Marienburg vs. the Undeadish (update: undead & spooky stuff)

[ZeroTwentythree]

Provided I can get back to the painting table sometime soon, what will I be working on in 2016? Well, like most wargamers/painters, that's subject to constant shifting attention... Although I do think I stuck to my one little project pretty well last year. I've got one or two things to finish for other people first. But after that, I've got a rough idea of some things I want to work on for myself in 2016. In no particular order, here are a few:







I took a few minutes to try out a possible solution to needing plastic shields similar to the old elf shields. It's polystyrene sheet, cut to shape, headed and formed around a dowel. Still needs a bit of refinement -- not quite there yet. White it mine, grey is a GW shield.

[beefcake]

Can't wait to see those wights painted. I love those minis.

[DeafNala]

COOL STUFF! I love the frame gun & the Dwarf Crew. Have FUN with the painting et al!

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks. I got the gun painted (easy) but not the crew.

I finally grabbed a few hours today to paint! As much as I need to wrap up some painting for others, I really needed to do something for myself (fun, no pressure, etc.) to de-stress a bit. Plus, I really didn't have that much time, so it was speed painting rather than nice detailed painting.

I painted up a small unit of skeleton guard (old 4th ed. Citadel wights.) Not as good looking or dynamic as the Warmachine Bane Thralls I used on my first unit of skeleton guard, but they have a certain retro-charm. Plus I got them in a trade for some other old figures, which is more agreeable with my limited gaming finances.

I think my home-made shields turned out pretty decent looking!

[beefcake]

Shields turned out great. I really like how you paint the metal on your undead. What paints do you use?

[DeafNala]

The shields are TERRIFIC; AND the brushwork & bases are up to your norm high standards. VERY WELL DONE again!

[ZeroTwentythree]

Shields turned out great. I really like how you paint the metal on your undead. What paints do you use?

Thanks!

Starting with a black base coat, I generally use these, from left to right. Base coat steel, wash black, then splotch & stipple with  3 layers of orange, then paint edges and other areas where I imagine rust might be scraped away with some silver.





It changes, though. I'm not a fan of the latest Citadel metals, so I'm starting to use Vallejo metals more exclusively. Sometimes I will do some blacklining (or brownlining?) with a detail brush and either thinned paint or the Nuln Oil or something-something Earth (the dark brown one) Citadel wash. Sometimes I will use some brown paint before starting with the oranges for the rust.

[Timbor]

They look great, and the rust turned out quite nice.

One thing I have found - I like the vallejo game air metallics better than the game colour ones - especially the silver.  I find that the Game Colour (and GW silvers) end up being really thick and they don't thin as well as non metallics.  The VGA have really nice flow, and the coverage is pretty much as good as the VGC.

Just in case you were planning to buy more vallejo metallics in the future.

[ZeroTwentythree]

They look great, and the rust turned out quite nice.

One thing I have found - I like the vallejo game air metallics better than the game colour ones - especially the silver.  I find that the Game Colour (and GW silvers) end up being really thick and they don't thin as well as non metallics.  The VGA have really nice flow, and the coverage is pretty much as good as the VGC.

Just in case you were planning to buy more vallejo metallics in the future.

Thanks for the tip. I will see if the local hobby shop has the air paints. And, yes, I think I'm done with the GW metalics.




Shocking, but yes -- another update.

Two reasons for this. One is that I got Stuff! In the Mail!

I'm relatively (just since last year) new to the Lead Adventure Forum, and as time allows, I've been catching up on some of the great projects documented here. One of my favorites, and most inspirational, is that of DeafNala. If you somehow haven't seen it yet, then check it out. All of it. Somewhere around page 201 there is a link to a Photobucket account full of photos, too. 

Somewhere in response to my praise and worship, I received an offer of some mushrooms, and a significant batch of both painted and unpainted ones recently showed up on my doorstep.



