Battle report: High Elves vs Undead

Last Sunday I had opportunity to play Warhammer Wantasy Battle - 6th edition. Back days I quit WFB shortly after this edition appeared so it kinda was double treat. As mentioned earlier - after Oldhammer Weekend Poland 2026 I was pretty sure all that "Herohammer" crap ain't for me, but 6th edition rules were something much more suitable for casual, beer and pretzels gaming. Or in out case:  whiskey and nothing gaming...

Anyway recently my buddy decided to launch hobby, display case project: collect middlehammer Dark Elves army, based on oldie models of course. It's long time investment so we decided to start playing after gets 1000 pts, 1250 pts, 1500 pts and so on army: just to have some fun of collecting, painting and easy gaming. I on the other side was never big fan of vampire counts - I've always found oldie Undead more funny, kinda like Heroes of Might and Magic II or III Necropolis. So we decided I'll be running Undead army list - based on rules of VC and Tomb Kings of Khemri.

The first game was supposed to be Undead vs Dark Elves, but just before moving to gaming bunker I was told Druchii bailed and High Elves will do their job. It was 1000 pts game so I fielded:
- skeleton warriors unit (including necromancer, vampire thrall and wraith),

- zombie unit,

- dire wolves (proxied mostly by chaos hounds models),

- carrions,

- screaming skull catapult. 

In front of living dead there were:

- dragon princes (including general),

- light cavalry (whatever their name is - something reavers probably),

- unit of spearmen,

- 2 units of archers,

- bolt thrower.

The game was fun: small amount of points excluded powerful characters and monsters so basic units did most of the job. Guessing range with the catapuld was fun: I've managed to store 2 hits before misfire was rolled. Commanding Undead was fun, and it could be even more fun if I didn't f#ck up at least twice. Somehow I forgot necromancer cannot cast spells while engaged in close combat - I was pushing my main unit straight into combat...
The other time was issuing a challenge : wraith vs high elves hero armed with magical weapon. No comment on this one... 💀

Below: high elves badass dealing with my whole undead cadre single handedly:

Despite getting ass kicked the game was total fun and I sure do want a re-match!
The next game should be between ~1250 pts forces so hopefully I can get pack of ghouls painted until then. I think I should have ~10 minis collected during my years in the hobby, which should provide perfect screen against enemy range attack. Also hope to bring more terrain features on the table next time so the pics are more White Dwarf-cute-like, and bit less stinking-cellar-and-booze-like 😁

Take care!

Skeleton warriors (Highland Miniatures)

Painting skellies is kinda like knitting:

you get pissed - you paint some bones - you get better.

Too bad I didn't realize it bit earlier, but apparently better late then never.

Anyway last week I excavated another part of spoils of war looted during Oldhammer Weekend 2022: skeleton warriors unit from highland Miniatures range. Models look pretty cool: poses are different, proportions are correct - these guys definitely fit Warhammer range. There's one flaw though: since these are printed, they are also really fragile (those thin limbs and spears especially!). So fragile, several models arrived broken and it's even despite the fact they were pretty well packed. So yeah, if I could choose - purely of gaming purposes I'd pick plastic models instead of printed. Luckly I still had some spare limbs left by the previous boneheads unit, which added bit more vatiety to the freshly dug out death squad.

I have only 15 models from this line so I think these will be just support squad for the main unit or screaming skull catapult / second class character bodyguards. Of course - that is only in my head, because don't think there's even slighiest shade of chance these will move an inch after I put them in the display case hibernation chamber 😵

So here they are - corpses in the park. I think I've managed to adjust lighting a bit so photos turned out really decent:

And some scale shot: restless skeletons are defending city park against Dusk Realm Demon:

And here - skeletons supported by Mr Carstein himself and converted battle standard bearer are trying to convince chaos lord of Slaanesh city park and fresh grass is no place for heavy barded ponies:

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 🙄

Dragon ogres

One more wicked spark of pure Chaos emerged though Gate in the far north. 

This time it's one of my dream-units: dragon ogres. Must say I've fell in love in these monstrocities the day I got copy of Chaos Warriors rulebook bazillion years ago - sadly, 'till now I never got opportunity to assemble and paint them. Better late then never I guess 🙄

Painting process didn't take as much as I was afraid initially, but getting my ass to start doing the job took ages. I was shit scared of painting those damn scales, painting lizard and human body on the same model etc but all in all wasn't THAT bad when I started.

