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! 🐷

Ogre mercenary

After painting some more-less modern stuff time has come for something I wanted to put a brush on for a quite a long time: classic MIDDLEHAMMER OGRE!!! 🤩

I wanted to slap some paint on it for a looong, looong time but was kinda afraid to screw it - such model simply deserves to be painted decently. These ogres in my opinion are the essence of Middlehammer which I consider the best Warhammer period: vibrant colors on official paintjobs, supercool sculpts.

Back days, when I was starting hobby adventure, such models were totally beyond my reach: not menioning the money, there were no hobby stores or hobby community where I lived. Now, when I finally got it done it's like a time travek back into mid 90's...

This ogre is painted as an ally for Middlehammer Undead Army project - the vampire lord is going to use some help of those creatures so you can expect rest of the unit sooner or later...

Zombicide thing

This time something rather unusual: placcy piece from Zombicide board game.
Apparently the game is quite popular but I've never seen it until recently friend of mine brought some Zombicide stuff for Bolt Action game.

I was actually interested  only in models not the game. And models are really cool - one more bendy plastic technological marvel with all those details and digital design: totally not my cup of tea. But that's what happens when you become old, grumpy, hobby dude - everything seems to be kinda f#cked...

The model was painted for that friend, actually - his kid who's leukemia survivor (was born with that shit). During the game kid got some nosebleed and he (and his dad) got kinda scarred, kid started panic etc for obvious reasons. All in all everything was ok, but I declared to paint one of zombies (or alien ghouls - whatever the f#ck it really is) to cheer the kid up.
Hope it does the trick.

Scavvies for attention, Looking at the picture I think I could use couple of those as Scavvy ghouls (remind me ghouls from Fallout 3):

M3 Stuart

Heya,

This time another piece of (very light) armour rolled out from my painting station: M3 Stuart.
It's actually another Stuart tank in my battleforce: the previous one has been armed with flamethrower to deal with enemy tanks and spread panic among infantry.

This one is my response for hordes of melee berzerkers my opponent is fielding. 

Goddamn brit army... ><

Painting is simple and fitting rest of my forces, but it also was test for my oldie airbrush. 

I didn't expect spectacular results, I was actually quite sure after years of being unused, the airbrush would be as good as dead.

But it turned out it's still operational (after some cleaning) so looks like I might finally get some terrain pieces painted. Not mentioning larger models...

The model got extra petrol canisters from M8 Greyhound set, backpacks hanging on the other side are (probably) spares from M3A1 halftrack.

All in all I am quite satisfied - finally I've managed to paint model clean, at least compared to the rest of my vehicles. Thing I do not like is dirt / dust on tracks:

I used mix of light grey and yellow chalk to make it look like riding through dry countryside but it's barely visible. Any ideas?
Maybe adding some sand to the mixture to create some texture?
Or maybe adding much more chalk would do the trick?

Dirty or not - hope you like it anyway: 

 

And the last thing:

I am about to finish zombie regiment for Undead army project. There's still one rank missing, but I'd like to see it made of olschool deaders.

Maybe any of you have spare/unused zombies from the ones below to sell/trade? I need like 3-4. Sure I can use plastics but definitely would like to see the unit as metal as possible.

I don't need new pieces: don't mind missing weapons, I can wash paint etc.

When I get models I'll try to prepare zombie painting tutorial / walkthrough, since there's been some questions about dead flesh color on my corpses.

Seeya!