I think a bewitched cat or possibly dog or bat?! I think a Snotling would be too much but that's just my opinion. She looks superb Git, I actually really love the Broom and Wand!
I would think about shortening the tail of the broom. Traditional witches seem to have their center of mass just ahead of the bristles on their flying brooms... (Silly me, bringing physics into 40k.)
I'd go with a snotling... especially if you can have the snotling hanging on BELOW the broom... as if it was ready to fall off. It would present an interesting picture... she is looking back as if she is wondering what the heck happened to the snotling.
Some sort of familiar is required. There should be plenty for use in D&D for that specific use, it should not be hard to find the critter you want.
For the base, a pumpkin patch would be very thematic, as would a graveyard. If you want to fill it up more, you could fill it up with discarded armor and weapons, and a bunch of toads, newts, bunnies, or other post-polymorphed foes.
Every good looking woman looks better "straddling the broom" (nice euphemism wyfox). I have to show this one to my kids though, so she's a broom surfer instead. I'm looking forward to painting her... lots of exposed skin to practice on which is something I don't usually have. Have to review some of the "how tos" dakkanaughts have posted in the past.
Unfortunately I used up all of my snotlings on the nurgling bases. Nice ideas though... thanks for continuing with the suggestions, they're very much appreciated.
@Dr H: Me too. Gonna really enjoy painting that part of the figure.
I agree on the bristles... keep in mind that was fresh after attaching the broom head to the handle. Looks like I'll probably shorten the handle, rough up the bristles and yes... I did order that Reaper set off e-bay just for the cat.
I need my head examined. However... painting will commence tonight... the cat can be added later on.
Gitsplitta wrote: I agree on the bristles... keep in mind that was fresh after attaching the broom head to the handle. Looks like I'll probably shorten the handle, rough up the bristles and yes... I did order that Reaper set off e-bay just for the cat.
I need my head examined. However... painting will commence tonight... the cat can be added later on.
That all sounds great! Black Cat is a UK company so theirs wouldn't have arrived in time, but the Reaper cat looks like it will work great
Careful on the ban requests, I am checking this thread frequently and somewhat sleep deprived... buttons may be pushed
Aaaaarrrggh! I forget to check this for a few days and there's just soooo much awesome! Didn't realise you'd been progressing so fast! Love Thanatos with the Ghosts, love the Goblin-Nurglings (Gurglings?) all just splendid stuff!
Got work done on both Frankendread and the witch. Nothing really worth a photograph though... should have proper updates tomorrow. I did shorten the broom in the back.
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OK, I lied. Stayed up until 2 AM sipping a pumpkin spiced beer and painting. The witch is mostly done at this point... at least the important parts are. Should be able to finish her up tomorrow and then I'll post a pic.
Which Pumpkin Spiced Beer? I highly recommend Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale. It is the best I've had, and I have had a lot. Not recommended while using sharp tools though.
A lot of great progress. Funny, I was up to 2am on Friday night and all I managed to do was set up rowboat girlyman (sorry Robute Guilliman) for painting and half undercoat him, wish I had your productivity.
Archer wrote: A lot of great progress. Funny, I was up to 2am on Friday night and all I managed to do was set up rowboat girlyman (sorry Robute Guilliman) for painting and half undercoat him, wish I had your productivity.
I was going to give you an update tonight, but my wife fed me a bottle of wine and now i'm bloody useless. All that's left is a bit of basing... looks good in my opinion. I don't' suppose you blokes would take my word on that eh?
Gang... yes, I know pics are required... it was the wine talking. Actually, I'm very excited to show it to you guys. I haven't wanted a figure to turn out well so badly since the first time I did a Mantis Warrior Tranquility Vet/sternguard figure. All that skin... uugh. She looks good at a reasonable viewing distance. Get too much magnification though and she looks like she's been attacked by a gang of first year cosmetology students. I'm afraid I'll just never be as good at painting flesh of some of the other dakkanaughts. Did my best on her though. I've got her flying over a pumpkin patch... so I've got about six of the little buggers to paint. I did start on them last night before bed.
Not sure when I'm going to get her done... has to be tomorrow night. The Mrs. & I are celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary tonight so I suspect I won't have any time to work on it. Also out of action Wed & Thrs nights. This is why I've been pushing so hard early on, I new the second half of the month was going to get "complicated" from a time-perspective.
@SL: Thanks for the reminder. List is updated. Both chaos demon factions of the army are effectively finished, just the chaos marine portion to go. Probably knock the zombies out next (as well as continuing to work on the dreadnought).
Thanks guys. I've been very, very lucky in landing such a wonderful, hard working and understanding wife. I think next year we're going to have a pig roast & a big bash.
The witch is 6 pumpkins and a few skulls away from being done... it's driving me NUTS knowing I won't be able to finish her off until at least tomorrow.
OH, and I updated the OP with pictures of all the completed elements. I'll keep updating it as I go, so you can just pop by the first page if you want a quick overview of where I am in the project.
Well done on the anniversary. Even with what seems to be an amazing and understanding spouse (I too feel blessed by my wife) it can be tough sometimes. Good luck for the next 19.
@Lost Soul: That's an excellent idea (pics of the detachments I mean). I'll do that as soon as I can as two of them are complete.
I got a most generous and unexpected gift today from a friend. Beautifully wrapped and bearing a wonderful little card with a wax seal! Ramos was inspired to do a little monstrous work himself and created three "chaos spawn" for me! I think they're fantastic and will make the perfect unit for the Headless Horseman (lord on jugger) to run around with (I see this all the time from local chaos players). I was just floored by this generous gift. I think I'll call them "hell hounds" as that would be appropriate accompanyment for the Horseman given his history (even though they're really taking the place of "the thing" in my monster army).
Thank you Ramos my friend!! I am deeply moved. They will be a brilliant addition to my not-so-little-anymore Halloween army!
... and now for the eye-candy...
I have completely re-built the list in the OP so the bosses and minions are (as much as I can make them) in the right places.
Following this project just got me in the mood for some monsters, and you didnt have any "The Thing" themed units yet so it worked out perfectly! Thrilled that you can use them in the army!
@Theo: Thats crazy xD Never heard of the dogs (only ever saw the first Predator movie), but there's a certain resemblance about them.... Incidentally, the Predator dogs are apparently called Hell Hounds themselves, so its all a sign that this was meant to be!!
These are perfect to go along with the headless horseman! Did Ramos base them too, and does this mean he had mini pumpkins sitting around for just such an opportunity?
Well, I did manage to sneak in a little bit of painting last night and early this morning before heading off to work. Pumpkins are done, now all I need is to finish 4 skulls and the black cat (which showed up yesterday). I should easily be able to finish her up tonight as there's probably only about 20 minutes of work left on her, if that.
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I also wanted to apologize if it feels like I'm stringing you guys on. That's really not my intent. It's just that the witch has been "almost done" for quite a while now but getting her finished off has just been a struggle due to my schedule. I didn't want to put up a nearly-done pic because then the finished pic is NBD. Promise I'll have the final pic tonight... probably earlier rather than later. Will be setting up the zombies tonight too. Will have to chance to do some brush painting over the next couple of nights but won't have access to my airbrush... so knocking out some zombies the old-fashioned way seems to be the way to go. If I can get the zombies done by Friday night, I'll have just two characters and the dreadnought to finish off, which I think is very doable (and gives me some extra time to dote on those figures).
Speaking of the Halloween theme, I happened to place an order through Reaper and they threw in some Halloween related things, which I totally wasn't expecting - seems gamers are pretty into this holiday! Here's the special:
Spoiler:
They threw it in even though I didn't order $40 worth... but that's probably why I got a rock in my blister instead of a figure (literally a rock in a blister, hilarious that they went to the trouble! see the fine print on the promo pic above). But the paints and candy were a nice surprise
@Plains of War: Glad you like it! You won't have to wait long.
@RiTides: That's very cool. Especially since Reaper has played such a pivotal role in getting this army together.
@Dr H: Thanks, we had a wonderful evening. Ate wayyy too much rich food (filet & lobster). I agree, glad Ramos figured out how to sneak them in. There are some other monsters I'd like to eventually work into the list as well, but my priority has been the "classic" monsters. One thing that are noticeably missing are skeletons (one of my favorite Halloween decorations). If I find models I like, I may add them as another mass of cultists. They can be led by the "lost skeleton of cadavra". If you don't know that film... you really need to find & watch it. I also liked the idea of the blob as a great unclean one. Perhaps I could do something with expandable foam?
Love the hounds or "Chaos Spawn", they look great and the pumpkins add that special touch. I may have to steal that idea if I ever rebuild my Death Guard Army for spawn..... Excited to see the next update!
I love everything including the cat!!!! But the skin tone, I know you are shooting for the normal green witch in movies, just seems off. I was hoping/thinking for a evil white skin tone
@wyfox: I agree with you completely. Significantly shortened the bushes and now I think it works much better. Still hides some of the supporting pin but is clearly now part of the base & doesn't compete for attention with the figure. You can see it in the shot below.
As to the green skin... frankly, I never considered anything else.
