Arkhan the Black - finished! 💀

Another painting nightmare was just saved from Pile ov Shame oblivion.

It took long time to get this model so really cannot wait to see it display base leading undead chartiot platoon. Sadly both cases are full so looks like I need another Ikea Detolf. 

Painting this thing was pain in the ass. As mentioned earlier the model had to be painted before assembling to reach everything and shit. Sure it makes painting easier, but it takes much more time which I really don't like. I wanted to paint original banner first, but whole thing is colorful enough already. 

Must say I like what the final result, maybe except for that Lollipop of Damnation carried by mr. Black. The idea was to keep original colors, but it turned out as some stupid plastic toy.

See? 😁

The model got slightly larger base then original (5" x 5") so taking photos took some limitations because of small backdrop. Definitely not enough space for 3 or 4 more chariots...

Arkhan the Black - work in progress

Here I am again. Still alive.

Just as I promised to myself I took a break from painting weird sh!t and decided to paint bag full of ancient bones and magic stuff rotting on the very bottom of washing jar: Mighty Nagash's first lieutenant: Arkhan the Black. Back days it was one of those dream models I could never afford of even get where I live. Always considedred it badass sculpt: undead pope pillaging South of Men Empire. Ohhh... How nec-romantic... 🥰

I got the model ages ago but long after I quit playing Undead and Warhammer Fantasy at all. Those days I used to paint pretty lots of stuff for Ebay auctions and for commissions so there were funds for whims like Arkhan and other useless miniatures.

When I got it (it was second hand, badly painted piece) I was pretty sure it was complete. Kinda was: when it was stripped and examined it turned out although where were all parts, some of them were broken so it took some extra time to pin and assemble whole thing properly. Horses which came with the set were broken so I had to replace them. Looking at the model now I think it was good idea to add some variety to the ponies (thanks, Radek!). Just exactly like with other undead chariots I have the base was made of PVC sheet. This time it's 5" x 5" square to provide enough space for the horses and yoke. It's not much according to the rulebook (I guess) but I really don't give a f#ck about them. And besides - it's my toy so I guess I can place it on whatever I want, right? 🤔

One thing that bugs me now is the banner. Should I paint original, super-striking banner from Undead army book or rather stick to black and white banners used for all units in the Undead Army. The stripes look kinda more sinister and make nice contrast to rather colorful model, but think decision shall be made after the Black Pope is panited.

So here it is: the current stage. The black pope himself arrives when (or rather if) I can re-attatch it's broken Staff of Damnation:

There's one more tech-thing: apparently either blogger got screwed or I've been spamming those posts for too long but "Spam of the year" list is messed. There started to appear post much older then a year. Tried to reset it but with no effect. Any idea what could be the reason of it would be appreciated 🙄

Heinrich Kemmler, the Lichemaster

It's good to be dead.

I mean: it's good to be BACK... ekhem, ekhem... Right...

Recent months were some sort of tornado in every aspect of my life: the fact it took me 2 months to paint anything speaks for itself. But there's still everlasting plan to paint models I have during the lifetime so every little counts I guess.

There're many miniatures I'd love to see rescued from the pile of shame, but the one chosen this time is kinda special. With no doubts it's one of my most favotite models ever made: 

Heinrich Kemmler, the Lichemaster.

Not mentioning it's background, the fact there's RPG campaign based on Kemmler's malicious plotting, the sculpt is just Middlehammer's classic. In fact it's the 3rd or maybe even 4th Kemmler sculpt I've painted so far. 

Like many models from the Middlehammer range it doesn't fit models in the unit. No fu#king way. To deal with this problem at first I wanted to put it on slightly larger base (25 mm) but this would also ruin unit's composition. The solution was using even larger base - 40 mm: model fits the unit and also I could add 3 skeletons rising from the ground, so no one can say it's just a filler 😋

It's unique model so decision was made to give it unorthodox paintjob. Most versions of this piece it rather dark, so I painted mine in fashion of ordinary (evil) wizard. It still has rather healthy flesh tone and rather clean hair and beard which makes him rather regular guy (among evil wizards). The staff's top has been taken from zombie dragon - original part broke off a while back and while I am pretty sure I still have it, I thought every way to make model look different is worthy trying. Ok, here's the guy:

Take care 💀

Mounted wight lord

While cleaning painting desk  once again I've stumbled upon some conversion bits I wanted to assemble and paint for a long time: mounted wight lord based on zombie dragon's rider. The model is based on  wight torso and 4th ed necromancer's legs and pony - painting necromancer was also on my shameful list but all in all decision was made to swap parts to make both models unique.

