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Hiya folks!
My first thread on DakkaDakka! I'd like to share with you the graverobbing journey that is my VC army being built. Hilariously enough, I'm not a big fan of vampires. However, I've got a burning (or is that rotting?) love for the undead. Since my choices in warhammer inevitably come to either Tomb Kings or Vampire Counts I've thrown my lot in with the Aristocracy of the Night, subtly hoping however that I can one day retire my vampires and let my Necromancers and Wight Kings take the reins!
Enough chatter for now, lets get to the pictures!

First up, some of my finished undead gribblies.


My only painted up "Vampire" in my army. Most of the available Vampire model range does not really interest me. I got this old DE corsair model from the bitz box at my local GW retailer for free and I think he looks dashing! He was also my colortest for the ancient bronze armor scheme, and I've since applied it to the rest of my army.


[i]My Wight King. As astute Dakka modelers will notice, then he's not really a warhammer model. He's a Castellan of Dol Guldur from the LotR model range. Since that game flopped here in Iceland the models have been on sale for ages, and finally went on a "2 for 1" offer. I've been able to pick up lots of really cool sculpts including my bat swarms which I'll post in the future ^^
Anyways. The King was my colortest for the wight blades and now all my wights have that scheme for their blades.


Ahhh...the corpse cart. A wonderful sculpt full of detail, one of my favorite models when it comes to sheer nastyness. I made sure to make the whip nice and crusty. You can see more detail shots of the cart here, here and here.


A sample of my lovely zombies! They need some explaining. For a long while I wrestled with how I should paint my zombies. First I tried the classic "pale dead person" scheme. That looked ok, but not raggy enough. It didn't convey that "wrongness" I wanted. I tried making them dirtier, more blue here, more green there etc. But it just looked like a mess. Then I started doing shades of green until I just starting layering dark green onto them. Stepping back, I realized this really did capture their look and sense of malice. Green skin, white eyes and dripping with gore, trailing slimy guts. Basically I made my zombies caricatures of animated corpses rather trying to capture that ultra realistic look. I think it worked pretty well! More shots here, here and here.


Skeletons aplenty. Again, a sample of my ancient animated warriors in all their splendor. I got (and still get) alot of niggling comments about them being too white, the scheme being too simple, using so few colors in the palette etc. But to me they're just pointing out exactly what I set out to do. They're a great contrast to the shambling hordes of zombies and the limited palette means they tie in closer with the rest of the army.


The menacing and homicidal wights! Lovely models, great detail in their armor, heads and weapons. My favorite ones are the axe and shield wielding ones. Here you can clearly see influences from the armor scheme from the vampire and weapon effect from the wight king. More pictures here and here.

That's what I've already finished. I'm busy exhuming and raising more undead though, so lets have a look at what I've dug up recently, eh?


My lean mean killing machines! I finished basing and drool-detailing them today. There's more detail shots of the wolves here, here, here and here. (All the detail shots were taken before adding the drool though =p)

So, now that we've caught up with what I'm doing I'll start posting more "In progress" shots of my undead horde coming together. Next up to be finished are my Dire wolves. Then I'll most likely expand my supply of zombies and grave guard (having already assembled and primed a few). After that is something I'm very much looking forward to. I plan on getting a pack of Ogre bulls and converting them for use in my army. I'll make a few of them as mercenaries who've spent too long in the company of the undead (sickly, drained, too much zombie meat still wriggling in their bellies, etc) and a few who've succumbed entirely and now shamble along with their zombie brethren (I figure that an ogre is a great way to add menace to my zombie units, plus he's a placeholder for four zombies meaning I won't have to have as many on hand!)

Stay tuned!

The drool on the dire wolves throws up a problem for me, don't get me wrong, it's genius, but wil a bare skull for a head, will they have a saliva gland? But seriously, how did you do it? I want to do it on WOC Warhounds

Looks like the all purpose craft glue I have.. Clear and very gummy. You can touch the tip of the glue bottle to a tooth and when you pull the tip away you get a glue strand, kinda like a hot glue gun.

Beacon's 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue is the name. Got it at Michaels.