Thanks guys. Really appreciate you all hanging with me. With only 10 days to go things are going to get pretty intense, especially since the next two nights are kind of a wash. (hopefully get a little zombie work done) Luckily the next two projects (zombies and Dracula) are pretty straight-forward. No real converting necessary for either. I'll also continue to work on the dread around the edges.
I am serious about looking for skeletons... probably a group of 20 to be a second group of cultists (I'd combine the zombies into a single group). Problem is finding good skeleton figures... most are very chunky... I'd like more of the Jason & the Argonauts style. I've found one company that makes some great ones (Otherworld Miniatures in the UK), but they're 11 pounds for 3 skeletons... making a group of 20 around $100 US. That's a bit much for throw-away infantry. If any of you can hunt down a more reasonably priced source of good skeletons... I'd be very appreciative.
I like the Bones ones, but as you said... they are a bit clunky. They'll probably be the basis of my Undead Blood Bowl team, but probably not what you are looking for here.
I like the Skeletons that came in the D&D Castle Ravenloft Game. I think that there are only 3 of them in each box, though.
Apparently Wargames Factory makes ones that people rave about. "Like Jason and the Argonauts" even in one of the reviews.
Either the WGF ones linked above if you want unarmoured or Mantic if you want armoured would be your best bet for Skellies. The mantic ones are much less chunky than the GW ones, and a great price. Your major online gaming shop of choice in the US should have them.
WGF Skeletons ordered! Thanks for the help. Not sure how I didn't find those myself but I really had to dig for someone who actually had them in stock.
Witch is cool, especially paired up with the goblins . I do like the idea of her having a crow/raven on that outstretched arm if you had the bit like Thing 2 suggested
Gitsplitta wrote: WGF Skeletons ordered! Thanks for the help. Not sure how I didn't find those myself but I really had to dig for someone who actually had them in stock.
Well WGF is changing distributorship over to someone else, battlefront maybe??? can't remember exactly, but that has screwed up a bunch of things including Dreamforge Games.
Well, if they come in time, I think I'll do a little list manipulation. Seems to me the skeletons would work better as coltists, while the zombies seem a more natural fit as plague bearers.
The witch looks great and she fits in really well with the nurgling/goblin hordes.
Her outstretched arm looks like something is missing. Do you have a crow/raven you can try adding to it to see what it looks like, as Thing 2 suggested.
The cat on the front gives the model some extra character as it looks like it is not happy with being up on a broom.
Unfortunately the bird i have is much too big. Great idea SL
Well, ivery ordered the skeletons now from 3 different places. The first two clamed to have them in stock, only to find out after i placed my ordered that they didn't. I'm not hopefull at this point. The third place has a very slow processing time, so even if they actually have them... I don't see the skeletons getting here in time.
When I get home I'll overnight some old WHFB Skeletons with the Scarabs mentioned earlier. Use them if you can, If not I'll get them from you when I come up.
I kept them around for adding to bases. ( which I haven't done! )
OK, I'll give you guys a choice... I can show you pics now, or you can wait until they're re-based... which may take until tomorrow (I'll be working on it tonight,but these are going to take a bit of effort).
Here's the first batch of a dozen zombies. Basically two figures with slight variations in painting. Not intended to be anything but tabletop standard... just need to get them done ASAP.
Well, do yourselves a favor and don't zoom in on them. They're poorly painted (bad light, bad magnification, bad brushes & in a hurry). However, they'll be fine at arms length which is all I'm going for at this point. Too bad really, they're some really cool looking figures and would be amazing if someone took their time with them.
This is actually the fist paint-job in a long time that I've felt embarrassed about. But... no fair hiding the bad stuff while showing off the good.
Finally finished up the zombies. The last batch are no fancier than the last but they are much neater.
I'm really behind it now. Wife is gone all week so I have full time kid-duty which will take out at least two nights of painting and turn them into partials as best. This is going to be close. I think the headless horseman is out-of-the-question... but since he wasn't part of the original plan, I don't feel too badly about that. I'll do him... but I'm not holding myself to Oct. 31st deadline.
Just Dracula and Frankenstein's monster to go then, right? Has there been movement on the dread?
Honestly if Dracula was still WIP (say, just built) by the 31st I think that'd be fine. But you do owe us the model that started this whole thing off by Halloween!
Got the Dracula build done. I am 100% satisfied that this kit-bash meets my expectations. Thanks to all with ideas and help. It'll be a chaos champion with jump pack, some sort of demon or power axe & a familiar (the bat).
Gitsplitta wrote: Got the Dracula build done. I am 100% satisfied that this kit-bash meets my expectations. Thanks to all with ideas and help. It'll be a chaos champion with jump pack, some sort of demon or power axe & a familiar (the bat).