Initially the idea was to paint it grimdark way - which seems to be kinda popular nowdays. But while undercoating the model I changed my mind: it's oldschool model after all so it deserves properly oldschool paintjob - which fits Undead Army Project. Keeping strong contrast on painted miniatures is always good idea so I decided for black armour combined with bright blade and barding (or whatever the hell is the name of horse's clothing).

Painting something colorful is a really nice change after working on Bolt Action (mostly monotone) stuff. Besides after over solid 20 years I've finally found proper use of those ridiculous decals from oldie skeleton warriors boxes 💀

Anyway my display case Undead got another wight commander (the previous one was mounted on wyvern). Looks like now I have check if there are any jobless mounted undead models in the pile of shame to provide a company for the new undead character. 

So here's the necro-candy:

And the scale shot: wight lord commanding unit of skellies:

Undead army - current state

Oldhammer Weekend Poland 2022 project is nearly done - just a few characters left to be painted and replaced. Among them there is a wraith champion. 
I really like those floating housecoats, but I have dilemma about choosing color scheme:
should it be 90's color combo or maybe ghostly-white - for strong contrast with the army.

I posted short poll on Middlehammer FB group to help me make that crucial decision and I was asked to show the rest of the army to make voting easier. So here it is.

I have no idea how to take decent pics of such size - I think large backdrop sure would be helpful. But photos give overall impression what is under command of my Lords of the Dead. There's still a lot to be painted to finish WHOLE army: 

cavalry, another screaming skull catapult, metal skellies, more zombies, wights, wraiths, wight lord on wyvern, Dieter Helsnicht on manticore and more characters... 😨

Lots of fun for long winter evenings 🧛‍♂️

Undead strikes back!

Hey again,

This time it's something to break camo colors of my US Bolt Action army, which have definitely dominated bloggy this year.

A while back someone reminded me about Warheim (Polish "spin-off" of original Mordheim game, still being developed!).

Some time ago I digged several undead model from ye pile ov shame and tried to assemble a warband. The project was first delayed and the forgotten (because of damn Bolt Action...) 

But since I need a break from painting everything mostly green and green, decision was made to finish the Vampire Count's warband and who knows - maybe throw it into action shortly.

Can't remember I've ever played Mord / War - heim, so don't think band built only using models I like is effective in game, but who gives a damn.

According to rulebook gang leader is a vampire, often supported by necromancer.

I've always liked idea of ugly, corrupted and rotting vampires (definitely not those cutie, wimpy bitches from popular movie), so the obvious choice was Necrarch family.

Sadly the only Necrarch I had was the guy wearing housecoat...

Oh well... It's still Necrarch...

Although vampires are powerful creatures Necrarchs are not much of fighters when it comes to brutal melee (fluff-wise that is). So Count von Housecoat dragged some of his helpers from the nearest graveyard.

First one is heavy-armoured skeleton.

The piece is definitely oldhammer and pleasure to paint. Colors were chosen to fit remaining undead servants. Not much mroe to be added about this guy: 

The other one is much more interesting in my opinion:

oldie ghoul (Gary Morley's sculpt).
Back days I used to totally underestimate these sculpts, I simply considered them ugly as fuck (sorry Gary...). Maybe because those were quite useless unit in Warhammer Fantasy Battle game - low leadership and that silly feed-rule. Something.

But it was back days.

A while back I gave them second look and realised not only they are not as much ugly as "specific" but also they are simply cool. With those weird faces those models could also be used as deep ones!

Since gouls are alive I chose mix of tan + mid grey as base layer which was highlighted with some lighter grey and pale olive. This followed by some umber and olive glazes and voila! - model is ready to search fresh graves for something tasty. 

Model turned out bit pale but it's fine - my zombies are rather dark.

And the family altogether - at this rotten stage that is.
Those models should be enough for test game but there's also a plan to expand the group by adding dreg and large (40mm base) werewolf zombie - both from Reaper range.
Hope you like it.  

And last but not least:

this month I've also painted very first human-sided model from Lord of the Rings game: Aragorn, badass king of Gondor.

Perry twins did really good job on this range of minis, they are proportional, dynamic and simply cool - especially if you like LotR movies.

Anyway this one is birthday gift for my kid: the pest is now 6 years young so there's a chance Aragorn will remain unbroken for like 2 weeks.

I hope.

Cheers!