More Zombies Delivered

 Still More Zombies Needed

Now starting to look like a horde and I plan to get this group up to at least thirty. Leaving a few sprues for other projects. Actually this month has been quite productive for me even with the work trips. Although not many elves got painted this month. 

This batch turned out darker than I was planning, mainly because I washed them with undiluted Nuln Oil. Then I spent the rest of the time trying to make them lighter. The next shambling of zombies will be a lighter grey. 

Rotstagger is now built, just need to add his green stuff waistcoat and other accessories. 

Rob

More Zombies Needed

Step Forward if You Like Brains

First batch of zombies now completed and I have got bitten by the bug (or is that zombie) to do some more. 

The second batch of zombies have all been cut, modded and armed with crude weapons. To up the variety of figures and give a more WFB classic look. This time I have gone for dark red low lights and grey highlights to change the range of colours. This should contrast nicely with the greens / browns of the first batch. 

The Ultimate Zombie

Now I think the zombie below is probably the best zombie from the old Citadel C18  zombie range, so I am going to see if I can recreate him using a bit of green stuff  and the KoW figures. 

The classic C18 Zombie

Salute Pile of Shame

As Salute 2023 approaches I am attempting to finish figures and scenery from Salute 2021.

• Scenery: 2/3 Finished hut and tomb,  just the Rohan watch tower to finish. 
• Oathmark Goblins: 25 /30 Still one sprue to finish.
• Odd Plastic figures: 1/3 Only the minotaur is painted but I have started the Japanese ogre (several times).
• Resin Monsters: 2/2 Griffon & Earth Sprit finished!
• Oakbound Metals: 6 /10 Still two Spriggans (trolls) and two badger riders to go. 

All the painted stuff has featured in at least one blog post, so if you want to see them then go and hunt them out!

Although the griffon has sat on the shelf for some time, when I finally got round to painting him it didn't take long. The airbrush certainly helped to get the base colours on but also to do a dark to light brown colour blend on the wing tips. 

The other change from 'normal' was to properly wet blend the skin on the lion part of the model. It still looks wrong whilst painting on the very watery colours but the final result has come out as I wanted it to look. 

This figure has been dropped a couple of times in the time between starting it and finishing it. But seems to have gone back together alright. Obviously not as robust as either metal or plastic figures but at a fraction of the price (I think he was less than a tenner?!). It is a compromise I can live with.  

He is now ready join the woodland host against the enemies of the Fae queen. 

Rob

Zombie - WIP

Zombies March On

Over the weekend I got the first batch of zombies mostly finished. They were painted up very quickly with a mixture of contrast paints and washes. The detailing on them is very good and the washes really bring out the detail. 

I used a mixture of greens and browns for the zenithal highlighting. I think will use some greys next time to vary the skin tones. One more session and they should be ready to overwhelm the forces of the living. 

After zenithal highlighting, the zombies came off the sticks
as they were too much of  pain to paint quickly.

Ready for painting

Rob 

The Running Dead

 Start of a Horde

They don’t have classic shambling zombie poses but they do have a running zombie vibe. Hence the title of this post.

Spent a bit of time after tea putting together some of these Kings of War zombies. Starting by making a couple of sprues straight out of the box. To try and cover most of the in-box variants. 

With only three bodies (and one of those with both arms attached), they start to look like duplicates quite quickly. Now this will get better with painting, but I wanted to increase the variety by adding weapons from the bits box and a bit of green stuff. Turns out weapons and hands from the Oathmark Goblin sprue are quite suitable for these zombies. With this first set, I will add some with green stuff rags once the glue has hardened. It would be good  to do some semi armoured versions later. 

The painting plan is to paint them with multi-coloured zenithal highlighting and contrast paints. Which will hopefully give them a quick and ragged appearance. 

Rob

That's Not a Castle

 This is a Castle!

I have been working in Spain over the last few weeks and took the opportunity to visit a couple of the local castles - Peñaranda de Duero &  Buitrago del Lozoya. Both in good condition and in a very distinctive local style. While no immediate plans to jump to wargames set in Spain they did  make me think about different styles and designs. And I did find a couple of interesting wargaming inspiration pieces on the history of these places. 

Castle of Buitrago del Lozoya

The Castle of Buitrago del Lozoya is a castle is inside the walls of the walled town of  Buitrago del Lozoya. Built in the 15th century. 

Castle of Peñaranda de Duero

Situated on top of a sizable hill it commands whole of the valley below. It was definitely a brisk walk up to the top. First built in the the 11th century and updated in the 15th century. 

