Vampire Lord On Zombie Dragon

My Vampire Lord 'Count Rutger Von Ravenstein' riding
on his faithful Zombie Dragon steed 'Thraugnaurhexis'.

His Path to Glory awaits!

Vargheist Vampires

Resurrected some second hand Vargheists, stripped, rebuilt, painted and added to my Death Alliance Path to Glory force. My Vampire Lord Theresa Von Ravenstein's power grows ever stronger as she scours the land thirsting for vengeance.

Terrorgheist

Mortimer Ravenstein, my vampires Terrorgheist pet complete, with a nice rocky perch to pounce from.

Varghulf Vampire

'Great Uncle Siegfried' Varghulf, painted and based, ready to guard his nefarious niece as she battles across the realms with her growing undead hoard.

Vampire Lord and Spirit Host Army of Malignants

The Countess Theresa Ravenstein. Betrayed, exiled and thirsting for vengeance. She seeks to resurrect her murdered household and claim her rightful throne once more. Her path to glory awaits...

Necrarch Vampire WIP

Here's the next member of the Ravenstein household, well under way now and hopefully finished some time this week (aside from the mountain of other projects on the go, I need this mini for a local campaign..)

A few conversions here and there and he has a magic sword (won a free treasure: Initiative 10 item in last months campaign..not really useful for a vamp but hey ho, beggars can't be choosers!)

Black Knights to follow soon!

Varghulf WIP skull sculpting - final work

The Varghulf skull is now pretty much complete at the skull sculpting stage.

The feet claws are also working out and almost ready. After all these stages reach finalization I can begin work on the fur texturing and in the process create a simple tutorial to follow if you wish to use the same technique.

Moar creepy stuff soon!

Dental Work

Had a stab at carving the lower jaw from resin and also started on the dental work for the Varghulf. There will be more skin/tendons on the skull at a later date but for now the fangs need to settle solidly into the jawbones, which gives me an opportunity to work on the other end of the model, the feet/claws.

Hope to get some of the footwork done later tonight.

Moar creepy stuff soon.

Varghulf WIP Sculpt Stage

Work slowly progressing on the Varghulf custom sculpt/build. At this stage I refer to lots of imagery online, and my doodle sketches of ideas before the project began becoming 3D. It's still not into definiton stages yet but more fleshing out done, working on pose, balance, basing and starting to create the upper head. Lower jaw will be sculpted seperately then added and blended in. There is still fur to add (a good opportunity to do that tutorial at the same time!)

Here are a few development shots so far: The right foot stump is magnetised as is the branch, the left foot has a long pin for locating the tree perch lug.. This makes for a very delicate looking but extremely strong mounting for the model - still with enough 'give' to allow the model some flex if knocked by accident and not shear from it's mounting.The model therefore has small contact points to it's 50mm stand adding to the sense of balance and weight when the armature is placed into the tree stand. Both legs are obviously reinforced with steel and also some simple paper tissue/cyanoacrylate 'fibreglass' at this stage. it's rock solid and very strong stuff.

 More creepy stuff soon!

Werewolf Project WIP: Kessler, stage 2

Well, he's starting to reach completion at the final sculpt stages, just a few little tweaks to make here and there. He now has 4 toed feet/claws and the first armband/torc. I'm still waiting on extra bits I need to arrive. I think he's a got a lot character, stood atop the lair rocks sniffing the breeze for prey..

More work in progress shots of his pack brothers soon!

Werewolf Crypt Horror WIP 3

Last one of the Crypt Horror Werewolf conversions. This is the champion crypt haunter, Skorzeny .

All the werewolves are being left to cure for a few days, then the final work of sculpting the accessories and accouterments will commence. I am deciding on placement of basing options/environmental details and checking out some different 'warrior' type armbands and torcs, amulets etc online for inspiration. I will most likely incorporate the wolf skulls from the space wolf range (ditching any nordic runes.. these are old Sylvanian lycanthropes, not the were-beasts of the northern realms.)

I really wanted a 'crinos' form similar to Forgeworld Skinwolves. The Skinwolves are meh..okay models but they look too Doberman. It would have been cheaper and easier to just go for the FW stuff (wow never thought I would say that LOL), these conversions are not cheap to do, working out at a basic £44 for the components before adding cost of putty and other materials. On the flip side, these are pretty solid, rugged models.

I hope they are as solid and rugged on the battlefields..

I'm looking forward to painting these.

More creepy things soon!

Werewolf Crypt Horror WIP 2

Next one for the pack is Talbot. He's done very bad things.

Again this is the basic fur done to hide the seams, some repositioning here and there. Very fun models to work with. Finer details like the musculature definition, toe claws will be done when the fur has cured completely, some ornamental bits, jewellery/totemic items etc.

Werewolf Crypt Horror WIP 1

I have been resculping crypt horror/vargeist kits this weekend to give me Werewolves/Lycans for my Sylvanian army. I used Fenrisian wolf heads, crypt horror arms and vargeist backs. Still lots more to do but I'm happy with the fur so far. The bases will be a bone strewn rocky lair.

 I will get photos of the other 2 when they reach this stage of resculpt, but they are almost ready for the tiny details..This first one is called 'Kessler'.

I have yet to add arm torcs and other accessories. Colour scheme will most likely match my direwolf pack, but that is a long way off.


More creepy things soon!

Raising the Dead WIP 2

Tonight I was spending more time on each skeleton now with adding details, and using various soft pastel shades to bring the shadows up and down on them, and on weaponry and armour details. Still lots to do but here is a photo update. Some of the soft blues and oranges are starting to lift each other now I hope.

More creepy things soon..

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.
.

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..