@P4NC4K3
Hehe, well once I push my suspension of disbelief to the point where I can accept dead wolves the size of small tractors rising up and pouncing around the countryside at the whim of vampires intent on enslaving the world into a undead parody of its current existence...I find that things like "How are they drooling" just sortof fades into the background!
But it IS a good question...I guess the magic used to animate them might have something to do with it. Perhaps it is simply "formed" via the winds of magic and continuously replenished or, in the case of non-skull heads, their rotten saliva glands are jumpstarted back into production.
No matter the exact method, these wolves drool alot so we must assume somesort of fell method is being used to supply them with their veritable ocean of saliva!

As for how it is made, I used a hot glue gun and pulled strands from it with my sculpting tool, then I stuck it to a surface and pulled it to another. It makes great gore, drool or whatever you want thin and stringy. My first experience with it was on this model and since then I've used it on a few others. However, the glue I'm using on the wolves has a different consistency than the one I worked with when I was first starting to use a glue gun, so it is taking some getting use to (again) ^^ (I'm currently using 7mm "Meister" glue rods in a "Bostik" hot glue gun)

Nice thread Pr0t0coN. I can't help but admire the gory whip on the corpsecart. So disgustingly delightful!

Some great conversion work on the zombies, and I love the bases on the wolves.

Can't wait for you to post a pic of your wargulf!

I finally got some time to paint and I did a colortest for my Dire wolves.
A blizzard was busy consuming the surrounding neighborhood as I painted, white flecks steadily building a wall across the window and buildings intermittently hidden as winds picked up and tossed up a near solid wall of snow.
Perhaps it was this that caused me to take a more "winterish" theme to my Dire wolves...perhaps it was something else (Like having just finished Gotrek & Felix: Vampireslayer)

I'd love some comments on my wolves, the scheme, the contrasts and if my first ever "Glowing eyes" effect works ^^
It's not done, plenty of detail work to be done, tidying some overlapping colors, finishing the base etc...but the basic scheme is here.





Eagerly awaiting comments!
*Lopes back into the snowstorm*

PrOtOcoN wrote:@P4NC4K3
Hehe, well once I push my suspension of disbelief to the point where I can accept dead wolves the size of small tractors rising up and pouncing around the countryside at the whim of vampires intent on enslaving the world into a undead parody of its current existence...I find that things like "How are they drooling" just sortof fades into the background!

Touché, thanks for the how-to

dude, your dire wolves look fantastic, seliva and all.
gz

Dude, those wolves are just plain nasty! They should be worth waaaay more points (and ofc better also), simply due to the badass painting!

Excellent army, glad to see the detail work, and the nice basing.

Hate to revive a thread thats been passing through for a few months here. But anyways.

Read through I noticed some questions and ideas of drool effects so I thought I would throw my two cents at you folks.

An easy way to do some drool (Or whatever you may need to string off etc.) is right in your modeling tool box, plastic cement. Melts the plastic ever so slightly. Apply, wait for the plastic to soften, and then take a needle tip or even a paper-clip and string away. I highly advise this technique be used in a place suitable for melting a little of your model, or in other cases hidden in such a way you do not sacrifice detail.

Thanks for the heads up Evilsunz!
I'll definitely give this a try when I'm caught without my glue gun and need some drool stat! =D

I'll have to excuse the lack of updates here, I've been busy handling my schoolwork and such and simply haven't had time to photograph my progress. My Dire Wolves are shaping up nicely so you can expect to see some progress shots of them soon-ish. I've also been "procrastinating" and painted up a necromancer from an old "Dark Emissary" figure I had lying around as well as doing some work on an old river troll!

I'll post those along when I've got time to take decent pictures of them.
For now though, electrical theory calls me =p

Finally I'm updating!
I just sploshed the last bit of paint on my Doom Wolf and I've got other wolves on the production line. I feel more confident with this color scheme now and I've made some minor adjustments to it. As with the other one the base is not yet finished and I've been contemplating to add some snow, which I think might work really nicely.
Without further ado here's my Doom Wolf.



I also finished one of my necromancers. The tribal "Rothhurgur" which those have been following the Zombiefest battlereports will remember as the fellow who loves nothing more than roasting Skaven with his Rod of Flaming Death!


More forthcoming as I finish off my wolfpack!

Nice models. Your paintjobs continue to disgust me. (In a good way.)

