Zombies

I am almost done on the first unit of zombies. The bases need some extra work, I think the addition of some rotting grass and some moss might be in order. I am not happy with the gravestones, they will have to be re-worked in some way.

On the meat of the unit, the zombies, I am pretty satisfied with their appearance. There's a few rough edges, but these are only really visible up close and to those with a critical eye. The mix of different parts works well, as long as you don't mind this more dynamic look. The old shuffling, comical GW zombies from yesteryear are a different breed to this species.

And here they are in horde formation. It's pretty unlikely they will appear in a game like this, but it looks nice!

Zombies almost finished

I am nearly finished on the zombies. They are painted and glued to the multibases, there's still the earth and grasses to complete. I took a quick snap to show how they look ranked together, but the photo was awful. However, a quick play in the photo editor and I almost rescued it - it's still not focussed properly, but I thought the end result was a bit of fun, certainly worth a mini update.

Zombie horde assembled

I have been assembling these zombies for some time. They are a mix of mantic zombies and ghouls, with a few GW bits thrown in. The scale difference is quite negligible, though it takes a bit of cutting and trimming to get them together. There are around 50 zombies here, though I have recently decided to make it up to 60 and paint them in two batches of 30.

The black bases are plasticard. I am mounting them in large groups with a few odd spares, to give the appearance of a disorganised horde. It's a technique used by historical gamers and it gives a much nicer appearance, as well as being more convenient to transport and game with.

The metal and resin bits are from ebay (of course), a selection of gravestones and monuments to decorate the bases, or to become scenery pieces. I am still not 100% sure how to tackle the bases, I want to move away from the sand and flock routine, which is becoming a bit old.

This overhead shot shows that there is a fair bit of real estate to play with. I don't want to go overboard and cram it with graves and skulls, I like the sense of spacing in between the figures. This picture also shows the more natural groupings, the zombies are bunched together rather than lined up neatly in ranks and files. I have already started to speed paint the first 30, so hopefully I will have my first regiment painted in the near future.

Project XX Unveiled

Not so much an unveiling as I have been banging on about my old army for a couple of weeks at least. My main project for the next year will be a Vampire Counts army, partly to recreate my first fully painted warhammer army, but mostly to play once again with one of my favourite armies.

This piece of art is from the original skeleton horde box set. I think there were 30 skeletons included. I actually have some of them somewhere and it would be nice to include them in the new army if possible.

I have been collecting models and ideas for the army over the past year or so. At first I was going to try to recreate the army as it had been in the mid 1990's, complete with metal zombies and lots of the old school metal characters. But after looking around the web at all that is available for Undead generals, I decide not to limit myself in such a way. I will be using a combination of plastics and metals from a variety of manufacturers. I am choosing them mostly for two reasons ; affordability and aesthetics. I have already made a start on the first unit of zombies and a lone necromancer.

And yet more old pics

Zombies are a staple unit in Vampire Counts armies, in my old army I had about 60 of them. The sculpts are starting to look a bit dated, the huge hand syndrome that we all seemed to overlook ten years ago is mentioned all the time now. I guess as gamers and collectors we have become more discerning (or demanding). Big limbs aside, these don't look too bad to me, the muted tones help to hide their deficiencies.

This unit contains an ogre zombie I made from one of the heroquest ogres, which are a bit smaller than the current plastic ogres and fit into the unit a little better. I think I still have one or two of these round somewhere, I might see if I can sneak one into my new army.

I can remember quite clearly that I did take one photo of all the zombies in one huge regiment. Sadly I have no copy of it. There is something very impressive about a mass horde of figures on the tabletop, so one of the first tasks in building the new army is just that - a zombie horde.

And that concludes our meander down memory lane. There were other units in the army, but the photos have melted away to a virtual graveyard somewhere out there. Maybe they will turn up again, in another ten years.

More pics from the past

Here's a picture of one of my favourite regiments. It's from an Undead army I painted about ten years ago, I can't remember exactly when it was done. It's part of an army that I eventually sold to a gamer in America. The pictures I found on the Vampire Counts forum, I had long ago thought they were lost forever.

The idea for the regiment came from the GW regiments of renown. They released the Cursed Company, which included a few non-human skeletons: a dwarf, a skaven, a lizard, and orc I think. I added some old metal armoured skeletons and built a few other plastic dwarf skeletons. There's even a couple of non-GW figures in there somehwere. The regiment is long gone, but I did keep hold of a few minis as a souvenir of the army. I might even be able to include them in my new army, though it's doubtful as stylistically they are very different to the current build.

The army included three regiment of skeletons, including this unit with nifty wooden shields. I had used the army in tournaments and it had been "spotted" by some GW bods. Consequently, I was invited to the HQ in Nottingham and had the army photographed. However, some of the components, these shields included, were not GW made and so ultimately they did not print the photos. I seem to recall sitting in the studio reading the new Tomb Kings book before it was released, while the photographer got all the shots that were never to be published.

The third and final regiment of skeletons I had built from the old single pose plastic high elf spearmen and spare skeleton bits. I don't have a photo of the full regiment, just a single rank, but it gives a rough idea of how the unit must have looked. I think in total there were about 60 or 70 skeletons in the army, spread across the three regiments. Certainly more than those in my first army, which was a single regiment of 30 skeletons, reflecting the growing size of armies as newer editions of the game were released. None more so than the current version of the game, which really encourages large blocks of infantry. I will probably aim for two skeleton regiments in my new army, of about 25 - 35 models each. It's never easy giving exact sizes when planning a Vampire Counts army, magic tends to inflate regiments almost as quickly as enemy units decimate them!