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Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Vonkluge on January 28, 2021, 07:54:01 PM

Title: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on January 28, 2021, 07:54:01 PM: My local group (Dogs of War, Los Angeles, California) as usual got me into doing a SAGA "Age of Magic" warband. I have always had a weakness for Skeleton figures. These are fun and while I'm a "historical gamer" at heart, these take me back to my roots in gaming as a child. I did not take a lot of time on these but I feel they came out very nice anyway. Basing was much more traditional and low key to match the surfaces we play on, not take away from the figures, and show that this army has invaded the livings turf!
I'm not going to post my whole set of articles here just a few teaser shots so if you want to see more you'll have to visit my page www.HistoricalHobbies.com (http://www.HistoricalHobbies.com) I may post some more pictures here as I have time as there are about 100 figures done at the moment!
(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Skeleton-Group2.jpg)
(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/WarlorldSkeletons5.jpg)
(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SKLcav4.jpg)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: pixelgeek on January 28, 2021, 08:04:27 PM: Those look great. The shields are a definite sign of a historical gamer :)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Grumpy Gnome on January 28, 2021, 08:08:29 PM: Looking good!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on January 28, 2021, 08:09:40 PM: Quote from: pixelgeek on January 28, 2021, 08:04:27 PM
Those look great. The shields are a definite sign of a historical gamer :)
Yep, I guess that does give it away, they are all hand painted by the way. I normally only use decal / transfers on "commissions" I sometimes do. Check out the full articles on www.HistoricalHobbies.com (http://www.HistoricalHobbies.com)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: BZ on January 29, 2021, 11:01:44 AM: Looking great!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: has.been on January 29, 2021, 11:45:07 AM: Most certainly 'Dead Good'.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Little Odo on January 29, 2021, 03:29:46 PM: Lovely looking bunch of skellies
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Koyote on January 29, 2021, 04:12:10 PM: What's does your list look like?

Have you had a chance to play yet?
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on January 29, 2021, 04:49:39 PM: Quote from: Koyote on January 29, 2021, 04:12:10 PM
What's you list look like?

My list...LOL lol, I just went out and bought all the Skeletons in the World! and started painting. The who story is being done on my Website www.HistoricalHobbies.com as a series of articles. I think you would enjoy it. By the way your AOM army is great, love the Sorcerer! You're Moors as well! While we have a bit different painting styles I love your look and we seem to be quite alike as far as attention to detail, modifying, and going the extra mile in figure prep.

Have you had a chance to play yet?

Yes, one game before Covid19 closed us down. My 6 points (at the time) undead against the Horde. I ran Warlord as Necromancer, Giant Skeleton as a Behemoth, Mounted Hearth Guard (4), Warrior units (2), and 20 Mindless, as well as sacred ground. Which is really one point shy of 6!!! I was tired and counted my Warlord as a point like you did in the old SAGA 1st edition. After playing which I lost by a point or two we realized I was a point down and with a few other mistakes in math figured I actually won. It didn't matter as we were just trying to get back into the game after 6 month of not playing and also it was AOM for the first time. I didn't even use my Magic! :o

I also have a SAGA Moor warband I'm sort of proud of I'll post it up soon!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on January 29, 2021, 05:09:05 PM: Here is the full group of Cavalry painted so far. They are Game Workshop figures somewhat modified in pose. More on my site www.HistoricalHobbies.com. You might see on the bases the effect I did of dead/burnt grass where the undeads feet or hoofs touch the living grass, sucking the life out of it! I'm making this warband/army much larger than normal SAGA standards and plan on using it for other games as well like IMPETUS. Heck they are just fun to paint and strech my normaly "historical" legs a bit! lol
(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SKLcav1.jpg)

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SKLcav11.jpg)

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SKLcav16.jpg)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Koyote on January 29, 2021, 05:37:25 PM: Quote from: Vonkluge on January 29, 2021, 04:49:39 PM
Yes, one game before Covid19 closed us down. My 6 points (at the time) undead against the Horde. I ran Warlord as Necromancer, Giant Skeleton as a Behemoth, Mounted Hearth Guard (4), Warrior units (2), and 20 Mindless, as well as sacred ground. Which is really one point shy of 6!!! I was tired and counted my Warlord as a point like you did in the old SAGA 1st edition. After playing which I lost by a point or two we realized I was a point down and with a few other mistakes in math figured I actually won. It didn't matter as we were just trying to get back into the game after 6 month of not playing and also it was AOM for the first time. I didn't even use my Magic! :o

I also have a SAGA Moor warband I'm sort of proud of I'll post it up soon!
Your undead cav turned out great! Love the colors. It makes me want to put paint on my own long neglected AoM Undead warband.

