Last of the Turnip28 : The General, and the Elite Regiment (Undead Napoleonic British).

This is the last update on my Turnip28 project which I have been focused on recently. It's a project I hope to return to, but for the moment the first phase of converting and painting is finished. And great fun it has been too. :)

The last phase for my Turnip28 army has been the converting and painting of an elite regiment, and the  General to lead the army.

For the General I converted a Victrix Officers body, an old metal gas mask head, and a Citadel Skeleton arm and shield. I wanted give him a much more commanding and more earthy look than the rest of the army, suggesting a deeper connection with whatever magic are animating them. To this end I added more tufts, a big rusty looking sword, and head which I hadn't used for any other miniature in the army, and a left arm which reaches out, almost suggesting he's using magic or enchantments of some kind. In addition to this, I placed him on a 32mm base to give him more of a visual impact, and decorated the base with tufts and skulls to suggest that extra magical link, like he has crawled out from beneath the mud.

For the elite regiment I wanted to achieve a similar thing. So I used a different mix of the animal skulls from the Citadel skull box set to give a more Fey, feral, animalistic, and creepy dead animal look. For most of them I didn't add backpacks, but green-stuffed parts onto the back and body, so that when I added the tufts, they looked a little misshapen. Added to that, they also all carry melee weapons and a few also shields, in addition to the muskets, to suggest a more brutal approach to fighting. I have tried to give them all more individualistic looking poses to suggest a little more autonomy in the magic which animates them (similar to the Grave Guard in Undead armies). A couple of extra little painting touches, such as grey trousers and blue water canteens also suggest they are of a different regiment than the rest of the army.

Overall I am happy with how they, and the proceeding Turnip28 miniatures have turned out. They have been a great deal of fun to convert, and great fun to paint. I love the Turnip28 idea, and like the Undead take I have undertaken with them . In the future I will wanted to convert some cavalry and maybe a cannon battery. One of the most interesting things is that it has provided an interesting break from the Oldhammer miniatures, and I am now currently sorting out some Oldhammer miniature with a newer and fresh approach.

Enjoy :)

The General.
Who knows what magic animates him, or what his aims are?

Side view.

The Elite Regiment.

Officer and Standard Bearer.

Sergeant and Gin-Trooper (he has a barrel on his back).

Double-handed weapon Troopers.

Sword and musket.

Sword and musket again.

Rear views, with the Gin-Trooper on the farthest right.

Side views.

New update will be on the 4th Edition Chaos Dwarfs I have also been painting.

Turnip28 Rifles ( Undead Napoleonic British ).

A short and penultimate update on the ongoing Turnip28 project.

I have painted up the 'Rifle' Regiment. These are the plastic Rifleman which are present in the Perry Miniatures British Infantry box set. I purchased a few extra from e-bay to make the numbers up to twelve.

The modelling was similar to the rest of the Turnip28 infantry, except that I have used the 'bird' heads from the Citadel Skull box set instead of the human skulls. I did this to differentiate these from the regular line regiments, and to suggest the increased alertness of the Rifle regiments, giving an almost a bird-raptor like feel. The bird skulls tops were slightly flattened to allow the shakos (minus the human heads) to fit. I have also added a few different arms to the Officer and NCO from my bits box.

Painting was slightly different. The uniform is based on the 95th Rifles of the Napoleonic Wars, with a dark green uniform, and black belting. Other than that, the mud, tufts, bones, and dirt were the same. They were very quick to paint, about an hour, excluding the bases, and were fun to do.

Enjoy :)

The Rifle Regiment.
These will act in a light infantry/skirmish role. I like how the bid-like skulls, along with the pose of the Rifleman's bodies, give them a roving feel.

Officer, NCO, and Rifleman.
I used a Victrix Light Infantry Officers sword arm and Line Regiment left arm for the Officer. For the NCO I swapped the Rifleman's arm for a rather brutal looking Citadel Skeleton sward arm, to make him seem mean!

Rifleman.
I have left a few Rifleman bare-headed to give some variety, and to show off the bird skulls.

More Rifleman.
Although they only have two set of arms and two bodies, you can achieve a nice selection of poses.

The last three Rifleman.

Rear view, showing the tufts.

The next update will be the last Turnip28 update showing the elite infantry regiment, and the General. 

