Tomb Guard, Bone Giants, Archers, and an overview so far...

 I have been busy painting more Tomb Kings, and I am thoroughly enjoying painting them. I am finding them quite straight forward to paint and am getting a lot of them done.

The first photograph below is from my progress from earlier in the month, and so there are more completed than shown. For some reason I thought I had already posted a blog update this month, and was ready to post a second with the latest painted miniatures, but it turns out I hadn't!

In addition I have been assembling the last of the kits and re/assembling various Skeleton Warrior kits for the large number of  foot soldiers. Finally, I have painted moody looking desert and desert sky background boards for photography so I can have the miniatures in more of a context. The dead are on their relentless march forward...

Enjoy:)

The army, so far...

60 Plastic Tomb Guard.
I really loved this kit when it was realised, and bought several, and I have added odds and ends over the years. They appear to be quite sought after now, and rightly so as they are a lovely kit. There are four spare War Sphinx Tomb Guard mixed in, and about four converted armoured Skeleton Warriors to make up the numbers. I have also added a few swords to the mix of Halberds, and a few bare heads, just to give a little more individuality.

On the horizon.

First regiment.

Second regiment.

Third regiment.

Regimental leaders.

Standard Bearers.

Musicians.

Halberdiers.

Shields.

Rear view.

Swordsmen.
I love the look of the Tomb Blades, and I was a little short of Halberds as some of the Tomb Guard were e-Bay purchases, and so I thought it would be fine and look ok to mix a few in.

A couple of the recently promoted Skeleton Warriors. Tucked in the regiments, and with Tomb Guard bits they don't really look out of place.

Finecast Liche.
I like the miniature, but it's a shame it is Finecast.

Bone Giant.
I really liked the Bone Giants when they were first released I loved their style and sculpting, and they were a scary opponent for enemies in the first incarnation of the Tomb Kings Army book. I used to field two when I could, causing mayhem. Later I think they were a little overshadowed by the Necrosphinx. Still, I enjoyed painting them and love the miniatures, and I am happy with how they both turned out.

Rear view.

The second Bone Giant.

Rear view.

Close up of the detailing of the Bone Giant.
One of the things I am  slightly pleasantly surprised about with the painting technique I am using for the army is how well the muted dry brushing is bringing out the superb detailing of some of the Tomb Kings miniatures. I am a fan of the 'less is more' painting approach and it is quite rewarding to see how playing with basic highlighting is transpiring.

Two Regiments of Skeleton Archers.
These form a sizable portion of the foot soldiers I have another regiment of 20 to paint, and also have Khalida's regiment of 40 archers already painted, giving me a 100 Archers (well 99 really plus Khalida). 

First Regiment.

Second Regiment.

A few of the archers.

Rear view.

Next month with be more Tomb Kings. I am determined to keep going and finish this project. There are a lot of them, with 200 Skeleton Warriors, 21 Chariots, another Necrosphinx, another Warsphinx, Necropolis Knights, Tomb Scorpions, Catapults, and of course Sterra himself (to name just a few things!)

A mixed selection of Tomb Kings painting.

  I have been carrying on with my Tomb Kings painting, and have been painting at quite a rate, even despite working, etc. In addition to what I have painted here, I have also painted 60 Tomb Guard, a Necrosphinx, two WarSphinxes, and I  have nearly finished 20 more Archers! I want to update on those in more detail and shall do so in a later blog post.

For now, here are the random odds and ends, and 40 archers. I have really been enjoying painting these, and they do look effective. I have been slightly distracted by another couple of side projects, but will be focusing on completing the Tomb Kings. Even at this rate I doubt if I will be finished before Christmas as it is a large army, and a lot of the Skeleton infantry require gluing.

Enjoy :)

Prince Apophas.

Converted Liche Priest.
I swapped his left arm for the a metal Tomb Kings one, and the right arm for a plastic skeleton one.

Side/rear view.

Ushabti with Great Weapon.
This one is a Fine Cast model, but the rest of my Ushabti with Great Weapons are metal.

Rear view.

Ushabti with Great Bows.
I really like these miniatures, and it was sad that they were only available in Fine Cast, of which I am not a fan.

Ushabti with Great Bow.

Ushabti with Great Bow.

