PWYG 25/26 Planning

A little while ago I ran through a few options for Dave Stone's latest Paint What You Got Challenge. 

If you've been pondering what I've been pondering, (I think so Brain), you'll see that some of them build nicely on games I'm enjoying at the moment, or have recently; some are more for systems that I rarely play. 

It makes sense to go for the former, but then, I'm not always sensible.

So here's a look at what I'd actually need for a couple of the projects. 

The Tower, Rangers of Shadow Deep

Miniatures 

This mission mostly involves gnolls.  Looking at all three scenarios, and allowing for the event cards, I'd need 1 Shadow Knight, 1 Flesh Golem, 1 Gnoll Shaman, 2 Gnoll Sergeants, 4 Gnoll Archers, 6 Gnoll Fighters, 1 Giant Vulture and a Soldier (Man-at-Arms). If I factor in the Challenge Level additions I'll need another Shadow Knight, another Sergeant and an Ogre.

Now I already have a painted Shadow Knight, a FleshGolem and an Ogre, and a few Men-at Arms too. after picking up the gnoll herbalist at RECON I've got the rest of the required minis, they just need assembling and painting. 

Terrain 

The first scenario is outside, so it might be time to finally make a proper gaming mat with reasonable colours and textures. I'm looking at it as practice for something larger. 

I'd also need a river, a bridge and various rocks and shrubs. All useful terrain items for future gaming. 

The remaining scenarios are set indoors, for which I'll simply print off some dungeon style flooring.  I've got plenty of PDFs to choose from. 

Furnishings will probably come from the Mantic Terrain Crate, which I might finally get around to painting,  well some of it anyway. 

Fellowship of the Ring Journey Book

This is a project that I've long wanted to do, and now seems a good opportunity,  especially as 2026 is the 25th anniversary of the Fellowship of the Ring film release.  Don't you feel old now knowing that*.

To keep things manageable I think I'll stick to the first book of The Fellowship of the Ring, up to Rivendell.

For this I'd need 9 Nazgul (foot and mounted), 9 Dunedain, the 4 Hobbits, Gildor, 4 Barrow Wights,  Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, Aragorn, Gandalf and Glorfindal. I could add Farmer Cotton and his dogs if I include one of the additional scenarios from an old White Dwarf.

And there's terrain of course.  I'm not sure if I should stick to the builds in the book,  which do a great job of making thing as multipurpose as possible,  or do some more specific pieces.  I'll probably end up doing a bit of both.

A Cunning Plan

So that's the plan.  I do have some Undead that I'm part way through painting, so I'll try and finish those as well, but it'll be nice to do some living creatures for a change. 

I've started on building five of the gnolls using the Frostgrave gnolls kit.

And finally, the Christmas Haul

I was gifted four hobby related presents; a GM's mug, a deck of 7TV profile cards, a light pad (great for copying maps etc) and a lovely 3D printed Beholder.  So many thanks to my amazing family,  and T'Other One as well.

I'll be squeezing the Beholder into the challenge,  after all, I got it before the 26th.

* Don't worry,  I still remember the excitement over the imminent release of The Silmarillion.

Grenadier Skeleton Archers Painted

I've developed a real appreciation of the Fantasy Lords skeletons sculpted by Andrew Chernak.  They have a different feel to the Oldhammer Citadel minis, less chunky, more gracile, but there's nothing wrong with that.
I already had quite a few in my various piles of shame, and one or two job lot purchases has swelled the collection. A good few were damaged, but I've managed to repair most of these. 

Missile Support

The latest unit to get finished is this group of archers (seen doing better than expected in a recent battle report).

Undead Archers

Another view

  

Since the minis are all either bone or equipment, I'm taking the opportunity to show my painting technique for skeletons, see the next post for that.

The minis themselves are four different poses of Grenadier Fantasy Lords archers with a converted plastic Citadel mini thrown in. 

The plastic Citadel archer was built up from skeleton bits from the 1996 Skeleton Warriors Regiment.  The arms are from the earlier Skeleton Army set, another escapee from my donation of Skeleton Horde/Army bits.  

The next batch of skeletons are all from various Grenadier packs; the chap with the crested helmet is from Fantasy Lords First Series 106 Skeleton Cavalry, the smaller skeleton is from Fantasy Lords First Series 109 Undead Orcs. The others are crew for some of the rather impressive Masterpiece Edition models (though the crested helmet chap also appears on some of these), something it would be nice to own, but for now, the archers unit is a good home for them*.

These were fun to do, but there's a limit to the number of skeletons I can do at once, all that bone can get a little tedious.

What Next?

