With them, however, is a lone infantry skeleton. He's more dangerous than that would imply, however, because he's armed with an RPG-7 rocket launcher! Look out! When asked why such a creation exists, the only answer given was: "The rules state that the summoned skeleton can be equipped with any hand-held weapon."
There are ten "standing" bodies in the box, presumably to man the chariots, and I've made up four of them as spearmen to join the ranks of the rank and file. This puts the two spearman regiments up to 15 skeletons each.
The total size of the Skeleton Horde is now 60 models, aiming for 63 models when the other four armored skeleton cavalry units are done. Quite the horde!
The five gangers are built primarily from Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder, except for the heads. Their skulls are from the Citadel Skulls box while the four Drone skulls are Wargames Atlantic (which are a little larger). I once again removed the front parts from the Cannon Fodder rifles to make them a reasonable size and remove the "bayoneted lasgun" vibe.
Gray Matter is another figure from the "Sentinels Tactics Miniatures:
Minions" box; the character is listed as The Broker. Once again, it's
soft PVC, and the sculpt isn't great. I stuck a giant's skull from the
Citadel Skulls box onto the front to tie it into the gang's aesthetic.
Then, I just drybrushed and washed most of the figure in greys to hide
the doughy sculpt and imply that she's hidden in the shadows. It works
well enough, but I'm not entirely pleased with the finished product. A
series of mistakes led her to be placed on a tall spaceship stand, which
I installed into a custom-designed 3D-printed base; it was a lot of
very unnecessary frustration, but it did lead to the idea for the drone
swarm surrounding her.
The bases, either flat or textured, had a base layer of Vallejo Heavy Violet (72.142), then a drybrush or stipple of FolkArt Imperial Red (4669).
The "drones" can also be used in D&D as undead Flameskulls, the namesake for the gang, or as floaty magic skulls in anything that uses my skeleton horde.
The base miniature is "Borin Ironbrow, Dwarf Fighter" from Reaper Miniatures. The right-hand shield is a Skaven shield, with pairs of spikes clipped off of old Skaven spears. The mindflayer head is an alien head from a Stargrave sprue, chopped in half and extended with green stuff. The dragon head is some skull from... a box of skulls, which was extended with green stuff; the horns are the tips of Skaven tails. There's a surprisingly large amount of Skaven on this model.
The parts for this little chariot come from all over. The cart itself is a Reaper Miniatures Pig and Cart. I've previously posted the pig. The cart came filled with molded-in vegetables like pumpkins and such. I put a bunch of bone bits over them from the Wargames Atlantic Skeleton Infantry sprue and the Citadel Skulls box. The wizard himself is largely Wargames Atlantic, but the hat and hourglass are from the Frostgrave Wizard II sprue. The left arm is from the Frostgrave Cultist sprue. The wizard is rising from the pile of bones like he's a part of it, perhaps suggesting a regenerative ability. The skeletal horse is from the brand new Wargames Atlantic Skeleton Cavalry box. Finally, I printed the base on my 3D printer. It's 50 mm by 100 mm to match the size of the Corpse Cart in Warhammer. That's a hefty kitbash!
The Skeleton Horde is now 54 models.
With the sixteen "basic" spearman I've built thus far, I have two regiments of 13 (5 command + 8 basic) skeletons each. Not a very round number, but it tells me I need 14 more basic spearmen to get both regiments up to 20 models. Goals!
This batch brings the total for the Skeleton Horde up to 53 models. They are now, officially, my largest force after beating out the cultists' 48. Great work, bonefellows.
With this duo complete, it brings the painting total for January 2024 up to 50 models. This makes it my most productive month ever (though, consequently, a not very productive month in other areas). Skeletons almost feel like cheating here, but there were a lot of other miniatures this month as well. Since my goal for the year is 130 miniatures, this puts me at almost 40% of my goal. Strong start!
Warhammer: The Old World just released, so I went through one of the free Legacy Army Lists, Vampire Counts, and totaled up a use for my painted skeleton horde. They're about 719 points (depending on what the Giant Skeleton proxies for). Neat! With my upcoming plans for more skeletal reinforcements, I'll probably be able to get that up to at least 1000 points, if not 1250.
The paints to use are as follows:
The base is something different. After laying down the Vallejo Dark Earth Texture (26.218), I painted everything black. Then I heavily drybrushed Heavy Charcoal (72.155), did a medium drybrush with Basalt Grey (70.869), and then a light drybrush of Luftwaffe Uniform WWII (70.816), which is a nice blue-grey. Finally, a super-light drybrush of Deep Sky Blue (70.844). It gives a nice nighttime look that should stand out among my other miniatures.
So, I proudly present: A Giant Crab.
The model stands 75mm tall from base to the tip of the sword. The attached giant rock he's standing on helped with that lift. I mounted it all on a 40mm base, then added a bunch of skulls from my trusty Citadel Skulls box to fill in the space and make it more dynamic. That box of skulls is a gift that keeps on giving, but I think this might be the first time I've used it for basing—which was its intended purpose by Games Workshop.
I used some of the last of my "old" Agrax Earthshade as a wash for this figure, which is why it looks nicely blended instead of shiny and pooled.
Totaling everything up, I now have 45 units for the Undead Army. This puts them just shy of the Embers of Alexandria Cultists' 48 units. I get the feeling that the Undead are going to have reinforcements before too long, though.
These boney chaps look a little different than the old skeletons, mostly because Games Workshop heavily changed the formula for their "Agrax Earthshade" wash. It functions differently now, pooling heavily and looking shiny/wet. The eventual matte spray varnish should tamp down the shine.
I also painted up a necromancer, which is a Reaper Miniatures "Dreadmere Wight." Presumably, he's helping to summon and/or maintain this mob of skeletons. I've wanted to paint this miniature up for quite some time, but I couldn't settle on a paint scheme until I decided to lump him in with the skeletons. The brass, red, and brown is simple but effective, and the green skin (like the mummies I did recently) is good enough.
It's just a pig.
Oink.
The male sculpt was quick and easy, mostly drybrushing and such. The female had a lot more exposed flesh, which took a bit longer; is she even really a mummy? The mummy wrappings seem like more of a fashion accessory in her case. Still, both models turned out OK.
Maybe these two fine folks can help lead my skeletal horde. Due to the scale difference between Reaper minis and Wargames Atlantic models, these guys are about a centimeter taller than the skeletons and could really stand out on a battlefield.
Also, I think I'm still setting the light box way too bright...
His base is an oval about two inches by one inch. His size category is large.
Troll, troll, troll.
Troll.
Five of the six Embers are made of the traditional parts: Frostgrave Cultist bodies and heads with Stargrave arms and weapons. This batch has three with assault rifles and two with the shotgun/sword combo. The new Spark (with the swanky yellow hood) is made with Dead Man's Hand Gunfighter parts topped with a Cultist hood; he's got a double-barreled shotgun and real evil cowboy vibe going on. This brings the Embers of Alexandria up to 47 members: Three Sparks, eleven Coals, thirty Ashes, and three "other" "members."
The wolf is a Reaper Miniatures "Bloodwolf." It has six legs, so I figured I couldn't paint it as a normal wolf. With a simple, green paintjob of mostly drybrushing, it can work as either a spectral wolf or an alien wolf, depending on what I need at the time.
Here's another figure from the excellent Wargames Atlantic Landsknecht Ogres box. It's all straight off the sprue, other than the metal eyepatch (made from putty) and the bronzed skull medallion (made from half a skull from the Citadel Skulls box).
The color palette is on the drab side, with similar greys and greens with just a bit of yellow, bronze, brown, and oily steel for little accents. The beard is a grey-brown; maybe this fellow managed to reach middle age despite his dangerous occupation.
All in all, this is a good looking ogre.
The color scheme is the same as the other groups (red, grey, and charcoal), just... bigger. The teeth and nails are a base of Heavy Goldbrown with a thin layer of Bonewhite over it. There are eight more ogres in the box, so I'm sure they'll turn up here on the blog sooner or later.
This is a great figure that should really stand out on the table—visually, not in terms of her abilities. Youngbloods are hero characters in Mordheim, but they start off very weak, with skills below even those of basic henchmen.
To stay on theme for the end of the year, Poppet can also be used as a superperson. She has a mask, see? Since this is also the color theme for the Retinue, I think Poppet might find a place there as a jester NPC as well.
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| White Hat shouldn't have attacked his target in the cemetery. |
The legend of Lychgate is well known to the locals. Saint Anthony's Cemetery is the largest graveyard in the city, situated on the hills behind the cathedral, just outside the freeway. It was sprawling, even in the 18th century, when bodysnatchers and graverobbers were something of an epidemic. According to the legend, those disturbed spirits interred in St. Anthony's had enough. Ghost stories are common enough in the city, but in this case, it wasn't one ghost or a dozen; the spirit was of the cemetery itself. They say the Lychgate makes no sound—on the contrary, it is known for the utter silence and stillness that its very presence imparts. Appearing from nowhere, it is a creature created to guard those hallowed grounds, seemingly built of gravestones and monuments, with great bronze gates sprouting as wings from its back. Those who would rob the dead of Saint Anthony's face its unyielding wrath; they and any who spill violent blood in the cemetery are interred by the Lychgate among the graves. Not everyone believes the stories, of course, but it's said that criminals especially are a cowardly and superstitious lot. There are whispers that sometimes the Lychgate can be compelled to leave the cemetery, driven by manipulative forces to do their bidding.
The model is a Reaper Bones Graveyard Golem. I really like the figure. It's big and there's a lot of detail, but it can basically just be dry-brushed like stone. It originally had both arms down in a fairly static pose, but I repositioned the left arm to reach forward to make it slightly more dynamic. I originally planned to use this model as a mini-boss in my Dungeons and Dark Souls game, but it wasn't needed (and it wasn't done in time). I like the idea of a cemetery guardian creature, so I'll probably import it into a fantasy RPG campaign at some point.