That's a wonderful build! My favorite yet . Definitely saving the best for last with this and the Contemptor!
I'm working on Frankenstein's Monster in earnest at the moment. It's slow going at present, but the methodical steps I'm going through are important to the final product. If I can advance it enough tonight, I'm hoping to be able to finish tomorrow... even if I only have a partial night painting. There will almost certainly be details left unpainted... but the major impact of the figure should be completed and I hopefully will be able to call it done (enough) to count towards my deadline. Wed night is the cut-off for working on the dread, so it'll be done by then for certain. I don't want to have to rush through Dracula.
No interesting photos tonight I'm afraid... unless something really spectacular happens in the next couple of hours of painting. I wouldn't get your hopes up through. I'm at the "apply wash, let dry" stage... which takes a lot of time but doesn't result in anything particularly exciting on it's own.
Found out that the headless horseman will definitely NOT be part of the Halloween deadline as he hasn't even arrived at the store yet. After having yet another order for my skeletons cancelled as they were out-of-stock... I found that I could order everything except the weapons and heads from Hoard-O-Bits on e-bay. I have a good selection of skulls already, ordered some shields, have a variety of weapon upgrades for the kit (swords) and I can make spears from wire... so I think I'm covered. Both they and the horseman will be done in November some time.
@evildrcheese: It's a third-party head that's supposed to replace the head on one of the mechanicus robots. I just thought it was appropriately "monstrous" for a Frankenstein's Monster head. Not sure about the wings... some chaos kit or another. (a friend donated them)
@RiTides: Not so much glowing as a green complexion. I wanted to fiddle with extreme highlighting and it turned out fine, but I don't think there's enough contrast as it is between the grey "clothes" and the green "skin". I'll give the skin a green wash to tone things down a bit.
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Ah, the green wash did the trick! You still have the character of the airbrushing while having some separation between the tones of the skin and armor/clothing. And it looks less glowy.
Thanks guys. Yeah, the script is important. Two options so far that occurred to me...
"DEATH IS ONLY THE BEGINNING"
...and something in memory of Boris Karloff. Not sure.
Also, being a venerable dreadnought model it's got a ton of extra decoration. I'm afraid if I paint it up it'll totally dilute the impact of the figure, but if I ignore it completely it'll look pretty odd.
Been thinking about the banner, and tying in to Mary Shelley's novel. Winner so far is "PROMETHEUS" from her subtitle ("The Modern Prometheus"), though I may scour the book to see if she indulged in any Latin during it.
Since I know you're more referencing classic horror films and not necessarily lit, here are the taglines for the 1931 Frankenstein:
The Man Who Made A Monster! A Monster Science Created - But Could Not Destroy! To have seen it is to wear a badge of courage! The man who made a monster A Chilling Thriller Warning! The monster is loose! Science's Monster Terror! ...no man has ever seen his like ...no woman ever felt his white-hot kiss... The MONSTER That Terrorized the World! (1990s re-release) The Original Horror Show!
Here's the taglines from Branagh's 1994 Frankenstein:
Be warned. It's alive. It's Alive. Be warned.
And I should rewatch that thing sometime, almost ridiculous star power going on there, for what I remember as being kind of mediocre.
"I, Frankenstein" may be one of the worst movies to hit theaters in recent years, but it's tagline - "200 years later, he's still alive." - is kind of neat. One of the promo posters shows Eckhartstein with "IMMORTAL" above him, which might be dread banner worthy (if not particularly campy).
According to some random Latin translator on line... "death is only the beginning" = mors solum initium est I can make that work in the space available. It also works for the whole "Walker Host" (Frankie, the zombies and the mummies).
I do appreciate everyone's suggestions though. Some really great phrases, especially by Boss Salvage.
@Theo: Great idea but I'm not sure how to do it and make it seem "credible" if you get my drift.
It's done save for the flocking. Painted up a full set of pumpkins & have been putting one on each base of a figure that *could* be upgraded to represent a sergeant-type figure as well as all of my commanders, just to make it easier for both my opponent and myself to tell them apart. If course the dread will get several as well.
Will have pics tonight. This'll come right down to the wire.
The dreadnaught was a real head-scratcher. The building was the easy part. Trying to figure out how to paint it in order to make it somewhat recognizable as Frankenstein's Monster was not. I'm not sure I came up with the best solution... but I did come up with a solution (if you get my drift). The fact that as a venerable model... it had all kinds of extra detail didn't make things any easier. I couldn't ignore it completely, but it I gave it the usual attention, I risked diluting the model to the point where it was no longer recognizable as the monster. That's one of the reasons it took so long to do... there was a lot of internal debate going on over the last few weeks as to how I was going to handle it. It should be noted that I did not do anything specifically chaotic when it came to the paint job... didn't really fit the theme and this way I can field it with my Mantis Warriors if I want.
I'm hoping to be able to completely finish Drac in the next three days. Going to do a number on him with the airbrush, then finish up with normal brushwork. Unlike the dread, I have a very clear idea as to how I want to paint him... which should greatly facilitate the whole process.
This whole project has been quite an eye-opener for me. Never would have believed I could make an 1850 point army from scratch in only 1 month. Thank you to my sweetie for the inspiration and all my friends here at Dakka for the invaluable assistance and support.
The green wash makes those areas stand out much better as previous people have said before the greens areas just looked like there was a green light shading those areas.
Now it looks like they are supposed to be green.
Astorath makes such a good base to build Drac from and those wings suit the model much better than the angel wings he normally has. How is he connected to the base? Is he standing on the grave stone or have you added a bit of wire to connect him.
You have done really well to get all that latin script onto the Franktemptor, that must be one steady hand you have Sir.
Stunning job overall, a real focal point and standout for the project. The armour, base and lenses make it for me. You have also managed to get him in your plog before the boards are awash with hard plastic Contemptors.
Thanks guys. A pen, could never do that with a brush (well, I couldn't). After posting this photo I realized that I forgot to add the inner color to the glowing pumpkin parts. That's fixed now. My characters will get their own photo spread on Saturday for entry into the monthly painting comp, so you'll see a more complete set of views eventually.
Bash the Bosh wrote: That sad face pumpkin about to get squished is a fantastic touch! Brilliant work!
Agreed, that's so great! Makes the model fun without the model itself being campy - love it! I had doubts on the scheme but it worked out brilliantly, this is once again my favorite model of the army
Bash the Bosh wrote: That sad face pumpkin about to get squished is a fantastic touch! Brilliant work!
Agreed, that's so great! Makes the model fun without the model itself being campy - love it! I had doubts on the scheme but it worked out brilliantly, this is once again my favorite model of the army
Ditto about the pumpkin, It really makes the whole model that much more fun. Now we just need some orange MODcubes and a battle report
Did you paint the venerable details with a slightly darker grey. Looks like it in the picture, but it might be the lighting. If so, it looks good. If not, I would suggest that so as to add a wee bit of contrast.
I really, really wasn't sold on the purple, which is why I held off commenting. But now that I see it finished, I love it. Kudos mate on your vision and the finished article.
inmygravenimage wrote: I really, really wasn't sold on the purple, which is why I held off commenting. But now that I see it finished, I love it. Kudos mate on your vision and the finished article.
That is fantastic Gitsplitta! I love the pumpkins and I said before but that head was well worth it for him. Are you going to take a Army pic together or a display board type? I think you could have a lot of fun with a display board.
Sorry after I completed mine I just love putting minis on it and admiring them.
You know how sometimes you experiment with something and it works better than you'd imagined, then you try something else and it just looks like drek? Well... Drac is drek.
I'm going to try and make him passable... but I may have to go in and do a major re-paint if that doesn't work. No time to strip and start over. I'll keep you updated.
Guys... I appreciate all the ideas but really... ideas are not the problem. I know how I want to paint him... I just tried a new technique and it didn't work.
Dracula finished. That makes this challenge complete!
He's OK to good. I'd added a metallic when I was doing the red highlights, hoping to give the armor a slight metallic sheen (and because vampires sparkle in the sunlight). However the result was pretty horrible. After much work... the armor does have the sheen I wanted it to have... so I guess no harm no foul. It's hard to see but the wings are actually blended & shaded. He does have two white sections in his eyes as well (even though it only looks like one here).
There will be two or three more units, but they are outside the challenge. 2x 15 skeletons to be my cultists, 1x headless horseman & the blob to be a great unclean one. So eventually they'll be more to come. I'll do a big photoshoot tomorrow. OH wait... it's today! Fitting I post this in the first few minutes of Halloween day.
That poor pumpkin had no idea he was about to be the main course.
Great work all around on this army. Well planned and should be great fun to play at tournaments. Your wife deserves something special for this idea of hers. Now before thanksgiving we need a turkey army
On the wings, I think one of two things could help: either painting the bones in the wings that same bone color that the spikes on the ends are painted (which would break up all that black). Or go the other way and paint the spikes black. My mind's eye just can't grasp the spikes being bone colored but not the bones leading to them.
RiTides wrote: On the wings, I think one of two things could help: either painting the bones in the wings that same bone color that the spikes on the ends are painted (which would break up all that black). Or go the other way and paint the spikes black. My mind's eye just can't grasp the spikes being bone colored but not the bones leading to them.
That's a very good observation RiTides. They were originally black like the wing supports... easy enough to reverse the process. I wasn't sure so I thought I'd try it.
The red armor bits (are) actually the glittery version... I just toned them down with washes.
I'm about to start my photo shoot for the dakka competition, as well as some army shots. If someone would be so kind as to bump the thread so I have a clean slate to post on, I'd be very appreciative.
RiTides wrote: On the wings, I think one of two things could help: either painting the bones in the wings that same bone color that the spikes on the ends are painted (which would break up all that black). Or go the other way and paint the spikes black. My mind's eye just can't grasp the spikes being bone colored but not the bones leading to them.
That's a very good observation RiTides. They were originally black like the wing supports... easy enough to reverse the process. I wasn't sure so I thought I'd try it.
The red armor bits (are) actually the glittery version... I just toned them down with washes.
I'm about to start my photo shoot for the dakka competition, as well as some army shots. If someone would be so kind as to bump the thread so I have a clean slate to post on, I'd be very appreciative.
Sounds great on the black wing tips!
And Gits got his Dakka painting competition shot up in the Painting Challenge thread:
Gits, you are often your toughest critic... Drac looks amazing! I'm reading the book now and he truly fits the history... cruel, romanian general. Very good work.
Here is the army pic I promised you. It's still Halloween (here in the Central time zone anyway) so I made my deadline. Even got in a game with them!
Play this while viewing...
Spoiler:
If you like it, please comment & vote.
Heart-felt thanks to my wonderful wife who's idea this was & who has always been supportive of my hobby. Also to RiTides for solving the "unbound" issue and all of you who contributed ideas and support during this rather grueling month. I'm very happy.
Happy Halloween my friends!
p.s. - More to come. 30 skeletons, headless horseman & a "blob" great unclean one!
Well, we only got two turns in so most of it didn't really see battle. The parts that did didn't fare so well. My opponent had a gargantuan demon creature which wiped out anything it got near... and the chaos hounds and the werewolf were just pathetic. Gods that hound character costs double what he's worth... at best... 10 khorne hounds and the HQ hit 3 chaos marine bikers and tied combat with them (1 wound each). Pathetic!
However... I think it'll be a fun army to play once I get the hang of it.
Some pics from their first battle Halloween night. We only got two turns in but I think my opponent Brian was in a commanding position both in maelstrom points and in kill points.
Zombies wander about...
Werewolves race across the battlefield...
Grizelda Greenbottom & Thanatos provide spell suport...
Brian's cool looking Slaanesh champion...
Slaaneshi forces crash my left flank...
Before & after of the battle with an uber-demonette...
The second battle with the uber-demonette...
Wonderfully fun game even though we only got a couple of turns in. Have a TON of things to learn... man what a complicated army!
Love the action shots! Since he plays daemons too, maybe he can give you some tips! I thought most things could deepstrike in or something... (cursed lack of knowledge!)
Really pleased by how the army came out, and looking forward to seeing a few more additions at a Much more reasonable pace
Well, Brian plays chaos marines, so he doesn't really know the ins & outs of the demon list. We weren't sure how demons deployed and I couldn't find it in the dex, so I just put everything on the table. No question some of these units could benefit greatly from being able to deep strike.
On the next topic, I started working on putting together my skeletons. The good news is they look great. The bad news is it took me all afternoon to assemble 3 skeletons. Yes... that's 3 skeletons. No way I'm going to be able to whip these babies out quickly. Glad they weren't part of the original challenge. My goal for this evening is to finish a total of 5 skeletons and work on all 30 bases (the skels are a little small, so I'm going to mount them on top of the flocking rather than have it around their feet like usual). At least the painting should go quickly.
That was a lot of models for just one month! Congratulations finishing them all, they look great. My favorites are Dracula and Frankenstein. Two great models and executed perfectly.
Camkierhi wrote:I think its a masterpiece. Truly awesome looking army, thank you Mrs Gits. You see this is what this is supposed to be about, FUN! None of this serious argumentative stuff, FUN! And this army is that personified. Bravo.
Thank you Cam. Praise like that from you is a real feather in my cap.
evildrcheese wrote:I'm happy to hear that there's more on the way! Great themed army, it really does look spectacular. D
Thanks D. Appreciate it!
RiTides wrote:Love the action shots! Since he plays daemons too, maybe he can give you some tips! I thought most things could deepstrike in or something... (cursed lack of knowledge!) Really pleased by how the army came out, and looking forward to seeing a few more additions at a Much more reasonable pace
Well RiTides, your part in making this army happen can't be overstated. I'm really glad you like the end result. A couple of key pieces to go, then it'll just be things that fit the theme when the whim strikes me. I still want to do a Great Unclean One of some sort (expanding foam is my current idea) and I would like to do a dragon (modified Hell Drake).
lindsay40k wrote:omg! Love the frankingstein!
