Deadcember the 30th

Almost late (which would, admittedly, have been apt for the undead), I finally got my unit of skeletons finished. Well, almost. I'll come to that later.

Here we go, pictures or it didn't happen:

Stage... something: I've lost track as I hurried to get them done, but the utterly-lost-in-the-photo shading on the shields was a base of Foundry's Musket Stock Brown 72C, with highlights mixing in some British Redcoat 68A and the magic sword was splodging about with pale blue and metallic drybrushes, then an Asurmen Blue wash to tie it together. Not too bad for a first go at a glowing weapon!

Merry Christmas

Deadcember the 23rd

I had this strange idea that I'd have more time when I started my Christmas holiday to get on and finish my skeletal painting for Deadcember. Ha! How naive I was... Nevertheless, I've finished painting the rank and file figures and am bulk painting the shields. The command figures are a little behind.

That's not the reason for this post, though, my self-selected Christmas present is:

Deadcember the 18th

Deadcember now has its very own artwork! How extraordinarily excellent is this piece of artwork I commissioned from Zhu in exchange for old school favours of which I shall not speak?!

I wasn't expecting anything quite as amazing as this!

So there we go. Cool, huh? If that doesn't get you painting up undead monstrosities, nothing will and you're a lost cause!

Get to it!

Rab

Deadcember the 16th

Gods, raise these murd'rous gentlemen

as skeletons this day...

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle towards completion. This time with added metal tarnish, thanks to Jeff McC's advice on the Oldhammer Forum (you may need to scroll down a little to his photo guide). I added a bit of GW Tin Bitz to the mix and it lost some of that orangey quality of fresh rust which was a shame but, highlighted with a delicate drybrush of Foundry 35A - Chainmail, it looks pretty good to my eye! The group on the left have had their final bone highlight (Foundry 9C - Boneyard Light) which I used on the base as well. Their belts and a final thin wash of Army Painter Light Tone Ink to tie it all together, and they're ready for their shields! Nearly done!

The three command will obviously get a little individual attention in addition.

Stage 7 - metal tarnished with a mix of GW Fiery Orange, AP Dark Tone ink, Vallejo matt medium, GW Tin Bitz and water. Then drybrushed (patchily) with Foundry 35A - Chainmail.

Deadcember the 14th

In the bleak midwinter,

skeletons did moan...

I found a bit of time last night to finish the most recent stage in this unit painting malarkey I've undertaken for this month. Even a simple thing like giving an inkwash to the bases takes quite a while - not a complaint, merely an observation from someone new to batch painting of more than one or two figures at a time!

Stage 6 - metal washed with Army Painter ink "Dark Tone", bases painted with GW "Graveyard Earth" then washed with Army Painter ink "Strong Tone", spearshafts highlighted with Foundry 72C - "Musket stock brown"

The next steps are to tarnish the metal, give a final drybrush to the bone and the bases (I'll probably use the same colour for both - Foundry Boneyard 8C), neaten any spoiled bits, paint the belts, then a tie-it-all-together wash of Army Painter ink "Soft Tone" thinned with a spot of water and some Vallejo Matt Medium. Then it will be the detail on the command group (cloak, some gold/brass detail, the drum, a magic sword for the leader in cold blue tones) and final tittivating of the the bases.

It has taken a while on each stage, but being so close to having twenty four figures painted in 13 days (and I only painted on six or seven of them!) is something close to magical for a slow painter like myself. For things like skeletons at least, I'm a total convert to batch painting - it's so efficient!

Have a good week,

Rab

Averaigne campaign - session 05

[The story so far]

Session 05 - Cowardice and coinage

Having slain the goblins, the party now had apparently free rein of the rock complex and set to searching for treasure...

Deadcember the 8th

Aaah, mortisnacht, the traditional Deadcember 8th celebration for the exchange of gifts for necromantic experimentation. Fun for all the graveyard! I remember well the year I got my very own zombie puppy...

From deviantart, by blackeyedcoyote

I must have been appropriately bad this year as when I got home from work last night, not only was my new suit waiting for me (three piece, slim cut, wool-rich, blue with a hint of violet, thanks for asking), but also THREE geeky packages for yours truly.

First, the B/X Monster Reference Index arrived that succesfully kickstarted on October 4th. If only all crowdfunding projects were so focussed and rapid in their execution - I'm still waiting on the Itar's Workshop dungeon tiles which funded on May 18th 2013!!!

This set is an A5 ring binder with all the monster stats from "the original roleplaying game" in its B/X incarnation. It'll prove an excellent flipchart on games nights and a useful reference when stocking dungeons. I like the cover, too.

Nice cover

Deadcember the 7th

Oh what fun it is to ride,

in a one skeletal-horse open chariot!

Hey!

Why did they ever change from the original words above, eh? Next thing you know, Deadcember will be all about Peace and Joy and New Life For All... 

Painting.

There comes a point during each miniature's progress from blister pack to battlefield when I suddenly feel the need to edge the base. Not as a final step, but just so that the thing feels framed, and often after I've had to do a slow or awkward part - cleansing the palette between courses, if you like. Yes that was a palette/palette pun. You're welcome.

That moment was this weekend for this unit which, by the way, is the largest group of miniatures I've ever painted in one go - it's a whole new discipline!

Stage 5 - spearshafts in Foundry 72B - Musket stock brown, bases edged in black, metal started (the left hand group have it, the right don't) with a flat coat of GW Boltgun Metal

Deadcember the 6th

I decided Deadcember had space for some verbiage as well as painting.

As is my wont, I succumb to sales and bargains far too easily, which led to me not only snapping up that unit of skeletons I've been painting step-by-step for your delight and delectation, but also a couple more bits from Ral Partha Europe. Specifically for this post, a pair of undead ogres with two-handed weapons, originally from the DSA/Armalion range!

This is what they look like in their catalogue: