Hello all, I am back with the latest installment for my undead army. I added zombies, (mounted) characters and a vampire on a zombie dragon. Let's have a look:
After getting into playing games of Warhammer 3rd edition I felt I really needed some zombies. I didn't think I had many but after assembling everything I had I came up with 40 pieces, mainly due to buying a set of 21 Black Tree Zombies of the Sweltering Swamps second hand.
The Black Tree Designs Zombies of the Sweltering Swamps are very characterful zombies with not a lot of tissue damage. The sculpting is quite clean and they are easy to paint. They have a somewhat naval/pirate character and very long and thin (less than 1mm) pole-arms. They bend easily and I had to fix several of them. I coated the poles with a little super glue for strength but I fear it does not help much. I have not found/made a safe way to transport them. I dont know if they were originally designed for a game system but they are still available.
There are 9 variants and I have two of each. I started by doing the metal and wood work in the same way as I do for my skeletons. I painted the skin with elf flesh (Citadel 90's) mixed with grey (VGC cold grey) and washed it with Vallejo Wash Umber Shade. After that I painted protruding flesh with a red/black/brown/purple mix and the bones with VMC Sand. I painted the extremities (face, hands, feet, wounds, genitals) with thinned black paint. I painted the clothing in various colours and highlighted and shaded them. After that I dirtied the skin and clothing with a murky red blood mix, thinned green (VMC Reflective Green), thinned yellow (Citadel Foundation Iyanden Darksun), brown (VGC Smokey Ink). I also edged the wounds with pure elf flesh and dotted the eyes white. I tried to channel my inner Fulci while painting them and I am very pleased with the unit as a whole.
The command group consists of one of the coolest zombie musician models there is, who has a very tribal look and is spilling guts on his drums. The champion is a beefy looking armoured zombie who would make a good undead hero for this unit in 3rd edition. The standard bearer bears a flayed skin and I tried to paint it as appropriate, which made it a dash darker than my usual banners. The text on the banner is hardly legible but I meant to write "AURORA MORTUORUM" (dawn of the dead) and the zombie face from the movie poster for Romero's Dawn Of The Dead.
I may not have had a lot of classic zombies but I did have some oldies from 1983. Here are seven pre-slotta Citadel zombies, a mix of some Fiend Factory models and Fantasy Tribe Zombies. I was never over the moon with these figures but in a unit of zombies variety always works wonders. Also, these figures are actually very nicely detailed, just small.
I also had a set of eight old Metal Magic zombies by Josef Ochmann from 1989. Size-wise they scale well with the Citadel pre-slotta's and because I mounted the integral base directly on the slotta base they get a little added height and mix in better with other figures as well. These models have a lot of fine layered textures (muscles, skin, bits of fabric) and my painting style may have been a bit crude (and lots of layers) to really do them justice. I still consider them nice filler for the unit though. Some better paint jobs of these models with lots of love can be found here:
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=32158.msg607620#msg607620
I also had some other figures to throw in. I think the one on the left is actually some sort of a historical knight but I painted him to go with the unit anyway. Next to him is a Gary Morley zombie from 1993, followed by a 1985 Dead man of Dunharrow from the Citadel Middle Earth line. On the far right is a Morley musician.
For those interested I made a size comparison shot showing from left to right:
Black Tree Zombie of the Sweltering Swamp
Citadel 80's slotta
Citadel 90's slotta
Citadel 80's pre-slotta
Metal Magic 80's pre-slotta
I wanted more horse mounted characters in my army, especially spell casters (necromancers, liches and vampires) as I found I didn't really have any. I assembled some rider/horse pairs and set about to make them. Pictured here are a Citadel Liche General and a Citadel Witch Lord. The liche general was a special mail order model (on a special wraith horse) before he was lumped in with the rest of the undead cavalry (minus the wraith horse). I mounted him on 'wind rider', a wide horse that looks dynamic. This fits the pose of the liche. I think this model will see the most action as I can use him as a necromancer instead of a liche, which is a lot cheaper in points. The Witch Lord on the right is one of my favourite undead cavalry models so after mounting one on a dragon I also wanted one on a horse. He can be used as a liche or as a general, but probably mostly the former. I gave both sorcerors colourful outfits so they add a bit of zest to the army and so they stand out as characters.