Thanks Linds!
GiraffeX wrote:I believe daemon deployment changed in the latest codex so you can deploy all upfront or deepstrike in some units if you wish. I could be totally wrong though. Its great to see your army on the table, Grizelda kicks ass.
I need to take some time and just casually read through the codecii... I'm sure that'll solve a lot of problems. And yes... she does. I imagine you'll see more photos of her from the backside that any other view.
Ruberu wrote:That was a lot of models for just one month! Congratulations finishing them all, they look great. My favorites are Dracula and Frankenstein. Two great models and executed perfectly.
How many parts are those skeletons in that they take that long to assemble? Is it just a bag of 28mm scale bones you need to assemble yourself? I know in general skeletons can be fiddly to put together, just curious how bad these are to be causing you problems.
I actually got them from a bits dealer who had everything except the weapons and heads. Luckily, I was able to get some weapons from a *different* bits dealer and had enough random skulls of the right size lying around to finish the unit. Unfortunately I can't really post a pic as the finished builds are just lying around in a pile. They're a little small, so I'm going to add grit & paint the bases separately (which I never do) in order to give them a little extra height, then add the painted skeletons to the top of the base. This will complicate the painting process for the skeletons but should still be something I can do fairly efficiently.
Each skeleton involves 8 different pieces, all very tiny and needing to be assembled and allowed to dry completely one step at a time before they're sturdy enough to move on to the next step. Currently, I do a pre-assembly of head to body, weapon to arm, shield to arm, legs to feet. Once all that's dry I attach the shield arm, then when that's dry I attach the sword arm. It's quite the undertaking. They really do look like proper skeletons though so I think in the end all the work will be worth it.
*singing*
Shin bone connected to the.... knee bone
The knee bone connected to the... thigh bone
The thigh bone connected to the... hip bone
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around
Once the skeletons and headless horseman are done (and I think I've got a mummy priest coming to act as a character for that group), I'll set this aside for a while. (Not playing-wise but painting-wise. Have four other limited-scope projects that I really want to get to so everything will get it's day (or month) in the sun.
@TP: Thanks man, glad you stopped by! It's been fun for sure.
@Lost Soul: That definitely occurred to me. Unfortunately I'm not sure that any elements of the army can actually use a transport.
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Thought I'd post just in case anyone was interested... this is why making the skeletons takes so long.
Assembly needs to take place in 4 different stages.
Stage 1:
- file & clean everything
- pin heads to bodies & super-glue
- super-glue one leg to one of the feet (the two feet are attached to a central bar that will be eventually removed... but I need it for painting so it stays for the moment)
- plastic glue one arm to shield
- plastic glue one arm to sword
Stage 2:
- plastic glue second leg to second foot
- plastic glue shield arm to body
Stage 3:
plastic glue sword arm to body
Stage 4:
Plastic glue body to legs
The pieces are so small that I feel plastic weld-type glue is necessary to ultimately keep them together. They're also so fragile that the glue softens the little bits to the point where they're ridiculously easy to deform, so once things are glued, they must rest immobile until the glue is absolutely set. It's a very long and tedious process, but one I hope will pay off in the end.
Wargames Factory, but they're unavailable new (believe me, I've tried). Had to get these as bits from a couple of different sources. No heads... I'm just lucky enough to have had skulls from another manufacturer that are roughly the right size.
They're a tad on the small side... but if I finish the bases separately & then glue the skeletons on top of the finished bases, they should be on part with the zombies and mummies (which means they'll fit the army just fine). I'll do a comp pic for you tonight.
What I've discovered is after being so productive for the last month, the pace of this build... which wouldn't bother me at all normally is making me completely berserk. I'll finish 5 more tonight which will put me at the half-way mark. I think I'll also get the bases started as well... at least I'll get to throw a little paint on those. *sigh*
To be fair, skeletons probably should be a little small. Consider that depending on the animative motus there might not be any cartilage in the joints (that's a couple inches right there) and no flesh on the bottoms of the feet or the top of the head (little as there is there anyways).
So yeah, a little smaller, I think, is good for skellies.
As you can see there is a considerable height difference between the skeletons and my other foot troops (which themselves are a bit small when compared to 40k models). I don't see any recourse but to build up the bases in order to at least try and make their head height a little closer to the norm.
Gitsplitta wrote: As you can see there is a considerable height difference between the skeletons and my other foot troops (which themselves are a bit small when compared to 40k models). I don't see any recourse but to build up the bases in order to at least try and make their head height a little closer to the norm.
