've named him Phil. Phil the Spectre.

And an oldschool Citadel/GW Death Elemental.

I haven't been painting gaming figures as much this month, but what I've been working on haven't been undead, but their opponents (Marienburg mercenary forces.) However....



For about seven years now, I've been participating in the "Pleasant Surprises" miniatures exchange at Warhammer-Empire.com. We secretly exchange (usually, but not always) painted figures with other members. I just received my surprise in the mail, courtesy of King (on that forum,) from the Island Fortress of Malta (or the catacombs thereof)...

A new (anti-)hero!

I couldn't resist getting a shot of him leading some troops against Marienburg...

He's a great addition to the army. I hadn't thought of painting gold/bronze armour and I really like the way works with the color palette of the rank & file troops, but still makes him stand out as a leader.

 

[Borgnine]

I knew a bigger unit of those knights would look great! Superb color scheme and the green grass compliments them well. Those ebay skeletons will also do well for a light cavalry - if not for the horses having the same exact pose And the vulture guy - how much of him did you sculpt? Quite interesting - I didn't know where his head was on the first look, before I read the description - I thought that was a hand The wight king is also a very fine example of your work.

 

[Farmer7574]

@ZeroTwentythree Nice looking unit of Black Knights - a bus of 20 will look really good! This makes me want to bust out mine and get to work on them. The old skeleton horsemen are nice too, haven't seen those in ages.

Your wight king is wicked, the colour scheme has worked nicely on him. The other characters you've done are really good too. I'm not usually a fan of all-gold armour but this works in your army. Nice work.

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

And the vulture guy - how much of him did you sculpt? Quite interesting - I didn't know where his head was on the first look, before I read the description - I thought that was a hand

I sculpted the whole thing from scratch -- all greenstuff on a wire armature. Here's a pic from before I had it cast. It shows how the arms were done as separate ball-joint pieces. I was trying to go for an impression of long awkward arms like a vulture's wings.

That was the second one I sculpted. The first was just a one-off, I painted the original. I have a third that's been about 80% sculpted for years, still sitting on my desk waiting to be finished.




I've been absent from the painting table for months. Unfortunately. But I finally grabbed a few hours today to paint! As much as I need to wrap up some painting for others, I really needed to do something for myself (fun, no pressure, etc.) to de-stress a bit. Plus, I really didn't have that much time, so it was speed painting rather than nice detailed painting.

I painted up a small unit of skeleton guard (old 4th ed. Citadel wights.) Not as good looking or dynamic as the Warmachine Bane Thralls I used on my first unit of skeleton guard, but they have a certain retro-charm. Plus I got them in a trade for some other old figures, which is more agreeable with my limited gaming finances.

I think my home-made shields turned out pretty decent looking! I wanted to use old plastic elf shields (elongated kite/heater type) but only had a couple of them. So I experimented with making my own by cutting the basic shape, then heating them up a bit and bending them over a wooden dowel to get the curved shape.

 

[Shadespyre]

Looking good. Every time you paint something in this colour way I like it even more, I think it helps modernize these old sculpts a bit.

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

And here I was worried I wasn't using enough bright red on them...

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

I had intended to follow up my last comment with a scan from the 4th ed. army book, but haven't had a chance. Looking back at it, though, the wights were colorful, but weren't as "Warhammer Red Phase" as some of the others. The skeletons, though.... erv:




Shocking, but yes -- another update.

Two reasons for this. One is that I got Stuff! In the Mail!

I'm relatively (just since last year) new to the Lead Adventure Forum, and as time allows, I've been catching up on some of the great projects documented there. One of my favorites, and most inspirational, is that of DeafNala. If you like colorful, high fantasy, with some hints of oldschool (circa 1980s) Warhammer & White Dwarf miniatures, and comics like Gobbledigook, the art of Froud, Bode, Bakshi, etc. then check it out. All of it. Somewhere around page 201 there is a link to a Photobucket account full of photos, too.

Somewhere in response to my praise and worship, I received an offer of some mushrooms, and a significant batch of both painted and unpainted ones recently showed up on my doorstep.

They're even better in person! So now I'm churning around several plots on how to make use of them on my own gaming table. I'm a little intimidated about painting the unpainted ones, so I am trying to decide on a good way to paint them so they are different, but work well with DeafNala's own painted 'shrooms.