Next to some spellcasters I also assembled (and ordered) some models that I just liked to paint. From left to right is a Citadel Collector's Series Igor Mortis, A Citadel Mouth Of Sauron and a Citadel Dead Man Of Dunharrow, both from the Middle Earth line. Igor Mortis is a rare figure that didn't make it into the regular undead cavalry collection and really looks like a dead knight. There was not a lot of colour to add to this model but he has a lot of character so I went instead for a neutral look. I gave the horse a dark green tartan cloth but otherwise everything is left in bone and rust. Personally I think this fits the model.
Here is a shot of the back of the models before I elaborate on the rest.
I painted the Mouth of Sauron as a vampire or undead hero, and tried to downplay all the eyes on the model by not picking them out in any other colours. I also made him more colourful by using verdigris and avoided using black. I could not resist the urge to give the mounted and foot model the same colour scheme however, so I can only ever convincingly put one of them in an army.
On the Dead Man Of Dunharrow (later adopted into the undead cavalry line) I deliberately went for a colourless look by using only neutral colours. I think this enhances his pathetic, plodding look, which I really like on this model.
While I was on a roll I also took some loose character models which would not otherwise see paint and took them along for the ride. On the left is a Reaper Tepes Trajan Vampire Champion and in the middle is the iconic necromancer by Gary Morley from 4th edition Warhammer. The vampire was gifted to me by Malebolgia years ago and I am glad to have it painted. Because the model is rather dramatic compared to my usual fare I downplayed this by using dark and natural colours. I did the same for the necromancer which was among my first Warhammer acquisitions ever. He is large with lots of embellishments compared to the 80's models so I made him look smaller by painting his robe black and otherwise tried to match his colour scheme with my army. I am pleased with the result.
Finally I come to the first model I painted of this lot: a Reaper Bones Zombie Dragon with a vampire on top. I had the idea to make this model when I did my other dragons but I couldn't be motivated to do it among so many cool old school figures. After painting the Reaper Bones Colossal Skeleton and having nothing else to do I was motivated to pick up this little project. After trimming the integral base I mounted it on a 100x50mm base and punt on a loose Warhammer Red Duke which I had lying around without a matching horse or cloak. I think the style of the models (both a bit more modern looking) fits together well. I filled up the gap between the models with putty shaped like fur, and added reins from thread.
I wanted the zombie dragon to be blue as I didn't have a blue dragon yet, so I started by painting the blue base coat (darker on top and lighter on the bottom) and drybrushing and washing it. Then I painted protruding flesh and bones much like I did for my zombies. I darkened the extremities and wound edges with thinned black paint. After than came a lengthy dirtying session with lots of colours but mainly old blood, green, yellow, brown and black. I basecoated the stones with VMC Brown Violet and highlighted with VGC Stonewall Grey, all the way up to white.
For the wings I started out with elf flesh but I didnt get it looking right until I shaded them liberally with green.
I wanted this dragon to look dripping wet so I made liberal oozing splashes on the ruins. The tufts on my models are by Martin Welberg scenery, which is my new go-to brand as they look great and I can get them from a model train store nearby.
I hope you enjoyed this installment, and with this post I can move on to the next painting project. If you want to see more of my undead you can check out my older posts here:
Undead liche masters, war rhino and colossal skeleton [PICS]https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=125330.0Classic undead dragon riders [PICS]https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=121839.0More classic undead: pre-slotta Citadel, War Wagon, Necrodrake, monsters [PICS]https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=120846Pictures of my army:https://imgur.com/gallery/qGwakyw
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November 11, 2010, 03:02:45 PM