Initial thought was to paint them with very strong, vivid colors, like in Chaos armybook for Warhammer Fantasy 4th edition, but all in all I went for more natural tones. Such flesh fits Slaanesh force I've been working on, but at the same time the unit looks still pretty universal - if I ever get an idea to place them under command of different Chaos God...

So here they are - taking a walk in Empire's outskirts:

And here dragon ogre champion is about to send Heinrich Kemmler, the Lichemaster straight back to Nagash! Looking at this clash of steel and bones I now know what's the reason of fielding wraith champion in Undead army 👻

Cheers!

Doomriders (undead cavalry)

Apparently bunch of skeletons left the closet!

And not only skellies but their meaty mounts as well! That means Army of the dead just got some fast unit (if we can really call anything fast in Undead army). Models you see below are deaders from Black Tree Design line. I got them long time ago so it was high time to see if there's anything going oin in their graves - and there was: boys sure wanted to take a ride...

Painting skeletons is always fun. Too bad these riders have only one version of mount. Sure it's oldchool and has lots of Oldhammer vibe, but painting another version of the very same sculpt is just boring. That's why I gave them different tones - just to make the team bit more interesting looking from over tabletop. Not mentioning the fact in old army books there were colorful zombies (green, yellow or even blue) - not total "grimdark" like nowdays... 🙄

I am big fan of metal models but after dealing with these guys I am pretty sure plastic or resin would be better material. Since everything is metal I didn't manage to pin bits together so there was only superglue used to bring them back to life. And that's the problem - I am pretty sure those heavy shields would be the first to fall off in case of any accident. 

Oh well - at least I don't play WFB anyore so it shouldn't be an issue... 😕

To lead them to battle there's mighty wight lord (painted also this year) and Leopold the Exhumed - which I got no idea how and when (most probably by accident during miniature swap ages ago). On the very bottom of "undead jar" there are some broken parts of skeleton horsemen staggering - I should check if I can assemble any complete models using those bones, 'cuz right now they become part of bases - just like Great Unclean One's...

Hope you like them anyway. Time to decide which models should be next saved from the depths of oblivion.

Ogre mercs - finished!

It's been a while but recently I simply have no steam for painting. I suppose it's because of that damn sun - it's so hot you can almost see steam over wet palette. Because of this I am even more happy I've managed to cross off another model from ye liste of shame. 

This one is special - ogre champion from Knightmare Games range, which was part of Oldhammer Weekend 2022 prize box. Not only the model is just super cool, with strong Middlehammer vibe, but it's also the last model my ogres were looking for to form full unit (you can see other guys here #1, here #2, here #3, here #4 and here #5).

I tried to keep color choice similar to rest of the squad so they all look coherent and keep Middlehammer spirit and must say I like the final result. My only regret is I paint so slow and there were other supercool models in the prize box still waiting for some attention (like hobgoblins or even more skeletons...).

As for the lil' undead-familiar it's ordinary skeleton from Rackham's Confrontation range. I found it together with recently painted wulfen zombie, and simply couldn't just put it back to the bucket. These minis are just way too cute! 🤗

That's it for now - hope Army of the Dead will use the mercs properly to spead death and destruction in the Old World!

Wulfen zombie (Rackham)

I was actually looking for other model (broken horn from Ilyad Games demon to be more specific) when I found this guy. This zombie fella is one of few models from Rackham's Confrontation range I've managed to collect ages ago. I remember I got it when Confrontation was still alive and these models were available - for affordable prices that is. 

If I remember correctly part of my collection was purchased as second hand models, and the other part was payment for painting service (like these Mid-Nor perverts).

I was always fond for undead armies of any sort, and Nightmares of Acheron is still probably the best line of undead models evah made. Keeping that in mind I still cannot believe Confrontation didn't manage to get solid position among other wargames - those models are just fucking amazing 😐

No matter how much I like undead models sadly I've managed to collect only few models from this line (surprisingly I have much more Mid-Nor dwarves). Among them there were wulfen zombie triplets. These were very cool models, sadly with no practical use for me. And because of this one of painted zombie wulfens ended up as gift, the other was either Ebayed or exchanged for some hobby supplies and what was left is this zombie orphan... 😢

To make it feel better decision was made to get it painted and placed in Warhammer zombies regiment as kinda filler. This badass stands on 40 mm square base, so it can easily replace 4 rank and file deaders. Not even mentioning the fact having such a beast surrounded by swarm of deaders should look just darn cool. Dead - cool that is... 🥶

And the family postcard from Border Princes: