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Well, like so many before me I've decided to consolidate the plethora of blogs I update into one.

Here it is.

Here are the old threads - all further updates to any of these armies will be posted here.

The Border Princes Empire Army:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/323438.page

The Sylvan Beastmen Army:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/272134.page

The Catachan Special Forces:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/249824.page

The Ork Freebooterz:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/266591.page

Without further ado, here is the latest project - Luthor Harkon and the zombie pirates!

Before his unfortunate run-in with the ancient magics of the Slann, I imagine Luthor was a magically adept vampire lord like any other. And consequently, his army would probably run a bit more like a normal vampire army, rather than the magicless, black powder saturated mess of a list that the zombie pirate list is. At any rate, that's the army I'm putting together.

First up, Luthor himself - a Vladd conversion
I chopped the hair off and filed down the wolf skin, then added a pirate hat, a layer of sea weed (ah la Count Noctilus) over the cloak, and gave him a dark elf style weapon with a bit of tentacly stuff around the hand guard. Over all, I like the look of him.


Next up, his first mate - Gorgeous George
He's an empire duelist with a pirate hat. I kept the vampiric look to a minimum on George, as I wanted him to look like a younger, more appearance focused vampire. I'll make him look properly dead with the paint job. Keen observers will notice his zombie dog is already down to 3 legs. Living on a ship full of flesh eating zombies has its price.


And the first unit of zombie pirates:
The goal for the army is 200 of these guys. Here are the first 43. I stuck with a pretty simple recipe of free company + zombie kit + green stuff on these, but I've got a bunch of mantic zombies & a pile of black scorpion miniatures on order to diversify the rest of them a bit. These guys are a blast to put together. Oh, and the cabin boy in the first rank is a tribute to the WD zombie pirate list - thank you GW, and please produce more such awesomeness!





Well, that's all for now. Stand by for a pipe organ mortis engine, a slew of dinghies, and a pack of rotten ogre-pirates. Oh what fun.

Dan

Update time!

I managed to sell a couple of the armies cluttering up my display shelf, so with the extra cash I expanded the zombies and undertook a brand new project - the chaos dwarves! I've been drooling over some of the Warhammer Forge stuff for a while, and with the influx of petty cash, I could finally justify buying a bit of it.

First up, the zombie pirate progress.

Here are the first 43 zombies in all their shambling glory. You'll notice many of them are carrying a delicious looking red beverage. What is it you wonder? Why, redrum of course, the zombie pirate's drink of choice:




Next up we have the grave guard. This unit consists of Black Scorpion undead pirate models, and they're awesome. The resin is a bit brittle, and some repairs were necessary, but the mini quality is great.


And the corpse cart - I'm pretty stoked about this guy. He's a sort of an old man of the sea sort who fishes for sharks with zombie bits. Fun stuff.




And on other army fronts, here are the completed Axemen of Morr - a unit of halberdiers for my border princes army.



And finally, the beginnings of my chaos dwarf army. While I love the WF warmachines, I'm not in love with their infantry models, so I'm making my own. Here are the first 4 WIP shots:


And that's all for today - let me know what you think!

Dan

After a bit of time away from the PC, I've got another update!

I had to switch gears a bit. I've got an upcoming trip that'll keep me away from the hobby station for a while, and I need an army to go with me. Unfortunately, the zombie pirate models didn't finish arriving quickly enough to facilitate them going, so I decided to finish up the chaos dwarves and take them instead.

Rest assured the zombie pirates will be finished soon, but in the mean time, here is the beginning of the chaos dwarf list:

First up, 25 Infernal guard. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to take many pics of them while they were being assembled, but they're dwarf warriors with chaos warrior weapons and shields, supplemented by plenty of green stuff for beards, faces, and masks.




And here is a selection of heroes - 2 daemonsmiths and a BSB. They're all Forgeworld models, with more or less conversion work. I've based them on tallish rubble to make them stick out a bit.


Next up is a skullcracker. I love this model. It was a bit painful to assemble, but it really looks nasty.




And finally, the hellcannon. Again, it was a royal pain to assemble, but it sure is a mean looking war machine.




All in all, I like the Forgeworld stuff. It's really high quality, and the overall theme of the chaos dwarves seems pretty spot on. They've evil and fiery, without the nastyness of nurgle or the over-the-top-ness of Slaanesh.

Let me know what you think,

Dan

Soooo, after a rather lengthy hiatus in North Carolina, I'm back home and I've gotten to work again. By work (of course) I mean miniature painting and not the ordinary drudgery of my day job. Grumping aside, the zombie pirates are coming along nicely. I'm still torn on whether they're going to be based on Luther Harkon's undead of the vampire coast or on Lord Noctalus's (sp?) dread fleet list. We'll just have to see as the project comes together. In the end, I guess there's not much difference between the two anyway.

First up, here's the first 100 man zombie mob finished. I built the bases to make it look like the zombies are assaulting out of the water, and while it's not perfect looking, the results are good enough (as they say) for government work. As you can see, I've gone with several unit fillers - a trend which is going to continue, as painting 300 zombies is a pain in the ass. In particular, I think I'm going to build a bunch more palm tree & barrel fillers, as they're both pretty easy to interchange between units. The mantic zombies mix pretty well with the GW militia and zombie kits by the way - a little cutting & putty is required, but nothing too serious.







Next up is the corpse cart. It's pretty weird looking now that it's done, but I kind of dig the necro-pirate fishing for sharks with his pile of dead guys.




Finally, here are the WIP shots of the army's crypt horrors - done in the theme of zombie pirate ogres. The leader of the unit - a swashbuckling wereshark - keeps them going in the right direction (albiet with a few fewer limbs as he gets hungry). This is going to be a fun unit to put together - the ogre kit is awesomely easy to screw around with. Expect copious barrels of Redrum!




It's good to be back to work, let me know what you think.

Dan

Thanks guys, I'm glad you like them. I'll try to get a clearer pic of the watery assault bit, the uploaded images don't look as clear as I'd like.

I got a bunch more work done on the crypt horror/ogre unit finished tonight - I think you'll dig them. Who would zombie ogre pirates follow but a wereshark really - what's hungrier out there than an undead hammerhead? There are going to be plenty of missing limbs, that's for sure.

Dan

I finished up construction on the crypt horror / zombie pirate ogres today - there are 10 altogether. I think they'll pull double duty as a both a unit of their own and fillers for the zombies.

Here they are:


Zombie fisherman







As promised, there's an abundance of severed limbs and ridiculous pirate stuff.
Next up is getting them painted.

Dan

While the glue was drying on the ogres I finished up Count Noctilus. He's now ready to loot and plunder with his (reasonably) well preserved crew. Oh and yes, the parrot is dead.



More to come soon!

Dan

Zombie ogres ahoy!

The ogres are finished - 10 in all. They were a pretty quick unit to paint (as ogres always are), and I think they'll prove pretty durable in play. I like that they get 5 wounds back per invocation!






Next up I'm going to paint up the grave guard unit and finish the unit filler for it. Think undead giant crabs and a pile of treasure.

Dan

The black scorpion grave guard are finished - a scurvier lot I've never laid eyes on.

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure scurvy is much of a problem for animated skeletons. Maybe they'd still lose their teeth, I don't know.

Anyway, here they are, led by both a dwarf were-shark and a female vampire pirate (pirette?)





And secondly, although the picture doesn't quite do the model justice, is a nautical banshee. She's a Reaper model - a range that the army has drawn heavily on.


Hope you like them. Next up, I'm working on a Terrorgheist and a couple of unit fillers, then it's off to more zombies!

Stay tuned,

Dan

The C.O.U.S's (Crabs of unusual size) are rampant around the coast of Saratosa. The blood crabs in particular are known for their savagery.