I have a few more undead minis in the process of being painted.  I'm hoping to get a force ready for the first game in Bodvoc's campaign.

Beyond that, I think I'll take a break from the boneyard for a while.  My Paint What You Got entries will be the next major thing I think.  I still haven't decided what I'm going to paint yet, though I am narrowing down the possibilities, but it won't be Undead (other than stuff finished during December of course).

*The joys of random lots of minis, you never know quite where things are from.

Grenadier Masterpiece Edition Undead War Chariot

I've been collecting Grenadier Fantasy Lords undead for a little while now. I already had a few from my early collecting days,  but I've also bought some random job lots.  These were all funded by other sales, so I don't feel bad about getting new stuff. 

Grenadier also produced some great 'specials'. It would be great to get one or more as a centerpiece for the army,  but they rarely crop up, and they tend to command high prices. 

Then looking through my acquisitions I realised that I had both crew for the chariot,  along with two skeletal horses.  These were garnered from four different lots from as many sellers.  I was wondering what to do with them,  I painted the archer, but the driver is rather specific, I even had plans to convert the failed repair job warrior to ride one of the horses. 

But then I found the actual chariot for sale,  missing the crew and horses.  Like a zombie,  this was a no-brainer.

The Unassembled War Chariot 

So now I own the Masterpiece Edition Undead War Chariot,  well,  apart from the yoke,  but I can fashion something for that. 

And as a bonus,  one of the horses came it a lot that included the standard bearer included in the set.

Don't expect to see it built and painted soon, I'll be painting other stuff for the PWYG challenge, and it'll be nice to have a rest from painting bones. 

It'll make a fun project for the spring. 

Painting Skeletons: Grenadier Fantasy Lords Undead

Firstly,  I  wish all my readers the best wishes of the season.  If Christmas is your thing, have a great one, and I hope Captain Christmas brings you joy.

I'm taking the opportunity to show how I paint skeletons.  These archers are pretty much just bone and equipment, so they make great subjects.  You can see the whole unit in the previous post, I'm choosing just three to show the process.

Preparation

Once the mould lines are removed, and any repairs done, the minis are superglued on to the bases.  I use 25mm round bases (actually spare GW slotta bases). If there are any exposed slots, and if I remember,  I cover these with masking tape. 

Then the minis are fixed on to my home made painting handles and primed with Vallejo German Green Primer. 

Primed

Once the primer has been given plenty of time to cure, it's on with the base coats.

Metals; anything that's going to be silver or steel is painted Vallejo Game Color Gunmetal. 

Large areas of bronze,  brass or gold start with a base of VGC Tinny Tin.

Helms, belt buckles etc

Bones: I pick out the bones in VGC Bonewhite,  the important thing here is to leave the deeper areas in the primer colour. 

This is a tedious business, and works best with well sculpted skeletons.  The Grenadier skeletons are ideal for this technique; some of the models I've painted recently lacked detail and it felt like I was painting it in. If you can, try and pay attention to bits like the kneecaps and the knuckle bones, and don't forget to emphasise the radius and ulna (lower arm bones) and tibia and fibula (lower leg bones). This really sells the idea of it being a skeleton.

First pass on the bones

Wood, leather etc: these skeletons don't have any clothes, so all that's left is to base coat the remaining equipment.  

VGC Scorched Brown is excellent for this, and is also good as a base coat for those smaller areas of bronze or gold, such as studs, belt buckles etc. (I missed getting a picture of this stage, but you can see the results on the next photo.)

Black wash: the metals are given a black wash.  This not only provides shade but it dulls down the metal, very appropriate for undead gear.  

If you like your skeletons with hollow eye sockets rather than an unholy glow, dot a bit of black wash in them now. 

Dark brown stage

Bones again: highlight the bones with white.  Don't worry if it looks a bit stark, the wash will take care of that later. 

Pay particular attention to the top of the skull (if visible), round the eye sockets,  cheek bones and teeth,  plus those kneecaps etc.

Bones highlight, the skeletons are starting to look OK now

Equipment details: edge highlight leather straps with a light brown (VGC Leather Brown). It's sometimes worth having a couple of different browns for the leather to differentiate between bits of gear (VGC Beasty Brown or Terra are good). I know leather can be dyed, but I like to have certain 'go to' colours.

For wooden areas I use a fine brush to add slightly wavy lines along in the direction of the grain. I start with a yellow/brown (VGC Desert Yellow) then a lighter buff (Vallejo Iraqi Sand). This mimics the texture we expect to see, though realistically the wood would be far smoother, especially on regularly handled items like spear shafts. Wood changes colour as it ages. Left untreated it greys, depending on type. Equipment, which we can assume is more cared for than fences or outbuildings, would retain a paler yellowish colour. If you're not sure, just look at some fresh timber in your local woodyard or DIY shop.  I'm still working on getting this looking right.

