Zombies

As I checked over the paints that I’d not used in over a year, I came across some colours that reminded me that I had a few figures I’d meant to paint. The next thing you know I’m painting a warband of Zombies that I’d based over a year ago. Not content with that I also did some test figures of Troglodytes and Lizardmen that I’d wanted to do. Then I bought some more figures from Splintered Light because they had a sale … Oops!

The Zombies were pretty straightforward. I used drybrushing after I had applied the wash, as I had gone for a pretty drab palate and wanted a bit more contrast than the wash gave.

The Zombies (can you spot the rogue skeleton painted as a zombie in error!).

Those with the most open wounds.

Those with dresses, the one in the middle is armed with an arm!.

The arm!

Short and tall.

Tunics and a skeleton.

Spears.

Gesturing, and almost the Karate Kid.

I’m hoping to start using these warbands for SoBH in something closer to a RPG campaign inasmuch as I envisage that a warband would encounter zombies and other monsters in the course of a campaign. It gives me an excuse to paint quite a number of these warbands. To date I’ve got my Undead largely done (just some ghouls to do) — evil wizards, a vampire, wraiths, ghosts, skeletons and zombies is a bit to get going with. I’ve also got Gnolls and Goblins, along with a few larger humanoids.

The two test figures, the Troglodyte and Lizardman, were straightforward to paint. However, I’m not happy with the colour of their skin. I was hoping a drybrush would work, but I may have to start again. I want something lighter with more variation. I’ll try a heavier drybrush. If it still doesn’t work, I’ll have to redo the base coat. Otherwise, they’ll be a cinch to paint; not too many colours and clear lines for the detail.

Test colours for a Troglodyte (left) and a Lizardman (right).

The other side.

The warbands may not get much attention, however, until more urgent DBA projects are finished (or that’s the theory).

Skeletons

When I looked at the figures I had for Song of Blades and Heroes (SoBH), I decided that my ghosts and wraiths would be lonely without some low quality undead to make up some warbands. Furthermore, I figure skeletons and zombies won’t take too much trouble to paint. Therefore, I based the two warbands I’d got from Splintered Light and set to work on the skeletons. I got these done very quickly, and I’m pleased with the result. I’ve used GW Bleached Bone with my usual wash and then a drybrush of white for highlights. The other colours were designed to be drab, so the cloth was a grey mixed with my linen colour (a mixture of bleached bone and the GW khaki colour — now renamed to Karak Stone).

The new skeleton warband.

Three archers.

From the back.

The mounted skeletons.

The other side.

Unarmoured skeletons.

From the rear.

Armoured skeletons.

From the rear.

The wash brings out the detail well, though indentations for temples sometimes can look like eye sockets. The kite shields of a couple are of a later period than the Dark Age setting I favour, but skeletons are probably lacking in any fashion sense.

The zombies should come next, and then I may get back to the ratmen that I started before Christmas. I have quite a few sundry figures for SoBH in various stages of completion. I also have figures for DBA that are getting worked on now and then; in particular, I have four stands of mounted Norman knights that are well on the way. I cut out the spaghetti lances and gave them Xyston spears. The clever part of this was leaving the last 3mm of spear on each one’s foot. It made the whole process much easier and you can’t see the join.

Finally, I will post pictures of dwarves at some stage. I got an order of Splintered Light ones, and they are of the right scale for my humans. Before I look to sell the Copplestone, Grenadier, Blood Dawn and Black Raven dwarves, I will post some pictures for purpose of scaling. I’m also in the process of painting some East Riding Miniatures dwarves, though they seem to be languishing in the queue to be completed!

Gnolls, wraiths and ghosts.

I’ve finally finished a number of figures. These are mostly Splintered Light ones. I’ve got quite a few of them recently; I really like them and can really recommend Dave McBride as someone to shop from.

The first of these figures are some giant boars. They may be beasts in HoTT, possibly with a Dwarven army that is still taking shape. The figures look nice, but the bristles are not quite deeply enough incised to get the contrast that my use of washes and drybrushing needs.

Giant boars.

Another angle.

The next is a Hippogriff rider that I started around the time that I was painting Normans for SoBH. It never quite got finished. It’s an old Ral Partha figure. There’s also a pair of Chariot centaurs that I started at some stage and only got finished today.

A hippogriff rider and two centaurs.

Another angle.

Then there are three Khurasan Norman knights that were in the same boat. They will round out that Norman warband.

Mounted knights for SoBH.

Another angle.

From the rear.

And then the new stuff! I painted some Splintered Light Wraiths and Ghosts last month, but didn’t get around to flocking them. They were flocked today, along with the Gnolls that I have just finished. These were experiments in using washes and drybrushing on very light and dark colours. I went for a light blue for the ghosts and an very dark blue for the wraiths. I was pleased with those colours, though I’m less pleased with how the flesh of the wraiths came out.

Wraiths.

From the rear.

The HoTT wraiths are based as sneakers and the HoTT ghosts as lurkers. The SoBH figures will be joined by skeletons, zombies, ghouls and werewolves at some stage.

Ghosts.

From the rear.

Finally, the first of a number of SoBH warbands that are fantastic value from Splintered Light. These are their hyena men, or gnolls. I didn’t put a lot of effort into painting them, but went for a technique I’ve used for horses of undercoating half in black first. I was worried that the faces, manes and tails would look terrible, but once I added a wash and some dry brushing, they look acceptable. I went for very drab equipment — blank shields, plain kilts; they are supposed to look pretty primitive. They also have some hyenadons as support animals.

A Gnoll warband for SoBH.

The Hyenadons.

Gnoll spearmen.

Gnolls with handarms.

Gnoll archers.

No trouble spared on varying the colours!

War chieftain and shaman.

Shaman is carrying a head.

I have a ratmen warband that I’ve started, and which is a lot of fun; then in addition to the undead I mentioned, I have lizardmen and troglodytes. I’m keen to do a small warband of rangers using some of the Splintered Light Robin Hood series; I have the figures, it depends a bit on the order I paint them!