The Count accidentally resurrected one on one of his recent recruiting drives, and the crabby crustacean has hung around ever since. He particularly enjoys hanging about his large mound of treasure and munching down overly curious investigators.






The vignette is going to serve as a unit filler in either the grave guard or a zombie unit. It's based on a 80x60mm base.

Hope you enjoy, I'll post more soon.

Dan

I've finally wrapped up the terrorgheist. I started to wander off on the next unit of zombies and had to reel myself back in to finish this guy up before hopeless distraction set in! There's something about finishing up the work on bases - particularly large ones - that makes my brain start looking for something else to do.

Anyway, here's one of Noctilus's pets - an undead sea-bat of gargantuan proportions. I kept the model and base fairly simple, as there's going to be a bigger centerpiece unit, and I didn't want to draw the eye overly much.





Next up is a black coach and another block of zombies - I just can't get enough of these guys.

And in the future - flying sharks.

Hope you enjoy,

Dan

65 more scurvy curs ahoy!

The Count has been busy on the poop deck, and the fruits of his labors - 65 more lads - are here for your viewing pleasure! Additionally, I've painted up a few more small unit fillers and scattered them through the existing units. After another "fun" unit, it'll be back to work on more zombies. I've got to finish the last 5 ranks in these 2 units with guys coming out of the water to continue the coastal assault theme.






And finally, here's a WIP army shot. The battle line grows long indeed, and soon enough hapless coastal villages across the warhammer world will feel the Count's wrath!

Dan

That's right, flying sharks. The count has been up to his old tricks again, and enslaving the infamous flying blood sharks that ravage shipping around the vampire coast of Lustria is one of his latest antics.

Although fellbats aren't terribly potent on the battlefield, the flying sharks will always have a place on the board in my army. What war machine crew will have any hope of survival with these in the area?

In homage to the classic movie, I may convert one into a sharktopus as well - we shall see.






This army gets more fun to put together every day. Stay tuned!

Dan

Where do pirates, vampires, and sweet music intersect? Why pipe organs of course! For whatever reason, I saw the new(ish) coven throne model and immediately felt inspired to chop it into a gigantic, spirit driven, davy jones-esque pipe organ for my vampire lord. Why you might ask? Well, why not of course!

It's going to have a removable organ player (to make room for the count when he's inspired!) and a pair of removable vampiric harlots, so the whole thing can be used as an engine or a throne.

Here are the first WIP shots:




I'm on vacation from work for a few weeks, so expect updates to come hot and heavy for a while! It's time to finish up this army.

Dan

Work on the Count's Magnum Opus continues. This organ has taken on a bit of a life of its own. Every time I think I've added enough bits, I remember this thing exists in the Warhammer world, and that the world overblown hasn't been invented yet.

As you can see, all the spirits supporting the thing have been rebuilt into a scurvy crew of pirate lads!

Here she is so far:








The organ player and his vampire pirate hooker groupies are next!

Dan

The ole' battle line has grown a good bit more!

First up, the flying sharks have taken to the field. Water skiers beware, winged undead sharks have taken to the skies! As you can see, they're quite bloodthirsty. I feel vaguely inspired to model a witch hunter named Quint for my empire army. We shall see.

Here are the pics:





Next up, the black coach is finished. Black Tom the wraith is at the helm, with his assistant Jim manning the harpoon. Why they have an evil monkey is beyond me, but I think he looks quite sinister.




Finally, here are more pics of the pipe organ of doom. The player, having recently escaped from a traveling rock opera in Averland, will be happily belting out odious tunes in support of the count for the rest of eternity. He's removable, as sometimes the count himself wants a go. When he does, the vampire harlots inevitably follow - I'll have pics of them up soon enough.





Let me know what you think.

I should have finished pics of the organ in the next few days!

Until next time,

Dan

The mortis engine form of the organ is finished.




