Undead Army Finished.

On this rainy afternoon/evening in the run up to Hallow'een, I have finished painting the Undead army. I am very pleased as it has only taken me a week of evenings and a Sunday to do.

I am very happy with the overall look of the army, and with the mix of Undead miniatures. The whole army is metal, apart from where I used plastic scythe arms from the 1980's Skeleton Horde box set for conversions.

The only thing I might re-visit are the banners, on whch I might paint runic symbols. Whilst painting them, the overall shield and banner colours ended up as red, partly more by accident than design, as it looks good when painted faded and mucky.

However, there is one slight problem with the army.
 I seem to have lost the piece of paper which had the army list on! So I have updated the blog without it to get the photographs of the miniatures on the blog this evening. I have'nt got around to re-working it out, but will sort that out later, and post it during the week.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy :)

 The now customary full Army photograph.

 Along the battle line from the left...

 ...and from the right.

 Army General. 

I recall him being a Level 25 Necromancer.

Despite being a Skeletal horseman, I think he looks good as an ancient looking human wizard.

 Morbius the Liche, from the Skeletal War Machines box set. 

Again, despite being technically dead-ish, I will use him as a human wizard.

 Wraith. 

I decided to only use only the one Wraith, and so thought I would use this model instead. It's an old Ral Partha RP5 Monsters range Wraith.

 Ghost, from the Citadel Night Horrors range.

 Wight. 

He is the ADD 93 Shadow model from the Citadel Advanced Dungeons and Dragons range.

 Another Wight, using the Runequest Jack O'Bear.

Appropriate for the time of year.

,

 Mounted Spectre, using a Citadel C21 Undead Cavalry.

 Marauder MM52 Carrion, with armoured Imp.

 Marauder MM52 Carrion, with Grim Reaper Imp.

 Mummies from the Citadel Night Horrors range.

 Two more Mummies from Harlequin/Black Tree.

 Skeleton Catapult with one of the crew replaced with the Skeleton holdling his head up.

 Catapult with the original complete crew.

 20 Skeleton Warriors, with spears, light armour, and shields.

 Converted standard bearer from a solid based C17 Skeleton who had lost his weapon. Centre is the unit leader from Grenadier. On the right is a later 1980's Citadel C17 Skeleton.

 3 more Skeletons with spears, all made by Grenadier.

 Another Grenadier Skeleton in the centre, flanked by two more later C17 Skeletons.

 20 Warriors with hand weapons, light armour, and shields.

 Left and right are solid based C17 Skeletons designed by the Perrys. The standard bearer is converted. Centre is the unit leader from the Armoured Skeleton range.

 C17 Skeletons, 'Gunner', 'Grave Skulker', and 'Skeleton Rising'.

 On the left is a spare Citadel Zombie that was too good not to paint up and sneak in with the Skeletons, and two more C17 Skeletons, 'Boney Bomber', and a two-handed swordman.

 C17 'Wanderer', Grenadier Skeleton, and armoured Skeleton.

 20 more Warriors with hand weapons, light armour, and shields

 Grenadier standard bearer, unit leader, and C17 Swordsman.

 Grenadier swordman with a lovely Octopus shield, and two more C17 Skeletons.

 ...and three more Citadel ones.

 20 Grim Reapers.

 Skeletons armed with Scythes (two handed weapons), light armour, and sheilds.

Citadel only really produced a few Sycthe armed Skeletons (excluding the plastic range), so whilst I have mostly them, about half the regiment is made up from converted Skeletons or others. The converted ones are converted with the scythe arms from the 1980's Skeleton Horde box set, which I feel help kept them contempory with the rest of the army.

 Standard bearer from the command range, and armoured skeleton with scythe.

The unit leader, centre, is the Citadel C34 Death Elemental. I thought what better miniature from the era to lead the Grim Reapers. 

I do have the Life Elemental which I might use as a Spectre in one of the Elven armies.

 3 converted Grim Reapers from C17 Skeletons. The centre one is a converted version of the two-handed swordsman in photo #24.

 3 more converted Skeltons, made from Grenadier miniatures.

 One converted Citadel C17 spearmen, and two Grenadier miniatures.

 'Reaper' and 'Longhorn' from the MD8 Skeleton War Machine box set. On the right is a sold based C17 Skelton, named 'Azak'.

 3 Citadel Skeleton, the one on the right had his head replaced with one from the Skeleton Horde box set.

 Two Harlequin/Black Tree Skeletons from the mid 1990's.

Another photograph of Death. 

Now that I have finished painting the Undead, next army will probably be the Wood Elves.

A few Undead Army WIP photographs.

As mentioned in my last blog update, after finishing off the 3,000 point Dark Elves I have decided the next army to do is the Undead.