Turnip28 Massed Infantry Fodder ( Undead Napoleonic British )

I have been a very busy Goblin.
Over the last few weeks I have got into a painting routine of sitting down after work in the evening and just getting some painting done. I have been really quite enthused by the idea of Turnip28, and really love the look of my Undead Napoleonic British conversions. I tried out a few test models, and figured out way of batch painting, and then just went for it! The outcome of this has been (including the test models) me painting 108 miniatures in a month! :) 

Now, the paint scheme is a lot easier to complete than perhaps a more normal paint scheme. The approach is a little less precise, and a lot less complicated. But still, there were several stages to work through, and several things to consider.

The actual painting was quite simple, with only dry-brushing used. I only used highlighting on the parts of the banners, and the drums. The painting started with a black undercoat, and dry-brushed dark brown (Vallejo Game Colour Charred Brown). Then dry-brushing the red for the jackets, white for trousers, grey for blankets, and Citadels Karak Stone for the bones. Add a few details such as gold for the buckles, gunmetal for the guns, etc. If need, I gave a few miniatures a thin black paint wash to tone down and add some depth. Finally, I dry-brushed in places the whole models with Vallejo Game Colour Earth, to give it all a dried mud fell, and to tone down and tie-in the colours. Bases were just the Vallejo mud, highlighted with the Vallejo Game Colour Earth, and Vallejo Game Colour Charred Brown.

The mass of infantry are organised into regiments of twelve. This makes nine regiments of twelve, each including one Officer one Sergeant, one Standard Bearer/Ensign, and one Drummer. I have really enjoyed painting these, and it has given me the idea of converting another undead army up, that of a an undead version of the French army of the 1812 Russian Campaign, complete with skulls, mud, and snow.

By the way, I have also painted eight Big Hat Chaos Dwarfs as well this month. I will update concerning them at a later date. I am currently most of the way through my last two (for now) regiments for Turnip28: a Rifle Regiment; and an Undead Mutant Regiment.

Enjoy :)

The First Regiment

Command section.
I added an old scythe from the 1980's Warhammer Undead Skeleton Horde box set, to give the Sergeant a more Undead feel. I have also added random shields from the latest Citadel Death rattle miniatures, just for effect all through the regiments.
The animal skulls, as also all of the Humans Skulls, are from Citadels Skull current box set.

Marching Troopers, with shakos.

Marching Troopers, without Shakos.

The Second Regiment.

Command section.
I gave the Officer a pistol, and a metal gas mask head with plastic hat for variety. I also gave the Sergeant another Scythe.
The composition of the Regiments, in that particular Officers or Sergeants, etc, to particular regiments is not fixed, so I can mix and match he look. The same is true for the Troopers, although I do wanted to keep all the marching ones together, and the firing ones together, as it looks better and makes sense.

Marching...

...forever marching.

The Third Regiment.

Command section.
I green-stuffed a form of Turnip/facemask/mutant head on the Officer, as well as some others throughout the army. I wanted to give a little of the look from the old Traditional Irish Turnip Jack o' Lanterns, or the look of a sack covering the head with just eye-holes.
The Officers sword in from the Citadel Death Rattle Skeletons.

Back to marching...

...always marching through the mud.

Fourth Regiment.

Command section.
The banner plaque is an old Citadel Shield, I think from the Death Rattle again.

No more marching, but now the order is to advance.

At the ready/advancing.

The Fifth Regiment.

Command section.
I love the Officers head with the hole in it. It gives a very 'dead' feel to the Undead.

Advancing.

More advancing.
There seems to be a lot of shouting going on with the Undead in this Regiment.

The Sixth Regiment.

Command section.
Again, another greenstuff head for the Officer. I wanted to give the Officers that feeling of something extra sinister going on with them, with stronger magic involved in them, in a similar way to Undead Heroes in 3rd Edition Warhammer.
I might go back and add some more details to the tattered flag later, making it a ragged Union Jack.

Advancing still ever on..

...always forward.

The Seventh Regiment.

Command section.

This section has some of my favourite models in in, mainly because they are the ones from the Perry Miniatures bristsh Infantry box set. They just seem to have better pose and character. I chose a shouting skull for the Officer as it seemed to fit him barking out order (of silently screaming, only being heard in the realms of the dead?).
The Sergeant is my favourite, standing there with attitude and a little sorrow.

"Load your muskets!"

"Give fire!".

The Eighth Regiment.

Command section.
I sculpted another of the Greenstuff heads on the Standard Bearer to give that other-worldly look.  

Loading.

Firing.

The Ninth Regiment.

Command section.

Loading.

Firing.

I took a few random photographs of the rear of the models to give an idea of the growths and tufts. I really wanted to give that muddy, earthy, feel to them.

More photographs of the rear of the models.

The Sergeant from the Seventh Regiment.

Next update will be the last few Turnip28 Regiments.