Ushabti with Great Bow.

Necrotect.
This particular model, again a Fine Cast. He was, quite unsurprisingly, broken when I bought him from e-Bay second hand, missing his sword blade. I have replaced it with a Tomb Guard blade, which I think looks a lot better.

Rear view.

Queen Khalida's archer regiment.
I have painted this regiment with green bows, quivers, and headdresses, to match the green details of Khalida, and to give them a slightly separate identity from the rest of the army.

Queen Khalida herself.
It was only after paint stripping her and repainting her that I realised how much of a lovely miniature she is.

Next update will be more Tomb Kings!

The Tomb Kings arise once again!

 One of my favourite armies over the years has always been the Tomb Kings. I've always had a love of the Undead, and Ancient Civilisations, especially Ancient Egyptian. Add to that the magic and the backstory, and of course some lovely miniatures, and I was sold (twice over, once each at both releases!). The Mummy (1999) also being one of my favourite films helped immensely.

At both Tomb King releases I (2002 and 2011) I collected and gamed with them, but I was never satisfied with my painting of them. My painting style has changed over the last few years, taking more account of highlighting, and being less fussy. I have also decided to paint things in a way I want to rather than how I felt I should. The old painting of my tomb Kings army was fine, quite serviceable, but I never felt the soul (or soullessness?) of the army. So, I never really enjoyed gaming with them felt the painted had been a chore, and I didn't really appreciate the miniatures. The same is true of my 40k Praetorian Imperial Guard army, which I am also looking to re-visit, but that will be a later project.

Anyway, I spent some time looking again at the Tomb Kings artwork, re-reading the background, looking at how other people people painted their Tomb Kings (often now the articles are some years old given the time frame of the demise of Warhammer and rise of Age of Sigmar), and generally getting the feel and vibe of the Tomb Kings once more. Whilst doing this I found an interesting article, with the link below.
https://echoesfromthewarp.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/painting-awesome-tomb-kings-in-5-easy-steps/

Here the painter has opted for a darker tone, but with form of directional light painting style reflecting the glow of the desert sun. Now I'm not a fan of directional light painting, but the dark, dusty, non fussy style is similar to how I originally envisioned the Tomb Kings via watching the Mummy (1999) film, and the general feel of ancient Egyptian artefacts and tombs. So I slightly modified the paint scheme, focusing less on the directional light glow (although not totally abandoning it) and more on the dusty feel. I'm very happy with the results, and they are very quick to paint (helped by me being on holiday last week). I haven't yet finalised the basing technique I am going to use, but a darker desertlook using a darkened down Citadel Agrellan Earth texture paint is at the forefront of my approach. The following miniatures are a mix of test models, and items I just wanted to paint in the new colour scheme to try it out.

Enjoy :)

Swordsmen.
I have opted to keep the turquoise blue as the colour theme for the army as it just feels very Tomb Kings. 

Close up.

Spearman test model.

Converted mounted Liche Priest.
I swapped the staff and right arm for the right arm and halberd from the metal Tomb King model.

Left hand side.

Sepulchral Stalker.

Ushabti.
This is one of the few Finecast models I own. I have experimented with a mix of Citadel Agrellan Earth and dark brown, and then slightly highlighted, as a possible basing technique.

Chariot test model.
I like how the horses look, and the faded, dusty look of the chariot body.

Bone Giant.
I love the Bone Giant miniature, and in the first army book it was the formidable monster for the Tomb Kings. However when the second army book was released I always thought they were eclipsed by the new Warsphinx and Necrosphinx models, although I still always tried to include one in an army.

My other Bone Giant.

Plastic Tomb Guard.
I love these miniatures, and they were a great plastic kit.

Close up of a pair of Halberdiers, and the Standard Bearer.

High Queen Khalida.
Unlike the rest fo the Tomb Kings army I have opted to for green as her theme colour. She will is the leader of a large unit of Skeleton Archers (see below) who I have also themed green to differentiate them from the rest of the army and to suggest they are a slightly separate contingent from the city of Lybaras.

High Queen Khalida leading her archer regiment.

The next update will be more of the Tomb Kings army. I want to keep working my way through this army until I finish it. i will update more in detail about some the the models above, and hopefully I will have based them.