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

[Duke Donald]

Superb painting! So crisp and clean with a great sense of composition. I really like how the golden helmet of one of the undead-ish horsemen (the leader of the pack?) attracts the eye and provides a perspective to the whole bunch.

[beefcake]

Very nice. The mx of horses looks great.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I've been doing this for a very long time. I should know better. But it's a very humid day, and here on my desk is my first batch of Mantic skeletons & revenants... covered with "fuzzy" primer.

[Duke Donald]

I know the feeling! The only positive to the situation is a hazy coat of primer is still better than a hazy coat of varnish over painted minis.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I've unfortunately had that happen to me once in the past, too.

I painted a couple of test models from Mantic. Not the best pic, but I think they came out ok. When I'm at a proper keyboard (instead of a phone) I'll type out some comments on the figures.




I'm still digging around & cleaning out my attic storage. I found this over the weekend.




My plan is to try some big battle games, but when I pulled this out, my mind started to wander off to thoughts of a secondary skirmish project. I've had this since it was new, but have never played it in spite of the fact that I really like some of the mechanics. Have always wanted to give it a try...

[Oldben1]

Those black and white minis are cool, kind of hellboyish.

[Juan]

I like a lot your use of the black and white colours. Really nice!

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks!


Painted up my first group of Mantic skeletons. They are a mix of the regular ones and the Revenants, which I thought look too similar to the regular skeletons to warrant use as some other troop type.

They are OK models for the price. I'm not a huge fan of Mantic's figures in general. But I was more optimistic with the undead after seeing photos online. Once I got them in person, and now after I painted them I am less impressed. Some of the detail is very shallow and just doesn't show up with the paint. Some of the poses are a bit awkward (a few of them reminded me of the Warlord Celts,) including the way some of them were holding their weapons. I'm not really a fan of the "expressive" (cartoon-y?) skulls, either. They're not horrible figures. And they might look better in mass numbers. I'm just not a huge fan so far.


They're also a lot smaller than I expected. They look OK next to the ancient Germans I'm using as "undeadish" and should scale up OK with Perry WotR figures that will end up on the opposite side of the battlefield. But they really look miniscule next to GW and other fantasy figures. This wasn't entirely unexpected, but the difference is more noticeable than I had thought it would be. (At least on the painting/photo table -- I'll have to see how they look on the gaming table.)

[Vermis]

They are OK models for the price. I'm not a huge fan of Mantic's figures in general. But I was more optimistic with the undead after seeing photos online. Once I got them in person, and now after I painted them I am less impressed. Some of the detail is very shallow and just doesn't show up with the paint. Some of the poses are a bit awkward (a few of them reminded me of the Warlord Celts,) including the way some of them were holding their weapons. I'm not really a fan of the "expressive" (cartoon-y?) skulls, either. They're not horrible figures. And they might look better in mass numbers. I'm just not a huge fan so far.

I hear all that. Too much of Mantic's offerings to date have been 'meh' at best.

They're also a lot smaller than I expected. They look OK next to the ancient Germans I'm using as "undeadish" and should scale up OK with Perry WotR figures that will end up on the opposite side of the battlefield. But they really look miniscule next to GW and other fantasy figures. This wasn't entirely unexpected, but the difference is more noticeable than I had thought it would be. (At least on the painting/photo table -- I'll have to see how they look on the gaming table.)

I hear that too. The elves, besides being stick-thin, are tiny with it. I'd say they'd struggle to be even half the mass of a GW uruk hai. (Both minis just happen to be on my table right now)

Still, looking at your latest pic, the painting's up to the usual standard, and looks great. I expect they won't make too much of a hiccup on the table.

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks!

I hear that too. The elves, besides being stick-thin, are tiny with it. I'd say they'd struggle to be even half the mass of a GW uruk hai. (Both minis just happen to be on my table right now)

I think that's a better description than mine. I think I'm more willing to accept the size differences between many of the other figures because they still have "gaming miniature proportions." Granted, the old GW plastic skeletons still push the limits of that in the opposite (large) direction as the Mantic figures. Maybe I am more forgiving with those because I like the poses, skulls, depth of sculpting, etc. much better.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I counted up my Mantic skeletons and discovered I will be one base short of having a nice round number of units. So I painted up an old Citadel figure to use with them, as a leader type figure, along with one of the "emerging" skeletons from the Mantic sprues.






I also dug out an old (already painted) swarm to accompany the undead.

[fred]

What an awesome project.

I've just seen the latest updates and have then read the whole thread through.

The painted figures look great, the colour choices work very well.

Looking forward to more progress and more photos.

[DeafNala]

You do have a real flair for the Living Impaired AND the rats as well. VERY WELL DONE one & all!

[Arundel]

You are a massively talented painter (I know from past painful experiences that painting skeletons/undead well can be a trick), and your photographs certainly do your work justice. I haven't had time to go through the whole thread, but look forward to doing so in the future. The comments you make on your approach to this project are also very interesting. Excellent stuff, and keep up the good work!

[Diakon]

Wow this is a beautiful undead/undeadish army and the good guys are looking pretty sweet too.