Newly risen

I have managed to clean off the desk a bit this weekend. Enjoy the offerings!

 I am considering removing the horn arm from the musician and replacing it with a weapon. That would then open up the option of adding a champion and a musician from the NEW box set. I really like the banner though...not sure about replacing that one or not.

Vampire counts - Skeleton painting guide

Vampire Counts, Skeleton Painting Guide

By: Blackbard

I have discovered a quick method of painting ranks of skeletal troops for an undead army. I have been told that the models look good, and with a nice base they look great on the table top.

Necromancer

Necromancer done! I bought a Corpse Cart necromancer off a friend a while back, and finally put some time into it this week. A different friend of mine was also painting his necro this week, and it inspired me. Sadly the model had been put together very badly, but glued together very well!! and ALOT of green stuff was needed to even out cloak areas etc. Hopefully it isn't too obvious?? The last thing I worry about is the amount of "dry mud" weathering powder I put onto the cloak. Hope you like.

 Bard

Zombie Ogre #3

Not sure how he came about, but the poor fella looks like he was playing hot potatoe with a grenade and lost. This was a learning experience for me too, as I never usually use this much blood and gore on my models, but I did enjoy adding more blood! More Blood!

I think I will finish basing the regular guys and add a bit of blood to them. I have very close to 50 of the freshly dead for this unit.
Bard

Corpse a la cart

This model has been on my painting table in the half finished stages for a LONG time! I had become frustrated with trying to paint the necro AFTER he was glued in (Mistake) and found basing the model to be problematic as the model was already glued down (Mistake).
Next time I do a Corpse Cart, I will do things seperatly and then glue together.
I got this model done after spending a whole night getting the base done, and by painstakingly seperating the necromancer from his pile of corpses for a paintjob.

 More pictures...
Bard

Spirits

Not much in the way of words... Finished a wraith and banshee. I love the wraith, hate the banshee. Banshee had glue issues and refused to join together properly. Not happy with it, but also not willing to put in any more time to "fix" it. Might buy another and try to put a new one together...will certainly buy a couple more wraiths though!
~White spray / Thraka green wash/ white drybrush highlight for ethereal areas.
~Wraith cloak is Luftwaffe grey, followed by two highlights on edges by adding progressively larger amounts of white, followed by a badab black wash to tie it all together.

Baby Break

Time flies when you’re in a coma. It also seems to pass by VERY quickly when you are trying to be a dad for the first time. My daughter is now 6 months old, which means according to the last post, it has been 4 months since I last posted!! SORRY to anyone who followed the blog!! I have been learning to balance the work component and the home component, while all the time adjusting to a baby’s ever changing schedule and of course, distractions, like new DVD’s, the computer games Star Wars online and Skyrim!! Did I mention computer games? I recommend Skyrim by the way, awesome game!

up to 25

WOW, its been two months since my daughter was born. What better way to celebrate than posting some pictures of the latest models Ive painted??

Here is the first infantry unit for the undead. My sword and board skeletons are up to 25! Only 15 more to go for this unit. After that either spears and sheild or something fun like a Zombie dragon or finish my corpse cart...we shall see.

Anyway, ENJOY!

Bard

Skeletons on parade!

Got the first ten skeletons done. Kamilla doesn't fit in the ranks so good with her scythe, so I have also started to put together a scenic base that includes a low tombstone to accomadate the weapon. The next ten are waiting on the leather and then the washes and the rust and the base get done. No baby = done tonight. Baby = maybe another week of work.
Hope you like the skeletons, let me know what you think.

I am also putting together another tutorial that includes a step by step of my skeletons.
Bard

Waves of Undead

I got a few more of my undead finished. The new bases really make for a better looking and completed feel to the army. I was also able to get much clearer pictures of my second zombie Ogre.

 Keep reading to see more pictures of the Zombie Ogre AND the newly based Black Knight. I love that unit!!

Varg and ZOgre

Varghulf base is done!! I had previously done the cork and broken statue but hadn't bothered to finish the rest of the base. That has been taken care of. I really like how he turned out, but I REALLY need to matt coat him because every time I touch him to move him I seem to rub some paint off from somewhere. Maybe he needs to be replaced with a resin version?