How do the skeletons compare to normal cultists though? That should be your true comparator as effecting Line of Sight would be biggest sticking point to opponents.
The skeletons on bases looks great, so dynamic! And they'll fit right in now . But man, they must have been so fiddly to assemble - I hope they're solid and won't crumble like one of the skeletons from the Mario games the moment you touch it
Yes... this is a pic of skeletons with paint on them. I anticipate they skeletons will be completely painted tonight. Basing won't probably be done until tomorrow.
Pretty amazing guess RiTides. The only thing I did differently was to hit them from the top with white primer before washing.
I hurried a couple along so you could see the final result. I experimented with a new bronze recipie that I think turned out OK. I want everything metal to be pretty corroded, so the bronze has a lot of blue and the steel swords are brown/orange with rust.
Finishing up the bases is going to take a while, but I'll keep plugging away at it.
I really like the sword on the right as it's nice to have the shield/sword matching. And the blue helps offset a very otherwise warm model and base. Looks good!
Well, I could do the longsword in bronze as well. I just didn't think that was a very bronze-age style of weapon. But I'm not wedded to the current version, so I'm open to suggestion.
Yeah I'd vote for all bluish, sword typed be darned. I didn't even realize they were different types of swords (all you reenactors can stop cringing now!)
Gitsplitta wrote: Pretty amazing guess RiTides. The only thing I did differently was to hit them from the top with white primer before washing.
I hurried a couple along so you could see the final result. I experimented with a new bronze recipie that I think turned out OK. I want everything metal to be pretty corroded, so the bronze has a lot of blue and the steel swords are brown/orange with rust.
Finishing up the bases is going to take a while, but I'll keep plugging away at it.
Any swords that have that sort of leaf-shaped blade are just as likely to be bronze as steel- since Bronze swords were more often used for chopping and slicing, the curvy blades were better for that.
Bronze is actually a better weapon material than steel, at least until you get to the late medieval period- it's harder, lasts longer with less maintenance, holds an edge better... Only thing is, it's more expensive. It was cost, rather than use, that drove bronze weapons out of use.
Skeletons are finished. Only one model left to do (which I should pick up tomorrow).
So, the neat thing is that in order to get my army up to 1850 for my last game, I had to load my characters up with special powers and war gear... half of which I never used or didn't need. I was able to slim down the character buffs enough to all all 20 zombies and all 30 skeletons into the army as units of cultists. They're still garbage infantry... but now they're huge masses of garbage infantry!
Great to be able to ditch the updgrades, too. Now you have masses of troops to camp objectives / tie up valuable models while your characters / elite units do the work
Actually, kind of had my heart set on "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" as the leader. In my mind's eye I had it pegged as red for some reason... but nope... just normal skeleton color.
No. Have a tournament next weekend that I want to finish a predator for. Have one more model for this army, then I want to move on and finish up my little Space Wolf detachment.
OH, and I fancied up a small group trees, Think I'm going to do a whole bunch of these. For scale, these are on 40mm bases.
One of the large trees. I planning on using these for tabletop terrain, photo props and on my display board. Can't remember the company that makes the grave stones off the top of my head. I'll see if I can remember.
Thanks evildrcheese. Nope. I'm out of the objective marker business. The objective markers produced by ModCubes are the only one's I'll use. They're just too damn practical to bother with anything else.
Going to trot the army out again tonight, this time with the skeletons added to the list. Will take my camera so hopefully I can get some good shots up or perhaps even a battle report.
Just had a wonderful game with my friend Luke. He's a long-time chaos demon player and gave me a ton of good advice and is going to help me tweak the list a bit so that the list is more competitive (without actually changing the character of the army, which he loves). Got my butt handed to me pretty good but neither of us believes that that is an inevitable outcome. It is a really fun army to play and looks great on the table. With Luke's help & some practice... I think it may really turn into a show-piece army, not just for it's looks but for the way it plays as well.
I took enough pics to do a full battle report, which I will try to put together over the next few days.
OH, and I finally got the model I need for the headless horseman and also picked up a mummy/liche figure that will be the sergeant of my mummy unit.
"The gates of hell opened up and out poured all that is unseemly and corrupt. The undead and the demonic stretched across the entirety of the battlefield, howling and gibbering creatures from the black pit, hungry for blood"
A stalwart few looked on at the horror that unfolded before them. Grim determination and resolve solidified their intent and sharpened their enhanced senses. These foul creatures would taste their own blood 'er the day had ended!
I think a Snotling would be too much but that's just my opinion. She looks superb Git, I actually really love the Broom and Wand!
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your so lucky
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