I also painted the feathers on the arrows a dark yellow.

Mostly done, they'd be OK here, but I like to add more shading and little details

Sonic Tonic: I give the whole mini a wash with Sonic Tonic/Marine Juice. This both adds depth to the shading and helps blend the highlights so they are less harsh.

Sonic Tonic brings out the details

Final Details: then it's just a case of dotting in the buttons and studs, and a bit of white drybrush on the bone (skull and ribcage mostly). I also add Vallejo Model Effects Dry Rust and Rust, using an old brush. Give a good coat of Dry Rust over the whole area you want to look rusty,  then dab Rust in patches.  Think about which areas are likely to rust (generally,  places where water can collect or where there is damage). I could add a lot more rust than I do, but I'm happy with the results.

Rust Effects

The Finished Minis: varnished and with base texture added, the skeletons are ready to join their unit. 

I find sticking to a set process helps me get the bony chaps done, and they have a pleasing unity.

If you enjoyed this or found it helpful, please leave a comment.

Repairing and Painting Skeletons for Terror of the Lichemaster

To collect enough undead for Terror of the Lichemaster I've bought a couple of job lots of skeletons, many are missing weapons or suffering other damage. I've also got a few battered remnants in my own collection; hopefully they are repairable.  

So here are eight now repaired skeletons of various pedigrees, some of which you will have seen in my earlier posts. 

The Bone Pile

Mending Broken Bones 

From the left, the first two are plastic skeletons from Citadel's Skeleton Horde/Skeleton Army. I gave away my remaining Horde, or so I thought, earlier this year, but recently I found a few bits lingering in an old box.

The first one simply needed a new weapon arm; with his scythe, he can join my unit of two handed weapons, and the plastic skeleton with scythe is iconic.

The next chap was missing both arms and his left foot. Fortunately, I have a small collection of bases with one or two skeleton feet still attached, so I easily found a donor foot.

When mending the broken bones, I don't rely on plastic cement; I use a very fine drill bit and brass wire. It's thin enough that I can actually drill into some of the plastic bones for pinning. I gave this chap the coffin lid shield, up there with the scythe for iconic Oldhammer undead. It's far too small for an adult coffin, but sadly I'm sure there were smaller lids available.

The next skeleton is a Harlequin model who was missing both feet. I pinned two of the plastic feet from another base. Looking closely now, I realise that I should have reduced the length of the leg bones, but it's not too obvious.

The next three are identical minis. Grenadier skeletal dog handlers sculpted by Andrew Chernak. These were from an eBay job lot. Initially, I thought that they had broken weapon hands. However, on close inspection I realised they were designed to have seperate hands with weapons (spears) plugged in, the bracelet providing a fixing point. No drilling was required, I simply trimmed down the forearms on spare Skeleton Horde bits to fit the hole. The two spears were taken from my sprue pile and fitted in holes drilled through the hand, the sword is the weapon the bony hand was already holding.

The standard bearer is the most ambitious repair. The model is supposed to have a standard; he is one of the Grenadier Undead Legions of Khomar-Lolth Set (I've now got six out of the set of ten from various sources) but was missing right hand and standard. The arm is held straight upwards, meaning that none of my spare hands looked right - they would have held the standard horizontally rather than vertically (I realised later, after finding a picture of the mini completed, that the hand wrapped round the shaft, but that still doesn't help with the components I had). Fortunately, I had a spare right arm with spear. The whole of the mini's arm was removed at the shoulder and a wide pin inserted for the socket on the arm. The plastic spear was removed, and the hand drilled to take brass wire which then had brass tubing slotted over it. The top of the standard pole came from a more recent plastic spear, drilled to take the brass wire, with a plastic skull to finish it off.

The final mini in the line is the one failure. The left leg is broken at the ankle. I tried using thin card to make a greave. This, I hoped, would provide sufficient extra surface to run some superglue into the crack and hold the foot in place. Unfortunately this just didn't work. Never mind, I'll remove the card and take both feet off and pin them. In fact I've something planned already for this mini.

Painting the Skeletons 

Painting was pretty straightforward, there's not a lot to say. If you want details, check out my earlier post on Ranlac's skeletons. I kept with the red and black or yellow and black livery on some of the shields; at some point I'm going to have to paint some living troops with this, simply to show where the undead and orcs are getting them from.

