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!

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.

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:

Fiend of Slaanesh #2

Looks like fiend of Slaanesh I painted recently just got twin-brother (or sister - you can never be 100% sure with Slaanesh stuff). They are supposed to be part of the same battle force, so I tried to keep the same, or very similar color palette. Must say I really like the way they look standing on classic green battlefield. Brings back memories of Middlehammer era.

I hope to start working on 6-men strong unit of badass chaos knights soon. I never liked that official vivid pink or purple color of Slaanesh armour (frankly in my opinion that looks like sh!t) so thinking about final look of the main unit of the army took pretty lot of time. Now, having both fiends done, I think "crabby" tone of claws and stings is something what should do the job. That combined with black horses and steel armament should looks striking as hell, when placed on juicy green field of battle.

So here there are - about to rip apart block of zombies somewhere on Elbląg outskirts:

And mr brother / sister himself / herself. Not sure about color of the scales - might repaint that part one day (too much washes and dry pigments):

And here crab-daemons guarding general of chaos warriors army (515 points according to the current army list):

🤘🏻💀🤘🏻

Undead army wyvern #2

Undead army just got another fast attack unit.

After finishing the "serpentine" wyvern I was actually hoping for a bit more from the rider. Thought it would be bit more "epic" - it's wight lord after all. On the other hand it's just better dressed and armoured skeleton so I guess it fits the mount. To make it more coherent with the other units model got black-and-white stripes on the shield. It got spike in the middle 'cause shield to hide the pin - don't want it to fall off in the heat of the battle...

It's a big model so I tried to take some herohammer styled pics for group shots. Using large game mat was good idea but the landscale background is just too small. I think I'll just have to paint one sometimes instead just using prints.

So here they are:

diving from the blue sky to bring death and destruction to the empire of men! Bwah! Ha! Ha!

Another scale shot:

(most probably) about to get dead-ass kicked bit time by Khorne's daemon prince:

And here matched duel with greenskins wyvern:

Supporting unit of zombies:

This is where the magic happens. Looking at the picture I am quite sure I need like twice wide background for taking pics of large units or armies. The game mat I use comes from terrains4games - definitely recommend stuff they make!

And some close ups:

Thanks for reading.
Next stop: dark future... 💀

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 🧛‍♂️

Mummies

It's summer time so this time I painted something fitting the season.

Back days, when I was still Warhammer Fantasy player, I've never fielded or even seen mummies on the battlefield - it was really small gaming comminity here and models were hard to get. But I've always really liked those - both Middlehammer styled sculpts and fluff. 

So years later it turned out I've managed to collect 10 models - more then enough for solid and expensive unit (45 points each for 2000 points army!) and now the time has come to give those old beauties a paintjob.  According to the rules mummies are strong and tough as ogres (because of embalming rituals, dark magic or other shit) but you can't see is on the sculpts - these are just man sized. So trying to make them look more models were placed on 25 mm bases instead of 20 mm. That gives some space for little rock and extra bits. Now the unit should stand out marching alongside ordinary skeletons and zombies.

At first I was hoping to paint whole unit at once but decided to split them into small groups. No idea why but whenever I put too many models on the hobby desk - painting's quality clearly drops. And these deserve spending some more attention then ordinary skeletons. 

See? Slightly larger then cannon fodder 😎

And one more scale shot - makes me want to play Curse of the mummy's tomb 😊

Talisman's Troll

This time it's something quick and easy (more - less...): the troll from Talisman boardgame.

It's a gift model for my buddy and looks like it's the second paintjob-gift in a row!
Time to leave do gooder's path and paint something from my own the pile ov shame...

Anyway I used to play Talisman's 1st Polish edition in mid-late 90's and back days it was just supercool. Despite the fact there were cardboard characters instead of miniatures. I was curious about quality of new models but after getting it done I am sure I prefer metal stuff. 

So at least at this poin it's nothing new 😁

Hope the troll is going to have lots of successful clubbing now, having fresh colors. Maybe this one will encourage my buddy to paint rest of miniatures from the Talistan box.

Dusk Realm Demon (Chronopia)

So it has finally happened: the second of 3 models from Chronopia range in my possession has just been painted. Must admit I got this one long, long time ago although I've never been big fan of Chronopia minis. Haven't been even small fan to be absolutely honest...

Chronopia models are definitely oldschool but apart from literally several models (Myrmadon still is supercool) I don't like them at all - no idea why. I suppose when the system was still alive I used to compare it with Warhammer Fantasy Battle and it was no match for GW stuff. 

Anyway among few models I like is Dusk Real Demon and it's only because of it's cute pig face. I had no idea what to do with that model so I gave it 40 mm square base so it fits zombie / skeleton units in HOM&M Undead Army project (if I ever get it finished).

I like strong contrast between flesh and armour, but must admit the armour turned out bit too dark because once again I've overdone oils and pigments. Nevermind - it's just enough for gaming (if I ever manage to roll out my undead / demon army).

Oink! Oink! 🐷