The wolf looks totally hardcore, a sort of "I´ll drink your BLOOD" type of look. Sad that they´ve got so little punch in game terms... :S

The dark emissary fits well with the rest of the horde, surprised to see how neccromancer´ish he looks. Did you modify the model at all?

I've been working on my Dire wolves though I've run into abit of basing trouble, so no pictures of them until it's resolved
After being swamped with work and working on a painting competition entry and a diorama I've started work on my VC again. I made a blue tac mockup of my next corpse cart, here's what I've got so far:




I figure that the corpse cart is like a mobile buffet for the ghouls. Driver is seen here skewering a hungry ghoul. I'll also impale the one dragging it or alternatively tie him to the pike thing...still haven't decided.
I don't like the "Murloc" look the ghouls have so I'll be "shaving" them all similar to the one pulling the cart. Much prefer them that way ^^
Liking the look of this cart so far, very different from the other "standard" one I made before. Also the ghouls look so devious somehow. Silly ghouls, zombies are for the cart!

Anyways, just some WIP stuff for now
Stay tuned!

@Xanthos
I didn't modify the base model at all, he really is perfect as he is! =D

This is incredible.

Now I'm gonna collect Vampire Counts as a project.

You sir, have inspired me.

very impessive painting skills, my wights don't even look half as magnificant as those, and my vampire lord vlad von carstein never had as splendid a look as your lord. Truely amazing. think i'll paint with a newly refreshed interest from now on..

Being a fan of the undead I have to say I love those. Nice job!

i'm liking what i'm seeing
doubly so since i don't care much for some of the models from that army
thumbs up man

You folks sure know how to make someone blush! =D
Thanks alot for all the kind words! I'll really try to get some more progress pics up since people seem to like those alot
I'll be doing some conversion work on the Corpse cart today as well as finishing up more Dire wolves. I've got more pictures of them for 'ya propably by tonight and then I'd like to hear your input on some of the basing ideas I have for them!

Thanks guys 'n gals...you've really inspired this zombie ^^

p.s.
It seems like the link to the picture of the back of my vampire was broken. I've fixed it now ^^

Well it's been a busy month!
It seems like I caught the terrain fever...along with a more nasty fever that has made me bedridden for days now!

I've got a large update post on my WIP projects. I've been sortof wandering to and fro in my project schedule, depending on how the mood strikes me and where I am. Mind you, all the pictures are very much WIP, I just felt like documenting my progress and to let some folks know that I haven't stopped modelling or anything =D
So here it is, what I've been up to these last weeks.

Farmers Hut


My first large terrain project. The tools and materials used are there, it's mostly composed of a old ruined Ikea basket that I harvested for the walls and its excellent stiff cardboard, then there's a cereal package, some model straw, masonite for the base, chimney from the GW house kit (that was donated by a friend)and liberal amounts of PVA glue and spackle! The picture is taken just after its first coat of paint, there'll be highlighting and such once the paint properly settles. The roof is removable and I'm building furniture for it.
I'm very happy with how its turning out, not bad for a first piece =D


Zombie Champion

Yes, I know zombie regiments don't technically have champions, but why shouldn't they? I cobbled this black orc zombie together from various bits I had lying around. I plan on including a special Zombie Champion model in all my zombie regiments. It's a fun conversion opportunity and who knows, maybe one day we'll have a champion ^^


Vlad

I don't like the Vlad model. His cloak sticks out over an inch, there's a friggin' hurricane blowing behind him sending everything flying in one direction and he has his sword stuck out another inch or two behind him. He's basically impossible to place into a squad without tailoring it for him. Plus...I just don't like him. "Hey look! It's the ring! It's my only weakness! But don't steal it! Lawl!". Meh.
Anyways. I've shaved the model, reducing the size of his ginormous cloak, shaving off the bear paw that stuck out and I'm planning on repositioning the arm kinda like its been blue tacced on the picture. I'm pretty much set on hacking off the sword hand however and replacing it with a nasty looking single headed axe, perhaps from the Grave guard sprue. I think it'll fit much better in with the rest of my army. I'll also sculpt some hair flowing down his right side.I've also been giving some thought to sculpting somesort of spell like flame in his outstretched hand and then possibly doing source lighting from it. I don't have much experience with such stuff...but it's an exciting prospect!


