Zombie / Cultist Mash Up: Completed

[padrissimus]

The newly made vampire Biagino’s main source of corpses (by preference too) is the great pile of fallen dedicants and cultists (flagellants) on the battlefield of Ebino. So I needed new zombie figures, as all my others are dead Empire soldiers or dead pirates.

I’m using 5 different sources for figures - Mantic (Kings of War) Zombies (30) and ghouls (20) as the core, and kit-bashing in bits of Frostrave cultists, GW flagellants and GW ghouls.

Current progress = 43 down, 7 to go.

Here are the almost pure Mantic (zombies and modified ghouls, plus a mix up of the two):

Here are the Mantic/Frostgrave

The Mantic/GW (ghouls/flagellants):

And here are close ups of some of my favourites so far:

I’m gonna try a wash of sorts. It’s not easy with enamel paints, but I’ve done it before and it has kind-of worked. The wash should create skin then I’ll add my usual black undercoat to everything else and continue as normal.

Only heads, arms and legs came from anything other than Mantic. And the Mantic had a lot of arm bending, cutting, swapping and reshaping to ensure no-one looked the same as another.

 

[Borgnine]

Another soul building some zombies, nice! The mixing of parts is working in their favor, they look good - those cultist hoods from Frostgrave are especally cool! And on that picture of your favourites - third one from the left, is he crouched like that or is he trying to make a knot out of himself?

BTW, I am in progress of reading your battle reports in the other thread - a truly impressive undertaking, I like it very much, but it takes time and attention to follow all the characters properly - and I couldn't find time to finish as of late I'll post my impressions there as soon as I am done. Some kind of dramatis personae would be useful for your great story

 

[padrissimus]

Glad you liked the figures. Hopefully painting them will bring out some character. With the last few I am trying some 'might as well have a go' techniques, and I've come up with an interesting (and odd) method of making hair. If it works I'll show people how I did it!

Yeah, a dramatis personae (I have my own GM one of course) would help. It's funny you should say it requires a deep level of attention, as what has been put here is only the tip of the iceberg of the actual full campaign thread. This forum only has bits to do with the war against the undead in the north, and doesn't even have all of that! The full thing is a much larger exercise!

 

[Borgnine]

Yes, I've seen here and there mentions that it's a much bigger creation - all the more glory to you for creating it! Then maybe not a list of characters, but a map with relationships would be in order First I'll read the undead part, then I'll look into the rest

 

[padrissimus]

I'm gonna do it, asap. A guide to who's who and where's where. Start it simple, with an outline, then progress onto something fuller. I think it'll be a useful tool for my players also.

 

[padrissimus]

So I said I was getting silly. I think (still not sure) I may have invented a new (?) way of doing hair. Admittedly, I think you can only make crazy hair this way, but I never claimed I was a stylist.

Technique = pin drilling plastic sprues to create curly/wavy strands ...

Then cut them into bits (very fiddly), then blob glue into a head - I chose an entirely bald head for my first transplant operation but you could go for extensions instead, then gently press one end of the strands, one strand at a time, into the blob, then brush (squash) into place for that straight out of the salon look ...

 

[padrissimus]

Just tried again ... not yet fully mastered but will have to see what the painted versions look like.

 

[Borgnine]

Whoa, that is definitely a novel idea! So far it looks good I wonder how it'll look after painting, or even if it'll let itself paint - isn't it fragile? Looks like something that can be damaged easily...

 

[benvoliothefirst]

I like the cut of your jib, sir, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

 

[Farmer7574]

@padrissimus Great idea with the modeling of the hair, never seen that before! I'll have to try that the next time I chop up a bunch of Mantic ghouls n zombies... Speaking of which, love the conversions!

 

[Nagash Worshiper]

Such an effective way of making hair! Nice work sir!

 

[padrissimus]

Zombie cultists completed!

I tried a new technique with these. Having painted in enamels for decades, using a black undercoat and ‘cell shading’ cartoon style over the top, I thought I’d have a go with acrylics. However, I wanted the figures to ‘fit in’ with my existing armies, so I didn’t go the whole hog. Instead I sprayed a white acrylic undercoat, then painted, washed, drybrushed and inked away at the flesh, then I slapped a black enamel on all the clothes and weapons and painted those in my usual style. I was hoping to save time (always a consideration when trying to paint a unit of 50) also, but I am not entirely sure it was quicker than my usual method.

I like the more ‘subtle’ way the faces came out – much better close up than my normal style.

I didn’t think of ink ‘til late on, having never used it before, and I now think I will use it again.

I like the scabby bloodiness of the wounds, which I also washed some green into.

Some of the guys turned out particularly threatening.

Another new thing – I used square 4 figure bases instead of the long ones. I think it’ll make it even easier to rank them unit up.

 

[padrissimus]

Oops, nearly forgot about the experiment with hair. I can’t decide if it worked well or not. I thought it would look more, well, hairy!

 

[padrissimus]

To really see the difference between this new technique and my old way of painting, take a look at two zombies ...

Crazy, eh?

 

[Unas the slayer]

Yeah, the one on the left is so brutally "realistic"... it losed all that wonderful feeling ala "The Curse of Monkey Island", that you gave to the one of the right.

 

[padrissimus]

I like both, and tbh, will stick with my own way most of the time. But at least I know I can do the more usual method of painting, even after 35 years of Humbrol enamel paints with black undercoats.