I have done a draft army list, but have not finalised the details, and so will add that on the Sunday update.

Since starting painting them on Sunday,  I have made quite good progress I have found that there are very quick and easy to paint, especally things such as Mummies, Wraiths, and the Carrion.
 I have purposely kept the look of the army simple by using darker basecoating with two or three very light highlights to suggest faded rotting cloth. The armour is painted Mounfang Brown then highlighted with Silver (Runfang Steel) to give the impression of rusty armour. Then everything was given a heavy wash of Agrax Eathhsade to bring it all together and give it that gunky feel.

I'll do a proper update, maybe with the army most or all completed, this coming Sunday. I still need to varnish and base what I have done, as well as add flags and check any details. I have approximately another 40 Skeletons to do, as well as odds and ends.

Enjoy :)

 Mounted Spectre made using a 1980's Citadel Cavalry. There was slight indent in the underneath of the horse that allowed the use of the flying base. 

 I used that particular rider as I thought he looked more Spectral.

 Spectres, especally mounted as always good to have in an army.

 Two Skeletal Stone Throwers. When I went to paint these I realised that I had lost one of the crew :( . So I have replaced him with the Skeleton holding his head in his hands, perhaps in this case acting as a spotter!

 The Army General. 

He is another 1980's Citadel Undead Cavalry miniature. As he looks like a King, I will use him as a  Necromancer-King. 

 Right hand side view. I wanted to keep him looking very dark and evil looking, but with a faded regal glory about him. He's a very nice old miniature and could'nt do the army without including him.

 Two Carrion with Imp riders.

 Two Wraiths, made by Grenadier for a Lord of the Rings box set. Might only include one in the Ethereal host as I also have an ADD Range Shadow, photographed at the end of the last blog update, which I intend to use as a Wight.

 Mummies! 

The two on the left are old Citadel ones, the two on the right old Harlequin/Black Tree Design. 

I want to use Mummies in the army as they are quite dangerous and also not subject to instablity. And they look cool too!

 20 Skeletons with spears, light armour, and sheilds.

 A mix of 1980's Citadel and Grenadier miniatures.

 Two Grenadier Skeletons, and a Citadel one on the right. 

I like the Roman style of the unit leader, he's holding a baton and not missing a weapon.

 20 Skeletons with hand weapon, light armour, and sheilds.

 Standard bearer and unit leader. I like the undead Prince as unit leader.

 Three swordsmen, the centre one being an old Grenadier one, the other two 1980's Citadel.

 Three more Skeletons, this time all 1980's Citadel. 

I found as I was re/painting that they naturally looked best with a colour combination of blue, red, or brown cloth, with the rusty old looking shields mostly in red.

Imp of death! 

One of the Imps riding a Carrion.

Next blog update should be on Sunday, and will hopefully have most if not all of the army finished, or if not, at least the army list should be finished.  :) 

Dark Elf Army Redux completed.

With a high degree of unintentional synchronicity with Games Workshop, I decided to have another look at my Dark Elf army which I put on hold early in the the Summer.

After painting the Snakemen I thought it was a shame to have got most of the way through the army and not completed it. I also knew that there was very little left to do, and so that if done,  it would be another of the 3rd edition Warhammer Armies completed. :)

It was very much just a week long project, but distracted me from updating during the week. After updating the blog last sunday, I re-wrote the army list to include more of the Snakemen (as a stand-in for Fimir in an Ally Contingent), and added the Repeating Bolt Throwers which I felt I should not have left out.

I was'nt happy with mix of miniatures in the army. The mix of 1st Edition Mengil Manhide's Regiment, slotta C09 series Dark Elves, and the later Marauder ones did'nt seem to work. Especally as one of the two   Mengil Manhide's regiments had to be bulked out with C09 Dark Elves. So, whilst wasting time on e-bay I found 11 Mengil Manhide's for sale (for £20) which meant I could now have two uniform regiments as the core for the army, flanked by Snakemen, and supported but other units.

As an aside, I paid £20 for 11 1984 Dark Elves, a good buy I think. Now while I don't want to get involved in a GW bash, the new snazzy Dark Elves being released are very nice, but £2 per plastic miniature! And the Witch Elves are even more pricey, with a plastic (thankfully not 'Finecast') Assassin of about £10 or £12. It does re-inforce my thought that 'Finecast' is a stop-gap until they can have a fully plastic range. It also makes me think I have made the right choice by not bothering with current GW stuff now my 'modern armies' are completed (I'll do an update of the full Tomb Kings force at a later date).