The Zombie Ogre didnt come out very clearly. This is too bad, because I really do love him. Please take careful note of his missing lower Jaw!! The extra pictures I included in this post also show the large cleaver you can just see over his left shoulder. OUCH!

The big difference between this one and the last is the first wash. Last one was a devlan wash, this guy started with a thraka green wash. I was pretty unhappy with how green he was at first, but he grows on you, the loveable lug!!

Braaainss for Big Guy

This hungry fella was sitting around in my bits box along with a couple more and screamed "BRAINS!!" to me. One rubber arm later, a new zombie is filling the ranks. He is primarily Devlan mud washes over base colors, other than the metal areas where I also used some of the Forgeworld weathering powders.

The base is meant to go along with all the new bases I am putting together for my vampire counts army. 

 The arrows are meant to show why he is undead. The skin colors had me worried, because I have seen several peoples Ogre Kingdom armies, where the Ogres have greenish skin tones. Hopefully he looks dead, especially walking alongside all his smaller human sized companions.

Bard

Dead Base

I have a lot of undead. None of them have bases though, so to take a break from some elves, I have started to base my undead army. It will be a slow process, but when done will look good. Let me know what you think.

Bard

Three wide

Sides

babies make for bad hobby

My quest to complete my high-elves came to a screeching halt the other day when my wife woke me up with a "its time" one liner. We got to the hospital bright and shinny and had a brand new baby girl by late and dusky.

Are those elves for me? Cool!!

I did manage to do some damage on the elves before I was "side-tracked". I went with six E. Reavers and some sword masters to make up the difference. Both have decent amounts of paint on them and wont take long to finish if/when I get the time to work on them.

8 Swordmasters

So, as most of you can guess the posts will become a bit less regular (not that that was happening lately) and might include more of my older models that have gone un-noticed on the blog or the painting/gaming table.

Bard

Isle of Blood Mage

Its done. I see more booboo's to fix with the camera close-ups, but in person it looks good, and even though this is a character model, I don't want to spend more time with it at the moment. The reavers have all gotten a coat of chainmail. Two of the horses have the hair painted on. I might be able to catch up yet! No sign of the baby as of yet, which allows me to work on my painting. Of course, now that I have written this I can guess what will happen.

Bard

High Elf WIP

17 was the magic number. I have finished the 17 needed to fill my points total, along with a few extras to get me to 20. Ok, not completly finished, but as good as. Now I just need to find 10 more of these Lothern Seaguard and I will expand the unit to 30. That is proving difficult as no one I know has any they want to sell, give away or trade.
Then there is the High elf mage from the box set. He looks lovely, but oh so many details! That has become the bane of my catch-up time. I like the looks of him so far, but he is becoming painful to work on. The light colour scheme will allow me to field him with the lores I envision, and it will tie him into the army very well. I will try to get a close up of the smoke on a later post, I think it turned out pretty well.
Lastly my Reavers have started to receive some paint. I was very afraid of them before I started, but I call this guy, colour by numbers, as everything is very easy to pick out. I painted this up so far in a short time before bed last night. I think they will look great when done.


These three, bring the total to 18



This makes 20!

So much painful detail

what are they going to look like--Kinda

Bard

Front 15

Better late than never! The last 5 and the character are almost done too. I have put together 8 more Sword-masters to go with the already half finished 10 I have. That will create a 6 wide unit of 18. If I can find some extra (non command group) Sea guard, I will increase that unit too. 6 Reavers, including a standard bearer are ready for paint too...I have not given up!
Without further ado... Here they are

The front 5, and friends

Second rank (aka next 5)

3d rank

Bard

Getting there. the front rank is fully done (need to do gems, but no rush) and little steams from dragon mouths on sheilds, but that too can wait. Will have the next ten done right away, as they are only a step behind. Its been very busy though here witha baby on the way, seems everyone wants to come spend some time before the birth. Entertaining guests makes for poor painting conditions!!
Anyone still reading this, thanks for your patience!

Seaguard Captain

The base coat on the captain are more or less done, just a few touch ups to do...maybe after the rest are done to this point. The 17 needed models + character have all their blues done and are being highlighted at least one level, maybe a few more for the front rank. I have the green seaweed, leather, and bleached bone weapon shafts to finish along with the bases.

Bard