The kit is one of the best kits bits wise GW has ever produced. Even with the whole model finished, there are more than enough awesome bits left to fill all kinds of niches across the army. I'm still trying to find a way to work the 3 flying banshee models into the organ itself.

Anway, more to come.

Dan

Last night I put the finishing touches on the Coven Throne incarnation of the Count's pipe organ. With his entourage of zombie pirate hookers, horde of ethereal spirits, and atrocious selection of organ music, I think the Count will be ready to handle about anything.





I'd be interested in feedback from the forum on whether my mortis engine and coven throne are perceived as distinct enough. I like efficiency in modeling, but I can add a bit more to one or the other if the general perception is that they look to similar.

Otherwise, there will be more zombies soon enough - oh, and a counts as zombie dragon.

Dan

If it's zombies you want, it's zombies you'll get. There are 240 in the base list (3k points), and I'd like to have at least 300 for raising purposes.

I'm just over half way now.

A good number will be coming out of the water, and will thus be a bit faster to paint up, but there's still a good bit of work to go.

Thanks for the input on the throne!

Dan

Avast! The zombie pirates have once again set sail with more recruits.

Today the count spent some time on command models. After some work, he came up with 2 standard bearer/musician combos for the zombie units, a wight king BSB, and a mimic that I threw in because a giant, angry, treasure chest has got to see some game time.

First, the zombies - I found a pile of fanatic bits, and decided they made pretty fine pirate heads with a headgear swap. The dreadfleet bits continue to make money as standards:




Next, the wight king. This model was just released by Reaper, and it begged for a spot in the army.



Finally, the mimic. Who doesn't love possessed treasure chests?


All of this, of course, is WIP! Stay tuned for updates.

Dan

Wow, thanks for the feedback - I'm glad the pirates are muy popular. I thought maybe all the love for WHFB was subsumed by the 40k 6th ed frenzy.

dsteingass - The Catachans are still my favorite 40k army. You'll be happy to know they're back on the WIP list (I'm a sucker for the 6th ed hype too I guess). I've got a pile of them ready to convert into dinosaur riders, and they're going to get an even more elite detachment attached to them in the form of power-armored catachan guardsmen (SoB or SM rules). The new guys are going to need some sort of modded out Valkyrie since the ally rules won't let them ride in a standard IG bird...

I've got to finish up the zombies first though - I'll have another update on them later today.

Dan

The shambling hordes have finally made it to the beach - another 100 zombies staggered forth last night to wreck havoc and wrest rum from peasants everywhere. The beach assault is a bit of a pain to build and paint as the models aren't interchangeable, but it looks pretty slick on the table.

I'm not sure what the mimic is in the unit for, but he looks pretty fierce, so I guess he can stay and play.

Here are the pics:







And with this lot, the zombie total is 217 painted and ready to go. I think one more big push will see the whole pile finished . And amen to that - as fun as the army has been, it's about time for another project.

Next up, more zombies, and the spirit host!

Let me know what you think,

Dan

Wow, thanks for the comments. I put a lot of work into the army, and it would seem it's paying off.

The whole project is nearing completion - here are command groups for the 2 50 zombie blocks. The extra sprue that came with Dreadfleet has been great at providing standards.




Additionally, I finished up the spirit host. Nothing too fancy here really - just a few odds and ends models I had lying around that got a ghostly paint job.




Again, thanks for the well wishing, and I'll have more soon!

Dan

I debated adding chainswords at one point - either that or the word "truescale".

I figure it's all about timing. Starting a fantasy thread in the wake (or approach) of 6th edition was bound to result in reduced attention. It's not a big deal though. I use this post as a source of internal motivation and inspiration as much as anything -although the replies often have great ideas on how to expand the army in ways I never thought of.

And yeah, the banners are Dreadfleet sales. GW accidentally tossed in an extra spure, and I've been making good use of them.

