obsidian3d's Empire of the Dead thread

[obsidian3d]

Finally got some WWP figures painted up. This is reposted from a thread on my blog here: http://obsidian3d.blogspot.ca/2013/03/beasts-and-bobbies.html
Several more pictures can be found there too!

Beasts and Bobbies

Way way way back before Christmas I busted open two of the starter boxes I bought for Empire of the Dead. Seb, Brandon and I had already played through the free downloadable scenario that pits Holmes and Watson against the nefarious Jack the Ripper a few times. I really liked the mechanics of the game as it allows for some nice in-game story telling. Oh, and I think it's cool that it used d10s instead of d6s. Don't really know why, just something a little different I guess.

I cleaned up all the lovely models from the Lycaon and Vampire starter boxes, glued them to their bases, primed them and wrote up starting faction lists for both. Then they simply sat around on or near my painting table for weeks at a time, looking up at me accusingly from time to time as if to say "paint us you lazy sod!" Admittedly I completely reorganized my painting area with new paint racks, paint, brushes and a new painting table in that time, but really I had no good excuse for not having finished painting any of them.

Last week I remedied that, at least partially. In fact I had a very good painting run over the past seven days...completing a total of seventeen figures from primed to fully painted and based. I'm quite proud of myself and my burst of productivity.  Naturally I'll share most of my work with you here, right now.

"Finally!" all three of my impatient readers must be thinking...

First off let me show you a batch of figures I hadn't planned on painting at all during this batch. These are some of the West Wind Productions Gothic Horror range of figures, four London bobbies!



And just because you've been so (im)patiently scrolling through all my text, here are my Lycaon starter box figures; starting with their feral four-legged companions.



Next up are their rank and file henchmen, complete with not one but two Victorian-era Wolverine lookalikes.



And lastly the leader and his lieutenant. Looks like these pooches could use some obedience training. I have a feeling their bite is worse than their bark. Sorry, lame. Just look at the pictures ok?



As I mentioned, I hadn't intended to paint the bobbies during this batch but found myself needing something to work on while other things dried, especially the washes on the two character models. The bobbies had been sitting on my priming board since last fall and a small batch of four nearly-identical figures like this just seemed too easy not to blast through while I waited.

All twelve of these figures were painted over black primer with simple solid colour base coats. The bobbies only received a black wash after that and no further highlighting. The other models all received one or more different washes and some light highlighting or drybrushing afterward.

If I can recall correctly the colours used on the bobbies were: AP (Army Painter) Ultramarine Blue, P3 Coal Black, GW Boltgun Metal, GW Tallarn Flesh and an assortment of colours for the different hair/moustaches. As mentioned they were all finished with a wash of GW Badab Black.

The Lycaons were painted with: GW Skull White, GW Fortress Grey, GW Shadow Grey, AP Barbarian Flesh, AP Beast Hide, GW Boltgun Metal and GW Gorthor Brown. The lieutenant beast's fur and skin got a coat of GW Flesh Wash which started out way too dark, but after some further highlighting I am happy with the result. The leader received a wash of GW Devlan Mud, and the other figures had a few different custom mixed washes applied before their final drybrush/highlight coats.

I'm very pleased with the final results of all of these figures. The West Wind Productions models are all very characterfully sculpted, one-piece models. Have I mentioned that I love one piece figures!?

The other five of my seventeen figures will have to wait for a different article...so I'll leave you all with a few parting images of the whole Lycaon group.

[Brummie Thug]

Nicely done mate, really like the bases and the white works well.

[obsidian3d]

Thanks for the feedback as always. I did consider going with a more snow-themed set of bases, but I decided on the grassy green to act as a contrast against the whites and greys. Upon looking back at these today I do sort of wonder why I painted the real wolves with grey fur and the werewolves are brown. But I digress. I'm really happy with them, so thanks again.

[Mike D. Mc Brice]

Very nice! The problem with snow themed bases is that they only look good on snow themed tables. And few people have those.

Have I mentioned that I love one piece figures!?

I'm with you. We should have an old one one piece figure club here on LAF.

[Anatoli]

They look great 

[obsidian3d]

I'm performing an act of thread-omancy and resurrecting this one, because I've finally painted more stuff from my EotD collection. Behold, civilians!



There are more images and some info about how I painted them here http://obsidian3d.blogspot.ca/2014/07/innocent-bystanders-victorian-civilians.html

[Brummie Thug]

Great additions! 

[kidterminal]

They look great I've added you blog to my blog roll so I can follow it.

[obsidian3d]

Thanks for the feedback folks

[obsidian3d]

Last of the Demo Scenario Figures!
(reposted from my blog at http://obsidian3d.blogspot.ca/2014/09/empire-of-dead-last-of-demo-scenario.html)

Way back when I got started with Empire of the Dead there was a free demo scenario available, which pit Jack the Ripper against Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I played that scenario a few times, albeit I'm ashamed to say, with black-primed miniatures. Since then quite a bit of time has passed, and West Wind Productions Kickstarter campaign to expand the game has come and gone.

Although these figures are technically from the Vampire Wars range, they fit in nicely with EotD's setting and figures. They were part of a bundle deal with some bobbies, civilians and even a few victim markers.

With these three figures finished I'm happy to say I've painted up everything except the victim markers. I don't care for them and might never both with them really. If you want to see the other bits you can click here to view my painted policemen and lycaons, and click here to view my painted Victorian Civilians.

However, you're here to see characters, so here they are:



For Jack I didn't use any reference to help me choose colours, I just started picking pots from my selection and had at it. It seemed pretty obvious to me that his cloak should be black and his mask should be red. After base colours had been applied I put on a liberal coat of Army Painter Soft Tone varnish. Some matte varnish and a re-application of the base colours as a highlight and he was all sorted.



Holmes and Watson were done in the same day, shortly after I had finished the base colours for Jack. I used the poster of the first Downey/Law movie as a reference for Watson's suit. After the varnish it was really dirty looking, so I applied a watered-down coat of the original colour back over the top. It turned out brighter than I'd have liked, and in retrospect I should have used a grey wash on the suit and a sepia on the rest instead. I really should fix that lantern too...it doesn't look right.

For Holmes, I went with darker colours than Watson. The red vest was just to give him a little dash of colour. Looking at them now he's pretty similar to Jack, but oh well. They're done.

I'm hoping to get a few demo games played in the next little while, to see if I can drum up some interest in EotD again. If only I could finish that nosferatu starter box...

[Brummie Thug]

Nice additions mate. 

[kidterminal]

They  look good.

[obsidian3d]

Thanks gents. Might be a few weeks until I get a game in. I have to find someone who wants to give it a try!

[obsidian3d]

A few weeks...or you know, 8 or 9 months. Still haven't gotten a game in, but I did paint some more stuff. This time up we have the vampire starter box.









For a few more figures and some text pontification you can go to my blog post at http://obsidian3d.blogspot.ca/2015/05/empire-of-dead-vampire-starter-painted.html

[Brummie Thug]

Nice job dude. Where is the extra bat swarm from? I like the shape of it