I checked out your blog. It looks like you had a lot of fun posing your skeleton infantry.

I look forward to seeing you Moors.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: BZ on January 29, 2021, 09:19:35 PM: That mounted unit looks terrifying!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: marianas_gamer on January 29, 2021, 09:42:07 PM: The painting on the breastplate and the banner are really top notch!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on January 29, 2021, 10:56:52 PM: Quote from: marianas_gamer on January 29, 2021, 09:42:07 PM
The painting on the breastplate and the banner are really top notch!

Thanks for the "kudos" on the breastplate and banner Marianas but it always amazes me that after I paint something the things I really liked, though came out well, or put a lot of work into are seldom the things people like or point out! For me it was the rusted/aged horse armor and the "blue magic glow" on the knights robes. Lot of work to get that look, much more than the breastplate or banner... always interesting.

Working on some "mindless" ghouls and Zombies for the army at the moment...... o_o

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SKLcav15.jpg)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: powerfrog99 on January 30, 2021, 09:09:53 AM: Awesome :o :o
Great paint Job on the riders :)
I did them with a very similar color scheme (shown in my LAF Gallery), but with the details you did so much more !!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: racm32 on January 30, 2021, 12:51:29 PM: This is exactly what I want to do. Beautifully painted and great inspiration.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on January 30, 2021, 04:53:07 PM: Quote from: powerfrog99 on January 30, 2021, 09:09:53 AM
Awesome :o :o
Great paint Job on the riders :)
I did them with a very similar color scheme (shown in my LAF Gallery), but with the details you did so much more !!

I checked out your un-dead in your Gallery powerfrog, and quite like the job you did and the cohesive clean look of them! Yes very similar look and feel, color placement is just a bit different. Your paint jobs are very smoothly blended! Lovely banner! :)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on February 12, 2021, 05:05:13 PM: I just finally got around to doing episode #4 of "the Un-Dead Warband"featuring "Arkhan the Black" on my site www.HistoricalHobbies.com (http://www.HistoricalHobbies.com) and if you want to see ALL the pictures and read about the build you'll have to travel there.

My work on the "un-dead" army continues! Here are a few pictures of my completed warlord "Arkhan the Black" please forgive it's paint as I'm not a fantasy painter so not really as good as most others when it comes to these. You can see by my paint scheme I keep much more in the conservative look when I paint. I really enjoyed building and painting this model. It has been modified and changed from the original a fair bit, enjoy! More to come soon!

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AKdone-1.jpg)

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AKdone-4.jpg)

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AKdone-2-755x1024.jpg)

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AKdone-12.jpg)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: pixelgeek on February 12, 2021, 05:35:58 PM: Wow. He looks great. Love the bright colours on him
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: syrinx0 on February 12, 2021, 09:37:29 PM: Great work. Arkhan's as you have built him is a fantastic center piece to an army.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: majorsmith on February 13, 2021, 08:05:29 AM: Very nice undead!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: McYellowbelly on February 13, 2021, 09:02:37 AM: Lovely work.
Never too many skeletons
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: sir_shvantselot on February 13, 2021, 07:33:10 PM: Like the range in your shields.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Bloggard on February 15, 2021, 11:51:24 AM: ummm, not seeing a lot to 'forgive' - just brilliant painting. fantastic job on the Arkhan figure.
And the skellingtons in general.

do you have a formula for your basing - really like the look you've got going there.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: racm32 on February 15, 2021, 06:15:09 PM: Honestly I'm not a fan of the model. However your paint job of it is excellent!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Elbows on February 15, 2021, 08:58:18 PM: Yep, not a fan of the model - the paintwork is superb. The mini has a lot of the "trying way too hard" feel to it.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: BZ on February 16, 2021, 12:14:58 PM: I must say, that I dont like the sculpt, but the paintjob is amazing!
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on February 16, 2021, 04:43:12 PM: Thanks for the feedback guys,
Quote from: Elbows on February 15, 2021, 08:58:18 PM
Yep, not a fan of the model - the paintwork is superb. The mini has a lot of the "trying way too hard" feel to it.
is somewhat of a valid point. I you are at all familiar with Games Workshops figures then you know you could say that about most of the figures, just too over the top. Here are a couple of pictures of it painted by others so you can get the idea of how much I toned it down (in some respects) If you really want to see what and how I did the work please check out the full article on my site www.HistoricalHobbies.com (http://www.HistoricalHobbies.com) The 1st or second article talks about the basing how and why it was done this way. I do have a formula for it in the sense that I have been doing it for many years, learned and developed my style, and always tried to not have the basing compete with the figure. There are times though when the base is a diorama and the figure are only part of the scene.[/size]
(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/pics/ATBexample2.jpg) (http://www.historicalhobbies.com/pics/ATBexample.jpg)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on July 23, 2021, 12:26:49 AM: Well sorry for the long absence and lack of updates for this project but I'm just a busy guy and writing about what I'm doing just creates more work and makes me busier! So in between my full time job, family, pets, remodeling my house, and getting ready for selling and moving out of California I managed quite a few miniature related projects. A few of them were part of this "Un-Dead Skeleton SAGA Warband" project. I'll try and get a few of the recent additions up in the next week of so.