Anyway, back to the 3rd Editon army.
To give an usual grey pallid feel I painted the flesh of the Dark Elves with a basecoat of Vallejio WW2 German Field Grey, and then highlighted them with a mix of that with white. I wanted to give the Dark Elf Army a really dark raider feel. So I avoided any bright colours and went for predominantly black and midnight blue, with muted metal and gold decoration to stop them looking too dull. I avoided purple, which is used a lot in Dark Elf armies, but I think that as a soon as you use it as a main colour it dominates the look of the army too much. I might go back at a later date and add Elven Runes/Script to the shields.
Also, the relative brightness of the Snakemen I feel gives a nice constrast between the two, without being too jarring. 


Here is the 3,000 point army list:

Level 20 Dark Elf General, Heavy protective rune Armour, Sheild, Hellhonded magical weapon, mounted on a Level 1 Dragon = 517 points.

Level 20 Wizard = 303 point.

Chaos Host:
2 bound Harpies = 30 points

19 Warriors, light armour, shield, Standard bearer, Musician, Level 10 = 322 points.

19 Warriors, light armour, shield, Standard bearer, Musician, Level 10 = 322 points.

10 Witch Elves, light armour, crossbow = 130 point.

2 Repeater Bolt Throwers = 116 points.

12 Crossbowmen, light armour shield = 168 points

12 Crossbowmen, light armour shield = 168 points

Fimir (Snakemen) Ally Contingent:

Warlord, heavy armour, shield =198 points.

7 Finnia Fimm, heavy armour = 322 points.

7 Fimm warriors, light armour, shield, Level 5 = 322 points.


=2,998 points

The plan would be to have the two Regiments of 20 Warriors in the centre, flanked by the snakemen. I gave the Crossbowmen shields as I find it can take time for them to move into postion and range, and so it gives the a little more protection on the move. They will also skirmish, as they are more difficult to hit, all 12 can fire thier crossbows, and I don't plan on using them to fight in melee.
I had to drop the heroine on her Temple Dog due to lack of points. However, I still have lots of Dark Elves still unpainted, and so I will paint her and the other stuff for larger games at a later date. 
The Witch Elves and Repeater Bolt Throwers will give missile support where needed, and the Harpies are specifically chosen for attacking other flying things such as Giant Eagles. The General and Wizard will lend a hand where needed.

So here is the army :) 

 The whole 3,000 point army.

 Army General.

When sorting out the Wood Elf and High Elven armies, I relealised that the Dragon Master Miniature was going spare, and so included it as the Dark Elf General after re-painting the face/hair/armour.

 Close of up the face.

 Side view showing the big citadel plastic shield.

Wizard. 

 Rear view.

 Chaos Host:

Made using Spyglass Miniatures Demonettes.

 Two Regiments of Warriors made from 1st Edition Mengil Mangide's Regiment of Renown.

 Close up.

 Standard Bearer and Leader. 

 Trooper, front and back.

 Musician and a Solid based C09 Dark Elf Black Guard. I swapped him for the actual Champion model as he fitted the regiment better and I only have one hero in the unit.

 10 Witch Elves.

 Two mid 1980's C09 Dark Elves. 

I'm not really a fan of Witch Elves, and so find it better to use them Crossbows. If I had the points left, I might have given them poisoned attacks, and therefore strength 5 shots! 

 Another three Witch Elves. 

I prefer the look of the earlier Witch Elves rather than the big haired bikini clad ones of later sculpting.

 12 Crosbowmen.

 Three Citadel C09 range.

 Three Marauder Crossbowmen.

 12 More Crossbowmen.

I had already painted up 10 Warriors to bulk out one of the Mengil Manhide Regiments. So to save wasting time and effort, and because all but one of two of them had slung crossbows on them, and they have shields, I just reformed them into a Crossbow unit and painted up another two to complete them.

 Three C09 Dark Elves. 

You can just make out the slung crossbows on the belts of the left and right ones.

 Another three, consisting of a solid based archer, a slotta warrior (he has a slung Crossbow), and a Marauder miniature.

I have about 30 odd of the plastic Warhammer Regiments Crossbows,  I am not too struck on them, but will paint them up for a bigger army if needed. I liked the idea using the 'spare Warriors' above as they are nice miniatures and the Marauder ones don't always rank up easily.

 Repeater Bolt Throwers.

Strangely you only get 2 crew in the list, the High Elves get 3, but the set came with 4!

 All four of the crew.

 Repeater Bolt throwers, front and side/back view. They are exactly the same as the High Elf Ones, and I think they look quiet sinister painted black.

 The Snakeman Allies.

 'Finna Fimm' with Warlord.

 Fimm Warriors. 

I only did a couple of photographs as I did a more extensive update on them here:

http://goblinlee.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/15000-views-and-snakemen.html

Next up: Undead!

Now I have finished the 3,000 point Dark Elf army, I have made a start on my 3,000 point Undead Army.