Turn Counter

I've been meaning to make a nice looking turn counter for a while now, the old "dice-on-top-of-something" working fine...I just want a fun and cool looking turn counter! =D Rediscovering my Hasslefree Miniatures shipment I thought this Harem girl model would make an excellent "Mistress of Turns". Lounging under a palm tree I'll add a few knick knacks lying about. Wine goblets, books etc. I'm planning on having six shields arranged around on the lower base with roman numerals from I to VI. I'll find shields from a variety of armies to give it that "universal" look. The turn counter is composed of a large flying base, flying base rod and a coke cap that's been drilled to fit the rod. Turns nice and smooth and sits snugly =D

So yeah, this is what I'm up to at the moment. Not pictured is a finished version of my "Ghoul Cart" along with another Wight King and five grave guard. I'm also working on a "Wight Queen" but she's still in concept stage and I'm acquiring the materials I'll need to do a mock up of her.

Seems like the first coat of paint has dried on the hut. Time for another!
Stay tuned.

I too feel the loss of the old codex. My Army used a Necro lord, wights, and wraiths as heros. Now a days I use an ethereal vamp for the wraith. A vamp lord Necro caster, who is inslaved tothe wight King. My fluff is the Vamp tried to raise the Wight king, who of course instantly turned on him and beat him within a inch of his unlife. Now the vamp has to sit in the back the army raising skeles and healing units. The wight lord doesn't trust undead with flesh, so it's only skeles, wights, and ethereal units. I still hate using vamps, but you have inspired me with your army, thanks.

Good stuff man. The house needs more junk though, waaaay too clean outside that place at the moment. Or maybe it´s a tidy farmer?

The zombie champion looks interesting too, I´ve got a box of chaos warriors sitting around my place, still wondering if they are to become inquisitorial guards or something more sinister.

And the turn counter.... Now that´s stylish!

Been awhile since I posted anything, but I'm off 11 hour shifts and finally have time to do something warhammery.
Camera has decided it does not want to play along however, so I'll have to forego my usual picture update and instead post a concept sketch of a project I'll get into at around about the same time as my Zombie Ogre filler units.



I already have the bone giant model I just don't like alot of the components of it. The face is abit too smiley so I'll move the lower jaw abit (I even photoshopped that in!) and then I want to bulk him up to make him more like a giant version of the Grave guard (might add some tattered cloth as well).

Anyways. I'm raising this thread from the depths and breathing new (un)life into it!

p.s.
In the process of photoshopping I couldn't resist making this. Fear his chewy fury!

Nice work , Im starting A Vamp. army in About A week...

Updating time!

Finished next batch of Grave guard and a Wight King. Also, progress on Corpse Cart II and then a teaser for what I'll propably finish in the next few days.
Lets get to it!

Grave Guard:






Wight King II (Front & Back):


Corpse Cart II WIP:






Teaser:


More soon.
C&C welcome ^^

Minor update.

I've been trying my hand at more sculpting. Nothing major, but certainly alot for me. Up until recently I only really used GS for filling cracks and such.

Vlad Flame WIP:


Thinking of doing some source lighting from the flame in his hand ^^

Wow... Your work just gets better and better
I presume your exposed muscle is just red gore, baal red and blood red following standard base, wash then highlight patterns?

or do you have some sneaky trick? (i hope its a sneaky trick, my exposed muscle never comes out as good)

Thanks Corpsesarefun =D

Actually, I do my exposed muscle differently.
Basecoat Chaos Black - Drybrush Scab Red - Drybrush Highlight Blood Red - Asurmen Blue wash (then retouch with Badab Black wash if it's too light, Blood Red if it's too dark ^^)
I used a blue wash following a conversation with a medical student friend of mine. According to him exposed meat will turn blueish then eventually black once exposed.

Luckily it also looks pretty good!
I'll take WIP pics of my next Dire Wolf that I have in that stage so I can show this better ^^

YAY!
a sneaksy trick
bookmark'd the page for when im painting zorks

Made this last night!
I'm still considering him to be WIP, since I'm thinking of doing OSL on the flame. I'll practice on a zombie first to get a feel for the technique.

Withour further ado.

Vampire (Converted Vlad von Carstein):




Next up it's Dire Wolves...
No seriously...I'll totally get on that now =D

p.s.
Yes, there is a face in the flame! =D