Resurrecting the Old School Undead

[Glitterwolf]

The bone work looks good!

That's the fun with skeletons, you could use different recipes for the bone depending on how long the skeleton has been buried/ exposed to the sun and weather.

Love these!

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Other than a bit of Black Wash on the arrows, armguards, and bowtips, the painting portion of the skeletons is done.

Lined the bows, arrow shafts, quivers, and belts with Pavement Gray craft paint, Hashut Copper on the bow tips, Ebony Flesh on the armguards with Dark Highlight on the strings, and Vallejo Field Green with a drop of Shadowed Stone mixed in for the arrow fletching and bow handles. 

Now all that's left is the basing.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

After a sprinkling of green and dead grass flock, with some Army Painter Steppe Grass added on top, they've now shambled thier way into the Show Off section.

Eventually there'll be some dead leaves added, but I'm still searching for a blender to grind them down with. 

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Now for the next group, my Grave Guard unit. Which is in need of a bit more prep work.

These guys are the Heartbreaker Skeleton Champion Mercenary pack. I still haven't found the original arm for the one in the center, and left handed weapons for skeletons are seriously lacking in my bits boxes, but I found one on one of the GW Tomb King skeleton sprues. Given the characterful nature of these guys, (the other one with a detached hand was obviously and orc once, and the other swordsman has a distinct High Elven look), the kopesh won't look out of place. I put them on Reaper 1 inch square bases, to both reflect they're an elite unit, and to give them a bit a space to rank up easier. (also my supply of the old school little squares is limited, and being fond of them I'm quite stingy with them.)

Grenadier Skeleton Command. The champion broke off at the legs during the Simple Greening, but I managed to get him back together. The Base Boss squares I picked up size well with the Reaper ones, and the lack of a lip won't be too noticeable once the wood putty goes on.

Grenadier Skeleton Warriors with Two Handed Weapons. There is a 5th one with a shield and ax, but he's going to be part of another unit. These were originally on round bases, and the tabs need to be filed thinner to fit them to the squares. I also need to go in with the hobby knife and clear out the paint leavings.

The old GW Isabella von Carstein and my first Reaper miniature, 02111 Gabriel Darkblood playing the part of Vlad von Carstein. 

[lowlylowlycook]

Very nice stuff.

 

I'm interested to hear how the filler covered wire holds up, though I guess a diorama is a bit different from a wargaming piece. 

[Glitterwolf]

5 hours ago, Lord of the Dish Pit said:

Now for the next group, my Grave Guard unit. Which is in need of a bit more prep work.

These guys are the Heartbreaker Skeleton Champion Mercenary pack. I still haven't found the original arm for the one in the center, and left handed weapons for skeletons are seriously lacking in my bits boxes, but I found one on one of the GW Tomb King skeleton sprues. Given the characterful nature of these guys, (the other one with a detached hand was obviously and orc once, and the other swordsman has a distinct High Elven look), the kopesh won't look out of place. I put them on Reaper 1 inch square bases, to both reflect they're an elite unit, and to give them a bit a space to rank up easier. (also my supply of the old school little squares is limited, and being fond of them I'm quite stingy with them.)

Grenadier Skeleton Command. The champion broke off at the legs during the Simple Greening, but I managed to get him back together. The Base Boss squares I picked up size well with the Reaper ones, and the lack of a lip won't be too noticeable once the wood putty goes on.

Grenadier Skeleton Warriors with Two Handed Weapons. There is a 5th one with a shield and ax, but he's going to be part of another unit. These were originally on round bases, and the tabs need to be filed thinner to fit them to the squares. I also need to go in with the hobby knife and clear out the paint leavings.

 

 

I don't think these are Grenadier.

Grenadier didn't use slotta bases or tabs and were always on integral bases.

 

Mirliton has a lot fo Grenadier molds and has expanded the range with slotta based figures.

Either that or these are from Harlequin Miniatures.

What's on the tabs?

Edited August 6, 2019 by Glitterwolf

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Copyright circle, "95 Gren"

They're available from Mirliton, ud045. I know Mirliton wound up with a lot of the old Grenadier molds, and the "Gren" on the tab is what caused me to assume Grenadier. I bought them in either late 95 or 96, so right around the time Stratelibri bought everything. For the life of me I can't remember what the blister looked like.

5 hours ago, lowlylowlycook said:

Very nice stuff.

 

I'm interested to hear how the filler covered wire holds up, though I guess a diorama is a bit different from a wargaming piece. 

Thanks, the intent is 90% display, 10% possible wargaming if the opportunity ever arises. Once pinned down and the roots are puttied, the trees seem rather stable. A stray dice isn't going to do much to them. I'm more worried about the early 90s GW skeletons, I've been simple greening. Fragile and fiddly to begin with, age and simple green don't help. Even gentle brushing sometimes snaps a spear or breaks a limb. 

[Glitterwolf]

1 minute ago, Lord of the Dish Pit said:

Copyright circle, "95 Gren"

They're available from Mirliton, ud045. I know Mirliton wound up with a lot of the old Grenadier molds, and the "Gren" on the tab is what caused me to assume Grenadier. I bought them in either late 95 or 96, so right around the time Stratelibri bought everything. For the life of me I can't remember what the blister looked like.

Thanks, the intent is 90% display, 10% possible wargaming if the opportunity ever arises. Once pinned down and the roots are puttied, the trees seem rather stable. A stray dice isn't going to do much to them. I'm more worried about the early 90s GW skeletons, I've been simple greening. Fragile and fiddly to begin with, age and simple green don't help. Even gentle brushing sometimes snaps a spear or breaks a limb. 

 

That's what I thought.

I have archers from Mirliton that have slottas and are definitely newer sculpts.

These are also a tad bigger than the original Grenadier minis.

 

These are indeed the Mirliton version.

Still great minis, and I love them, they're just not real Grenadier ones, Mirliton just uses the copyright to create the newer ones.

The older molds they have will look like the Grenadier ones with integrated bases.

 

I still have the Grenadier Undead Elephant and Mammoth, already painted the Undead Rhino Captive Carrier for my Shifting Sands Army.

Those would look great in your army as well.

Mirliton has those molds too and sells those minis.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

This explains the confusion I had going through the Grenadier section of Lost Minis wiki and not finding a lot of what I had. Things like this didn't help...

The ball and chain skeleton has "Grenadier" fully written out although everything after "a" is half sized.  Interesting. When it comes to older minis, there are many and frequent gaps in my knowledge, and the difference in style and base I attributed to maybe a change in house style between 92 (the command skeletons) and these guys in 95. Didn't know Mirliton commisioned new sculpts under Grenadier's name.

As to the reanimated war beasts, they're definately on the list for when money isn't quite so tight. Monsterous creatures/constructs are something the army does lack and as I get older I find myself drawn more and more towards the old school minis. 

 

[Glitterwolf]

If you can find the old Harlequinn minis they're also wonderful sculpts.

They are slotta based.

I have a few in this regiment which are mainly Grenadier, a few Mirliton and Harlequinn ones, led by a Freebooter Vampire and servant.

Also three Otherworld Skeletons and a Reaper Familiar

 

Otherworld might be a newer company but their minis have that oldschool vibe and are awesome, they are a bit pricey though.

 

Here are a few links to the regiment and some of the individuals so you can compare those ranges.

Hope you don't mind me posting them here, else I will remove them of course.

 

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/60959-undead-regiment-in-a-swamp-mixed-manufacturers/?hl=%2Bundead+%2Bregiment

 

 http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/60963-harlequin-skeletons-swamp-based/?hl=swamp

 

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/61004-mirliton-skeleton-archers/?hl=swamp#entry1111955

 

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/60999-otherworld-skeleton-warriors/?hl=%2Bundead+%2Bregiment

 

 http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/60997-grenadier-barbarian-zombie/?hl=%2Bundead+%2Bregiment

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

No problem with your links. Those Harlequins would go nicely with the Witch and Pumpkin army, and Otherworld nailed the classic look. I've got those jotted down now in my project notes.  Your swamp basing looks good, might have to borrow that idea when I get around to the Swamp Witch for the Witch and Pumpkin army...

[Glitterwolf]

8 minutes ago, Lord of the Dish Pit said:

No problem with your links. Those Harlequins would go nicely with the Witch and Pumpkin army, and Otherworld nailed the classic look. I've got those jotted down now in my project notes.  Your swamp basing looks good, might have to borrow that idea when I get around to the Swamp Witch for the Witch and Pumpkin army...

 

Did you say Pumpkins and Witches?

 

Maybe you will like this, I used a small ceramic pumpkin for the witches home.

 http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/65908-pumpkin-witches-and-their-house-by-xherman1964/?hl=pumpkin

 

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

Nice! I went with the traditional haunted house...

Last year's Countdown to Halloween thread was where I painted up most of them.  I doubt I'll be getting back to them this year though, the older portion of this project, (forces mainly based around the Warhammer 4th ed Undead book) will likely be ongoing through the Halloween season, and the second part of the army, from the 97 Vampire Counts book onwards might be finished around next Spring. 

[Glitterwolf]

I saw that thread last year!

Awesome project!

 

Aside from the Lizardmen and classic Chaos, the Undead in all their forms are still a favorite of mine.

Always love to see how people create armies, warbands dioramas and such with them.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

A smidgen of progress. 

Isabella undercoated.

Hand reattached and position so the back of the helmet acts as a brace.

Not perfectly lined up, but should be stable at least, wound up drilling all the way through the plastic arm in hopes of getting more support.

The Champion however decided to be difficult and came apart on the left leg. Reglued him with the tip of the shield on top of the leg, hopefully it will stay. I'm nervous about using the drill on him, although I might have to. The drill bit I have is too thin for the drill to hold, I have scotch tape wrapped around the end of it, and the wire I have is a great deal thinner than the holes are. I can eventually get it to work most times, but it is an exercise in frustration.