I have also just sacrificed some more of my much needed sleep in return for some much needed painting time. I really wanted to finish up one other thing of my own that's been sitting half-complete since... I don't know, spring or summer? I wanted a hodgepodge unit of beastman-esque skeletons. I painted half of them ages ago, and the rest included a few more that needed built, plus a few metal figures from the Cursed Company.

There's a mix of figures & minor conversions here. Stock figures include a skeletal saurus, orc, and two skaven from the Cursed Company, and two skeletal dogs from Mantic. The rest are 4th/5th ed Citadel plastic skeletons with various additional animal skulls & bits.

 

[Borgnine]

Cool! For a miniature sculpted from scratch it's really, really good! And you had him cast? How does that work/cost?

The wights look awesome. Old-school minis look out of place when put beside new minis, but seeing them together, that's terrific, pronounced even more with your painting. The dirtied shields look great - and interesting enough, even without any symbol on them. This unit just almost makes me want to start a little old-school project myself

Beastly skeletons are also very good. The only thing that I don't like is the fact that they are two kinds of color on their bones, but that's probably because of the long time it took to complete them Good work nontheless!

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks!

The figure was cast many years ago by a small company that seems to have disappeared, Black Orc Games. They were semi-local to me -- about an hour and a half drive. They had a deal where they would cast up amateur sculpted figures and sell them, with the sculptor getting a small commission on sales. (I think it was every 6 months.) We also received a bag of our figures -- which was honestly all I was interested in at the time. The sculpt itself isn't quite up to commercial/professional standards.

At some point I would like to experiment with resin casting. I have a small batch of resin & mold material, and the equipment to put together a pressure chamber. I just need to find some time to sculpt something worth casting!

As far as the skeleton colors, I use about 4 different base colors of white or light tan, and then one of three different washes. I like a lot of variety in the bone color.

 

[Farmer7574]

@ZeroTwentythree Really nice work here. As said the old school miniatures are looking great with a more modern paint job. The mix n mash unit of skeletons look great, very horde-y and fitting to the undead rabble setting.

Keep up the good work, you've inspired me to get something done today!

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

Mostly been painting meaty things lately. So just a "small" update.

 

[Farmer7574]

@ZeroTwentythree Nice to see you back at it, with a bone giant to boot!

The mean grin and blood spattered 'hammer' is great. He fits in with your army nicely and looks insanely tall.

 

[Borgnine]

Impressive giant! And it fits nicely with the rest of the army The blood splatter could be improved by adding some blood on the base too, in my opinion. But maybe it's blood from some time before

 

[Leithel]

Fantastic blog @ZeroTwentythree . Some excellent ancient models used along with some new. You're one of the best skeleton painters on this site also, I'd love to see the whole army photographed together some time.

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

He fits in with your army nicely and looks insanely tall.

Thanks! I'm spending April working on various giants, and have two meatgiants coming up that are even bigger than him. :|

Impressive giant! And it fits nicely with the rest of the army The blood splatter could be improved by adding some blood on the base too, in my opinion.

...and a couple of arms and/or legs...

Fantastic blog @ZeroTwentythree . Some excellent ancient models used along with some new. You're one of the best skeleton painters on this site also, I'd love to see the whole army photographed together some time.

Thanks! I'm going to return to the skeletons & Undeadish soon, and was planning on taking an inventory. So maybe I will set them out for a photo when I do.


Speaking of my inventory.... I played a few games of Kings of War a couple weeks ago, and against my initial impressions from reading the rules, I enjoyed it quite a bit! I used the undead list, so some of this army finally got to see some action!



And speaking of skeletons... on my quest to find some more figure that match up with the two Skeletal Ogres from Ral Partha Europe, I got some 40mm skeletons from Spartan Games "Heroes of Myth and Legend" range. (Discontinued?) They're well sculpted, and about the right height. But the proportions are much leaner -- in fact, they're at least as delicate as human sized 28mm figures. The poses are a little stiff, but being unadorned skeletons, they should be easy to re-position a bit.

I think these might make great skeletal giants for 10mm & 15mm armies.

When I get back to painting skeletons, what I think I will do is paint up the two ogres on their bases, and use them in units with other "non human" skeletons, like the others I painted. As for the 40mm skinnies, I will mix those in on multi-bases with other non-humans.

 

[Shadespyre]

Interesting comparison! My suspicion is that the 40mm skellies are more in proportion than the GW ones, which I guess have thickened bones for practical reasons. I think they'll be good mixed in with the others.