Undead Battle Standard Paint WIP 2

More progress made on the standard bearer for the skeleton warriors core unit.
It's a nice break from rank and file painting, as most undead generals will likely agree..
I am pleased with the way the bloodstains came out, rather than splatter 'blood' on a lighter canvas I went for the challenge of trying to bloodstain a red 'canvas' banner. The effect looks quite nice I hope without adding any usual glossy red gunky varnish/tamiya clear red effects yet etc. The very tips will be glossier and wet looking during the final work on it.
For the icon I decided instead to go browsing gothic fonts; I went for a simple Initial for the Ravenstein Bloodline.
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More creepy stuff soon!

Undead Battle Standard WIP

Started the assembly of this little chap last night and the sculpy was tough enough to file, fill and prime tonight. I hope he will make a curious and dramatic accompaniment for the Violinist musician model.

I have left off the skull for the top, that's something else I am working on..
Still unsure on the paint direction for the banner but red is the unit theme so..bloodstained, mouldy, micro mottling and staining will be the basis on the canvas, regardless of the iconography I choose at a later date. I'm leaning towards something like an hour glass filled with blood.

More creepy stuff soon.

Raising the Dead

So after a weekend of hobby (including a 5 hour epic game of Super Dungeon Explore!) my undead core units are coming along well... I hope to have them on the battlefield within a week. I spent more time than I had counted on creating the musician for the unit, and I am still deciding on a standard bearer model/conversion for the unit.

Still a way to go but the bonework is done and the weapons and shields are weathered and rusted (the latter are yet to be attatched to many of the models). Small armour accents such as scale mail will be bronze and weathered with turquoise to pop them. Belts will be dark leather + mouldy green.
Then finally basing and we are ready for war!

More creepy things to come...

I am working on the core units now and firing all cylinders late into the nights.

Mainly a large block of 40 warriors in the mid stages of completion. 

I was never a fan of lungless undead carrying large wind instruments into battle so I set about creating my own musician model and I am quite happy with the final posing and sculpy work so I have begun painting.

As a child I was very fortunate, in that my grandfather was a constant source of education and inspiration to me. He was a classical Violinist, and he would practice on Sunday afternoons while I sat and drew little pictures for him as he played. One of my cherished memories is my gramps sat on his stool, playing along to Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre, a soaring, powerful piece and one of my all time favourite pieces of music.
He really was a maestro with the bow and strings and would launch into the piece with gusto while his old record player popped and crackled out the orchestral accompaniment.

Well, years later, I decided to honour this memory and bring to life something I always imagined in my mind. There really was only one choice of musician to play my legions forward into the enemy...

Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre WIP

And in case you have never experienced the inspiration..

More creepy stuff soon..

Three Killers

A hiatus during the new year from blogging..but not gaming and painting! So what has this citizen been doing? 

Getting older officially!

Lately I have been cracking on with some new projects and adding to existing ones. I am at that stage where I am trying to balance the juggling of doing friends minis and my own personal collection, not always an easy task when it is all scheduled during just my 'hobby time'. 

Lots of Super Dungeon Explore on saturdays is also to blame!

Recently I have painted some daemons for a good friend, but more on them in another update (and I still don't have pics of them..).

Adding some more units to my Vampire Counts army has been a priority of late, mainly because at the beginning of April, my local GW store is running a new WHFB campaign. Eager to get some of my undead horde blooded and hone tactics! Also more chaos heros for my gaming friends to come soon, and also a little Infinity - Some Pan-O troops and mecha in a very updated 'Nam 68 vibe, man. Groovy!

So here are a few shots of what I have been up to..

These are the Fell-Hags (bats) for my Vampire Counts.

 I made them from GW Daemonette heads, Ghoul bodies,
Dark Eldar scourge wings and the morbid but cool lil

gravestones are from Renedra plastics.

On the same theme of Three Killers, here's a triumvirate of WIP..

The green mech on the left is part of a promise for

a very good friend and Infinity maniac. 

The red Khornate hero is for another friend and

part of a larger chaos force, with daemons in the mix.

The Vampire Countess is for my own Warhammer army.

And a slightly closer look at the lady of the night..

Countess Theresa Von Ravenstein.

Fixing her atop a way marker, she is a simple conversion,

again using Dark Eldar Scourge wings. Still a long way to

go but she will hopefully make a nice eyecatching hero.

More soon..

CRUSADERS!

CRUSADERS!

Initiates of the 2nd Mercadian Crusade

Templar Crusader Squad, Raserei and Grimm if Split into two squads.

This is the drop pod - Any ideas for a name for it would be interesting... :D

I want at least 2 more in time as the crusade continues.

I need transports for all these battle brothers too..

IMPERATOR VULT!

Venerable Brother Krieg

Another part of the 2nd Mercadian Crusade update

Entombed inside his steel sarcophagus for two centuries, sustained by life support systems and hatred for the enemy, Venerable Dreadnought Brother Krieg strides into combat, wrath personified.
His voice chanting constantly in bass tones, hymns and psalms of devotion to the God Emperor of Mankind.
Holy words echo around him as he advances into the heart of any fight he can find.
One of his candles is burning bright like his anger.
The other one, like his compassion, died long ago.

Dodgy photos of my old venerable dread. I'm still not very good at photography! Learning curves not too sharp..anyhow!
It's not an actual venerable kit, just a bog standard AOBR dread with a few tweaks.
He's been around a while, stomped a few xenos and heretics in his time and gets bits added and subtracted through battle damage and other disasters.
I always planned on making a few different arms for him so he has a small arsenal of weaponry to play with one day.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, what's your favourite arm combo for a dreadnought?

I have the FW chappy dread in basic stages of assembly. He'll be joining Krieg in the Crusade in future.
Right now though, the biker knights need more work..