I was using Skeletons for my "mindless" troops in SAGA but I had always planned on doing some "zombies" for the "Mindless" and finally got around to building and painting 24 of them. The figures are from MANTIC and their "Zombie/Ghoul" sprues. I chose them as they were very "non de-script" and would fit in any period.

Since with these figures I wanted to have a lot of variety and to create dynamic poses most of the allotted time was spent in the build. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to paint these guys to a high standard but used all my tricks for painting them quickly but still look ok. There were a lot of mold lines and I didn't spend a ton of time dealing with them since their Zombies and as a group the remaining lines are not real noticeable.

As with most of my post there are more pictures and and a expanded article on my website www.HistoricalHobbies.com (http://www.HistoricalHobbies.com)

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Zombies-2-scaled.jpg)

Being plastic a high degree of modification was possible so no two figures are alike. A little cutting and putty let me create this leaping pose and the light weight of the plastic lets him be posed on only one foot!

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Zombies-11.jpg)
(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Zombies-7.jpg)

(http://historicalhobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Zombies-6.jpg)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: pacarat on July 23, 2021, 03:22:41 PM: Lovely weathered look on the metal.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: sir_shvantselot on July 23, 2021, 09:36:02 PM: Great and creative stuff.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: McYellowbelly on July 25, 2021, 10:43:42 AM: Loving the zombies
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on July 26, 2021, 04:22:34 PM: Quote from: pacarat on July 23, 2021, 03:22:41 PM
Lovely weathered look on the metal.

Thanks, it looks even better in person. It's an effect or process that took a bit of time and experimentation to get. You stumble around with what you think might work and then it does! This whole un-dead army was a chance to push out from my normaly very historical painting and try or learn new stuff. I detail a lot of it in the series of post on my site www.HistoricalHobbies.com (http://www.HistoricalHobbies.com) (lots more pictures)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on March 25, 2022, 05:34:06 PM: Well a long time no post but things have been happening with this project, just no posts! This as a "Reaper" Skeletal Giant and its a big, bad arse, great figure! Didn't take many work in progress pictures but hope you enjoy it. I really enjoyed the build and detail on the model. Stands about 7 inches tall on the battle field and scares the begeezus out of the opposing force! I did a fair amount of reposing on the figure.

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant1.jpg)

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant2.jpg)

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant3.jpg)

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant4.jpg)

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant5.jpg)

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant6.jpg)

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant7.jpg)

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant8.jpg)

Arm's were pinned with brass rod and cemented with JB Weld 2 part epoxy.

(http://www.historicalhobbies.com/UnDead/Giant9.jpg)
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Neldoreth on March 25, 2022, 08:28:49 PM: That turned out very well! Nice work on the re-posing; that can be a lot of work, and can also have a great impact on the look of the figure!

I have one of these in that new hard-plastic that they've been using that's still in the package... this is great inspiration for me to pull it out.

Looking forward to seeing more of your stuff!

Thanks
n.
Title: Re: Age of Magic Un-Dead Skeleton Warband project
Post by: Vonkluge on March 26, 2022, 02:56:04 AM: Quote from: Neldoreth on March 25, 2022, 08:28:49 PM
That turned out very well! Nice work on the re-posing; that can be a lot of work, and can also have a great impact on the look of the figure!

I have one of these in that new hard-plastic that they've been using that's still in the package... this is great inspiration for me to pull it out.

Looking forward to seeing more of your stuff!

Thanks
n.

Thanks for the reply Neldoreth, it's the comments and replies that drives us to paint and post. I've checked out your site over the years, nice work! I just looked at it again and your converted hockey team!!! Now I know why you appreciate the conversion! I love converting things! I have one of the plastic ones sold under their "Bones" label, it has different weapons and I did not like the plastic at all, wasn't really hard but more flexible and I really worried about paint adhesion.

Bill W www.HistoricalHobbies.com (http://www.HistoricalHobbies.com)