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.

Great Unclean One

Long time no see. Again... 🙄

For some mysterious reason painting stuff takes me more and more time - my guess the reason was that goddamn summer so Cthulhu be praised for there's autumn ahead.

Anyway today I've finally managed to finish oldie Great Unclean One model from early 2000's. It's probably 4th or 5th G.U.O. piece I painted so far but somehow working on versions of this rotting dude is always ton of fun. Since I had absolutely no gaming use for this model I decided to paint it kinda different way - blue is pretty original tone then it comes to Nurgle stuff. Looking at painted piece I must say I like that color combo.

Like I said I have no use for it so at the end of painting progress decision was made to make a souvenir of this chaotic blob. It's pretty big and eye-catching model so it should look decent in any self respecting office 😎

So here it is: charging troll mutant, straight from rad-zone:

And here: about to devour whole NBC suit squad!

And finally solo session - after eating everything and everyone:

Take care 🦟

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:

Machine Wraith (Cryx) 👻

This time it's 100% blast from the past. 

That oldie machine wraith model has been staggering around my painting station for several years, and I got it don't even remember when did I get it. When I found it - it was sealed with thick layer of dust and was a friggin' mess. So decision was made to bring that nasty Cryx construct back to existence - another piece crossed off the list of shame.

Official paintjob is pretty dark, but I rather wanted mine copy to fit remaining Cryx force painted so far, so there's rust, dry pigments and such. After model was varnished with Revell matt it was kinda satin rather matt, so I airbrusheded it with another layer of varnish - this time Vallejo. Whole piece got that "mist" filter (no idea how to name it) and it took another layer of hand applied varnish to make most of it disappear. No idea was is the matter of temperature or varnish itself but I was seriously afraid the model would have to be washed and repainted. But it's more than fine for gaming.

I used to underestimate it back days - until I managed to possess first enemy warjack and turn it against own force. It's pure joy watching enemy smashing own (possessed) warjack in hope to shake evil spirit out of the cortex 😈

EDIT:

I now can see all those pics are kinda blurry. Hope to take some re-shots when the next Warmachine model is painted.