Don't worry, I am still painting the Chaos Dwarfs. However, I have got a little distracted by a project I have wanted to tackle for a while...
I have always liked the Crimean War, and Iron Maidens song 'The Trooper', and so I wanted to do an Undead Crimean War army era based on Eddie from the Iron Maiden cover. So the other night I started converting some old plastic 28mm Napoleonic Miniatures which I have had for a while, using the Skulls from the Citadel Miniatures Skull box set, and a little bit of green stuff. As I converted them I realised that it might be easier to just have an Undead Napoleonic Army. This got me thinking of the Tunip28 gaming movement.
The Turnip28 idea is a concept drawn from the miniatures converting and art works of Max FitzGerald, whose work can be found here:
https://twitter.com/maxstaxidermia
The premise (or the root, if you like!) of his idea is, to quote, a sort of "post-apocalyptic Napoleonic root-vegetable themed wargame". It was born out of his wish to have have some Napoleonic miniatures without the hassle of painting the large amount of detailing which goes with them, and also with the desire to build the kits and kit-bash with some medieval kits too.
Add to this some John Blanche inspired artwork, and a kind of muddy, earthy, root vegetable based apocalyptic setting, and there you have it! He conducted an interview with Edwin Moriarty on the Goonhammer site which better explains it here:
https://www.goonhammer.com/turnip28-interview-with-max-fitzgerald/
Anyway, with this in mind I took a slightly more Undead take on the idea, something which a few other kit-bashers have touched upon. Many of the people involved have been using some of the excellent Napoleonic and Medieval kits made by Perry Miniatures, Victrix, Warlord games, and others, with elements from bits boxes thrown in (to the cooking pot!?).
Now, I love the Perry and Victrix kits (I have never dealt with any of the Warlord Games ones), and assembled the beginnings of a British army comprising of them years ago.When I moved house some years ago, they were sadly damaged. As Napoleonic armies usually have to be 100% perfect, and my kits were now in a less than ideal condition vis a vis broken bayonets, etc, I never went back to them. But for Turnip28 conversions this doesn't matter.
So I set to work on them. I wanted to keep a Napoleonic look to them, but with an Undead twist, and as I don't have any Medieval box sets to use, so didn't add any Medieval items! For head swaps I used the Skulls from Citadels Skull box set. The bodies were a mix of Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British (the grey plastic ones shown in the photographs), and Victix Napoleonic British Line, and Centre Company box sets (the yellow and brown ones).
I have thoroughly enjoyed converting them up, and am very happy with the results. I like kit bashing, and still have lots of these miniatures left over, giving me a sizeable army. According to the background, they are to be organised into regiments of 12, and so I have gone with that premise for now. Painting wise, I am not going for the full root look with the tufts of grass on the miniatures, etc (although it does look good), but will be going to a very muddy, as though they have risen from their mud-filled graves.
Enjoy :)
These are the ordinary Troopers, or 'Fodder' as Max FitzGerald referred to them in the Turnip28 background.
To have the Troopers wearing hats I have sawn off the top of the skull, and the face/head part attached to the Shako, and then glued the two together. To keep the skull at head level, I have added some green stuff to hold it at the correct height.
They are based on 25mm round bases.
Some of the Citadel Skulls have some lovely (!?) battle injuries and damage to them, and look better without the Shakos.
I love how these two turned out. The Nonchalant Sergeant with the half-pike looks quite mournful to me. The other Sargent, who is apparently meant to be received ammunition from another Trooper, does, with the Skull head, look like he is Death beckoning you to your fate!
I also used the covered Belgic Shako for these two to differentiate them from the other Troopers more, and give them a slightly different look.
For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to have a few of the Officers, and maybe other ranks, wearing gas masks, just to give them a different look. These gas masks are metal, and are from West Wind Miniatures. They originally had Kepis on, which I removed and replaced with Bi-corns.
I plan to do a few more crazy ideas for other Officers and NCO's.
The one on the left has a great looking split Skull. The Drummer boy on the right seems quite poignant as it represents a boy/young teen, killed and now Undead. Some of the Shakos, like his, had lost their plumes, but I am still using a few as they fit in with the battle damaged look.
I haven't tackled converting many Standard Bearer Miniatures yet. This one had lost the end of the pole, so I replaced it with a Skull. I am planning to use some of the big beast looking Skulls from the Citadel set, along with root vegetable themes pennants.
Max FitzGerald suggested that some of the Regiments, named 'Chaff' might be more skirmisher in nature.The quote he used was "long-beaked, nasty arrogant bastards that scout ahead". That got me thinking of using the bird-like Skulls from the Citadel box set on the Rifleman bodies.
Here I have converted an Officer and a Rifleman.
Next update with probably be some Chaos Dwarfs, although I might also paint up a few of these as test miniatures as well.
Very nice looking conversions Lee
ReplyDeleteThank you Dave, I'm really enjoying converting them. I am going to see if I can paint a few of them up in the next few days as well.
DeleteScary! I really find them enjoyable, they have quite an unique charm. I'd love to see them painted.
ReplyDeleteThank you. They do have a scary look to them, a combination of the intimating look of British Redcoats , and being Undead. I am aiming to paint a few test miniatures up in over the next week.
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