They're even better in person! So now I'm churning around several plots on how to make use of them on my own gaming table. I'm a little intimidated about painting the unpainted ones, so I am trying to decide on a good way to paint them so they are different, but work well with DeafNala's own painted 'shrooms.


I have also just sacrificed some more of my much needed sleep in return for some much needed painting time. I really wanted to finish up one other thing of my own that's been sitting half-complete since... I don't know, spring or summer? I wanted a hodgepodge unit of beastman-esque skeletons. I painted half of them ages ago, and the rest included a few more that needed built, plus a few metal figures from the Cursed Company.



There's a mix of figures & minor conversions here. Stock figures include a skeletal saurus, orc, and two skaven from the Cursed Company, and two skeletal dogs from Mantic. The rest are 4th/5th ed Citadel plastic skeletons with various additional animal skulls & bits.

[Little Odo]

Great looking bunch of old bones.

[DeafNala]

The Mushrooms look happy in their new home...TERRIFIC photo.
AND the Mostly Dead Beasty Boys look FANTASTIC...GREAT brushwork & the gradient bone shades are WONDERFUL. OUTSTANDING WORK!

[ZeroTwentythree]

The Mushrooms look happy in their new home...TERRIFIC photo.
AND the Mostly Dead Beasty Boys look FANTASTIC...GREAT brushwork & the gradient bone shades are WONDERFUL. OUTSTANDING WORK!

Thanks. I really have to credit my newfound fondness for washes glazes for the look of the skeletons. I'm still debating the details of basing the mushrooms, but hope to have them in some scenes on the able soon!



I don't think I posted this pic, but a few weeks ago, during the dry spell, I stole away a few quick minutes to some hobby related stuff. Two measuring sticks. They can serve the dual purpose of being compact measuring devices for Hail Caesar related games (Shadow Storm, Pike & Shotte, etc.) and also serve as highly visible photographic scales if I do follow through with the idea of doing remote gaming online. This is a very rough idea of what an overhead shot (or part of one) of a battle might look like if I do that. The sticks should help give a remote opponent a more fair concept of distances.




Quick base colors on the dwarf light gun and crew. Along with the mushrooms, DeafNala also sent me a second light gun on a Burgundian carriage that was a pretty close match for the one I had. Both of which are similar caliber to the swivel guns. So I dug through the lead stash and came up with two more spare crew. I paint the crew separately, then add them to the base when they're done. These crew are more medieval than renaissance, but I'm OK with that. It's a fantasy game, and dwarfs are all about tradition, and I really like the figures.



This will bring my dwarf totals to 2 units of spear/pike, a partial unit of handgunners, and 4 light artillery (which I may just "brigade" together into a unit.) That seems close enough to a division/contingent of its own. At some point I would like to pick up just a few more figures to round it out. Maybe some more handgunners -- though I am thinking about just rounding out the unit with command & accessory figures. I would also like a heavier unit of infantry. I've been drooling over White Knight's figures for years. At the very least, I should get a unit of dopplesoldners and/or halberdiers.

[white knight]

This will bring my dwarf totals to 2 units of spear/pike, a partial unit of handgunners, and 4 light artillery (which I may just "brigade" together into a unit.) That seems close enough to a division/contingent of its own. At some point I would like to pick up just a few more figures to round it out. Maybe some more handgunners -- though I am thinking about just rounding out the unit with command & accessory figures. I would also like a heavier unit of infantry. I've been drooling over White Knight's figures for years. At the very least, I should get a unit of dopplesoldners and/or halberdiers.

There's also a swivel gun and some more engineer types in the range if you want. 

[pocoloco]

Just jumped aboard this thread and read through it all. Great paint jobs all around and amazing pace with completing items so fast 

I already forgot if you have mentioned your secret bone colour recipe yet?

[DeafNala]

The overhead photo is GORGEOUS...shows off the troops & road in FINE fashion. GREAT WORK!

If you can, definitely get some of White Knight's OUTSTANDING creations. They are an absolute joy to paint.