The castle is a narrow walled area, with a four story keep rising from the centre. Obviously under going some renovation work. It very much reminded me of some of the sites used by Game of Thrones and I believe some of the scenes were shot in one of the surrounding region. 

I was too late to go into the castle but if I am in the area again it would well worth a another try. 

Rob 

An Unexpected Bonus

 Only 39?

Not had a lot of hobby time in the last few weeks but did manage to get a bit of paint on  a few figures and even finished another wild elf.  

Like many people in the UK today, the family and I popped home to see our mums on Mothering Sunday.  After a very nice lunch, an afternoon stroll was called for to work off some of that excellent food. Whilst walking around the town, my daughter wanted to pop into a charity shop that happened to be open. 

Once inside I noticed a box of zombies from Kings of War. I had a quick look inside and all of the figures were still on the sprues and everything seemed in order. So forty (Actually it was thirty nine but still very much a bargain) zombies for a tenner is a bargain.   Even with one missing this means each zombie only costs 26p each. I plan to mix these up with spare weapons etc. from the revenants set which will give a nice mix of armed and unarmed  cannon fodder. 

Presumably an unwanted Christmas present, as the set is dated Nov 2022. 

Anyway this will be a welcome addition to slowly growing undead horde. Once I paint a few more elves. 

A great looking Celtos Wild elf.

The Kings of War Zombie sprue

Time for some zombies...

I also want to try and finish a few of those figures which I bought at Salute 2021 before I go to Salute 2023. 

Boris with green zenithal.

Rob 

Doing Some Painting (a Bit)

 Project Slann

I after a bit of thinking I realised I don't have to sculpt a whole figure. So, I am thinking about using bodies and arms from figures like savage orcs. Then I only have to sculpt the heads and the legs. Just need to get some savage orc figures...

And a Figure off the Opportunity Pile

Again with limited time and motivation I picked another figure off the opportunity pile. A half finished Rogue Trader ork leftover from last Orktober.  These were an attempt at Zenithal highlighting with a spray can, so they lack some of the smoothness you get from an airbrush.  But great fun to paint  and bags of character. Definitely a low effort painting session. 

Rob 

Sunday Night Painting Session 2

 One Hour Speed painting Challenge

Sunday night is usually the one night of the week, that I can take my time painting.  So it is a bit iconic that I set myself a speed painting challenge! Didn't have any particular plans when I sat down to do some painting this evening. But I did want to finish something, so I quickly gave up trying to paint any wild elves as they are all at the beginning the painting process and they have too many colours and details to paint quickly. So, I picked  a figure off my opportunity pile (pile of shame) and decided to see how far I could get in one hour. This did mean using the little heater in my painting study to speed up the drying process. 

So, I mostly finished her in one hour. I did some very quick wet blending on the skin and used a variant of the technique I have been using to paint the hair on the wild elves. Which is to paint Nuln oil direct onto the grey undercoat and then dry brush with white. In this case I used a dark green ink as the shadow instead of Nuln oil and I quite pleased with the result.  The base will get finished later.

Not sure which manufacturer made her but I seem to think she was part of the Void range?!! I picked up a show many years ago because I though she would make a great heroine for my Cyberpunk gang. 

Just noticed the back of leg
which I have to touch up!

Rob 

The Journey Ends

 Young Bilbo Finished

I didn't like the lighting on the finished figure.
So, I used this in-progress picture instead.

Painting the young Bilbo figure has completed the company of Thorin Oakenshield. And it has taken nearly 20 months (See original post  The Company of Thorin Oakenshield). Much longer than I originally it would take. 

My painting experience from completing the Company of Thorin Oakenshield  neatly sums up my feelings towards the Hobbit movies. Which are very mixed! I have found both the movies and painting the figures  to be extremely frustrating and very joy able in equal measure. 

Leaving aside the merits (or otherwise) of the movies, painting these figures has a trying experience. And while it has pushed my painting skills. I haven't always been satisfied by the final results. Mainly because they seem to have very shallow or limited detail. Which means my usual techniques of washes, drybrushing and highlighting just didn't work. So, I had to work much harder to get an acceptable level of detail. 

Me: Before I started painting

Young & Old Bilbo

In comparison, painting the old (metal) Bilbo was a very enjoyable experience compared to painting the new plastic Bilbo. 

Me: When they arrived

Gandalf: Would like to paint the Company of Thorin Oakenshield again?

Me: Good Morning

Rob