Dan

Alright, so I've got 20 more whole zombies in the works, and all the rest are going to be for summoning, and thus in various stages of crawling out of the oceanic depths. But while those mundane lads are still on the workbench, I thought I'd post my WIP varghulf and the finished (nearly) BSB.

I'm a sucker for Forgeworld stuff, so when I saw the skin wolves I knew I needed at least one for the list. I still like the ogre pirates better as a unit, but this guy makes a great Varghulf. He's further proof that a green stuffed hat and a few pistols can make a pirate out of anyone!




And here is the BSB for the Counts fleet - old Davy Bones himself. Yeah I know, hopelessly unoriginal, but it was too fitting to pass up. I still have to add one more layer of highlights and a fancy border, but she's about done.



Hope you enjoy! More to come soon,

Dan

The last land lubber zombie pirates are here! I admit, it's a bit of a relief to have all 240 of them finished.

These 2 20 man zombie units will run on the flanks and slowly grow in size with Invocation castings - great for killing the small stuff that lurks on the fringes of other armies.





Next up, the werewolf pirate Varghulf and the summoning zombies - all waterborne!

Dan

Thanks guys - I batch paint the zombies in units of 20-50, and it goes pretty quickly. A batch every 3 weeks or so, give or take depending on my work schedule.

As far as the giant crabs, there's one painted as a unit filler for the grave guard on page 1, but without any monstrous cavalry for the vamps, I don't imagine more will be coming. I suppose I could try to counts as the whole lot as tomb kings, but I'm not sure how that would work.

At any rate, while the water effects dry on the next 40, I decided to work on a couple of models I assembled a long time ago. As the unit is only 5 strong, I should be able to get them done before the zombies dry.

Here they are:








They're not true scale, and they aren't pre-heresy, but they are pretty fun to paint. I like my space wolves to look a little grittier than the sky blue color GW has assigned them.

They're still WIP as you can see - I need to think of something to do with their shoulder pads and shields. Eventually this is going to turn into a wolfwing drop pod army - model count wise it's the exact opposite of the WHFB hordes I usually put together, so I think it'll be a fun change of pace.

Expect 3 more to come in the near future, along with a bit of weathering and complete bases.

Hope you like them!

Dan

I do love hazard stripes - especially on chainfists. If there's ever a device that needs people to be aware of it's existence, it's the chainfist. I can imagine the training injuries that young marines suffer while trying to figure out how the damned thing works. I wonder how many bionic legs the wolf priests go through during that block of instruction.

Anyway, here are the 5 wolf guard complete. The only thing I haven't included yet are the pack markings on their knees, as I'm not sure how the lot is going to be broken up yet.








While I plow through the last of the zombies, I'm finishing up the wolf guard drop pod, which will complete the first unit of the army. Eventually, there will be 4-5 of these units and a few podded up dreadnaughts, but that'll be a while in the future.

I just finished up Prospero Burns on last week's business trip, (it's a great pulpy read) and now I'm inspired to make the rest of the terminators Angry Wolves. I've got a bunch of ideas - we'll see how they turn up.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, it's good to be back.

Dan

I finished up the drop pod today, although I haven't decided what unit markings to mark it with yet.

The plan is to paint the army as though it's executing a planetstrike - the pods will be weathered as though just having conducted atmospheric entry, but the assaulting troops will be clean. Additionally, the rest of the pods are going to be converted to hold 5 terminators instead of 10 power armored guys - I didn't think about it with this one, so this pack is going to have to squeeze in.

Here she is:




Let me know what you think!

Dan

With all the Wolves I own complete, and the zombie water having hardened, it's back to the pirates to finish them up. I've got a whole mess of confrontation wolfen to get to work on after this (part of the Sylvan project I've had ongoing for a while), and I'm stoked to start something different.

Here is the latest addition to the Dreadfleet - the Varghulf.





The Forgeworld skinwolves are pretty fun to put together and paint. They're the first werewolf GW has produced that I'm satisfied with the look of.

Anyway, there he is. There will be another mess of zombies to come manana.

Dan