Saturday, August 13, 2022

Skeleton infantry (Undead army project)


Surprisingly undead army project is getting nearly done! 😳

And that's mostly because it turned out there'll be 1500 points Warhammer Fantast Battle 5th edition campaign during this year Oldhammer Poland event and I deeply hope to move my ass there to re-charge hobby batteries! Really cannot wait to see the army assembled and waiting for the battle on grass-green field of glory.

Although don't think there'll be much glory for my Lord of the Undead:
I dropped this game over 20 years ago (still think WFB rules are just stupid) and have never used part of models prepared for the game 😁
Back days couldn't reach or afford (or most often: both) most of models I liked but managed to collect them during years in the hobby. Mostly by total accident.

Still there should be lots of fun so I'll do my best to field 1500 pts worth corpses!

I am fielding old Undead army, not Vampire Counts, so the main unit is ~30 skeletons led by the Vampire Lord. So much bones around should provide him enough cover against ranged attacks so he can hopefully engage something (anything!) in melee combat.

At first I painted test bunch of 9 skellies. To make final unit less boring I decided to give each "bunch" ditterent hue - corpses look different decomposinging in different enviroments after all. So first group is olive/green (apparently it was damp where they died). 
To provide more variety I added parts from old GW skeletons and zombies and some bits from (most probably) Mantic Games. The scale doesn't fit perfectly but apparently the necromancer wasn't picky (or was bit drunk) while getting parts to assemble and reanimate.
There was no complaints so far anyway.. 😁




Then another group joined the Vampire Lord. 
This time these are classic bleached bone dudes. I also found some damaged armour plates in the bits box and 3 guys got light armour. Once again - everything for bigger variety.




And the main unit at current stage. I still need several more walking dead - this time I think they'll get grey/blue hue. Standard bearer is an old conversion and I hope to build new version of the banna-wava this time carrying proper black and white stripes banner.
Diablo game is good source of colors for deaders btw. After the army is finished I'd really like to assemble supporting unit of skeletons painted red - something like burning dead. Personally I think painting skeletons red is silly BUT whole unit of these should look just great on the battlefield among "normal" deaders.


And the last thing. As I wrote earlier mummies got bigger bases and some cork to make them look more massive compared to standard undead infantry. The trick did the job I think:


Stay calm and dead 🀘

12 comments:

  1. Looking cool! You can never have enough of these!

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  2. Traditional skeleton armies have not attracted us because they appear monotonous to us. We therefore very much appreciate your successful effort to give it a personality with colours and accessories: we had never thought about coloring based on the environment in which a corpse is buried ... An idea to steal! πŸ˜‰
    We would like to take this opportunity to ask you how you got the peeling effect from the skeletons' shields...but if we bother you you can unleash your undead against us! πŸ’€

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  3. Thanx Rodor 😊

    As for the shields - you mean the "scratches" and rusty bits?
    It's just chipping made with bit of sponge. I am preparing another bunch of skellies so I can take some step-by-step photos if anyone can find it useful.

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    1. Yes, the scratches, the rust and all that weathered look... Some photos of the process would be welcome for us!

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    2. Consider it done just after I'm back from short holiday πŸ˜‰

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  4. Replies
    1. Thank you Kym!
      While assembling these skinny fellas I got an idea for wight lord mounted on wyvern - should be pretty funny if I can execute the thing properly 😎

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  5. I hope your Undead project is not nearly done. :) I would like to see your army grow into a horde. It's one of my top three Undead armies. 🀘

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    Replies
    1. Awww, you're a darling! πŸ˜‹πŸ˜
      Just confirmed I have a spare sime 30.09-02.10 so unless some serious shit happens my undead 1500 pts is taking a walk!
      Well.. A shuffle... 😁

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