The Citadel plastics

The Grenadier 'Dog Handlers'

Harlequin and Grenadier standard

Basing was, again, Geek Gaming Scenics Arid Grasslands with appropriate dead tufts.

So that's another seven skeletons to add to Kemmler's horde. Of course, they are also the beginning of a nice old school undead army.

I'm collecting skeletons with hand weapons, with swords and with two handed weapons, (including scythes). These all perform slightly differently in Warlords of Erehwon*, but I can just mix them up and call them 'normal' skeletons.

Not only did I enjoy painting these, but I had a lot of fun repairing the damaged or incomplete models. 

What's Next?

I'm unofficially calling this month "Deadcember"; It's just an excuse to paint more undead. I've managed to get some more of the rather nice Grenadier Fantasy Lords minis, and they'll make nice additions to my growing army. 

Bodvoc has suggested a campaign, so I'm getting ready for it, I'll need more than just the skeletons and zombies from Terror of the Lichemaster though, so I guess I'll end up with quite a collection.

As I finish this group I've got several more undead minis in the Dettol and another unit, plus heroes, part painted. 

Expect more undead soon.

*When I look at the army list, skeleton warriors can swap hand weapons for spears, but relatively few can have two handed weapons (or 'huge' weapons as the rules call them), so I guess it's mixed units for the bulk of the skeletons.

Paint What You Got 25/26

Paintbrushes at Dawn

Dave Stone has announced the next Paint What You Got challenge over on Wargames Terrain Workshop.

I really enjoyed taking part in the last one, not only did it focus my hobby enough to get minis and terrain ready for the first Rangers of Shadow Deep mission, it also encouraged me to take part in more challenges this year.

The challenge runs from Boxing Day (26th December) to 26th February, and it's delightfully fuzzy. Simply paint stuff. 

I assume that it's not really the done thing to add new stuff (so any Christmas presents should just squeeze in), but maybe that's just me.

But What? 

Me taking part is certain; what I paint is less so. Here are some of the possibilities.

Rangers of Shadow Deep Mission Two. Since I did mission one last time, it would be fitting to do mission two this time. I don't need as many minis this time, mostly just gnolls, so I might have time to move on to something else.

More Undead. Bodvoc is planning a Warlords of Erehwon campaign, for which I will need to boost my Undead beyond the minis required for Terror of the Lichemaster. I've already got quite a bit to paint (so it ticks the 'got' box).

Orc's Drift. I realised the other day that I actually have just about everything I need for Bloodbath at Orc's Drift. I've painted the minis for Ashak Rise, so maybe pick another of the scenarios?

6mm Fantastic Battles. I've painted a good amount of dwarves and a more eclectic gang of orcs. I've got the minis, so perhaps I should get two decent armies finished?

Fellowship of the Ring Journey Book. The three journey books provided a good framework for a 'Slo-Gro' MESBG collection, with painting advice and terrain building too. I've long wanted to tackle this, so I could finally make a start. It's also an excuse to sort through my collection and thin it out somewhat. For instance, I've got more than nine Ringwraiths, clearly I can get rid of some.

Dungeons and Dragons Minis. I really enjoyed rationalising my undead collection for the Crypt of the Vampire Knight adventure. It would be a useful exercise to do the same with more of my RPG minis collection.

Choices

Phew, that's a lot of options. Knowing me, I'll probably end up doing something completely different. Regardless, I'll have a lot of fun, and hopefully I'll make a bit of a dint in the lead massif.

You're Welcome

Why not join us in the challenge? All you have to do is paint something during the two months and post pictures. Here's the link again, so you've no excuse. Leave Dave a comment on his post so he knows you want to take part.

Citadel Giant Restoration: Part 3

The giant is stripped and cleaned up, but there's still a bit of work to do. 

The giant cleaned and disassembled

He started to come apart pretty much when I received him, starting with his remaining complete leg. The bath in Dettol hasn't helped the glue, which seems to have turned into a rubbery brown substance (see the previous Giant post for pic). It all peeled off easily though.

The pieces have pegs and sockets to help join everything together,  but the glue looks to have filled up some of the sockets, so I suspect they were never a close fit.

The broken ankle has, at some point,  been repaired with what looks like superglue.  This repair hasn't stood the test of time,  and the superglue residue needs removing to give a nice clean break.

This was fairly easy to do, the glue seemed quite brittle, and easily crumbled away.

Dave Stone (and others) suggested pinning the joint, I agree.  In fact I'm using two brass rods to secure the foot.  There are various ways of ensuring that holes for pins match up, but for something this important I'm pinning straight up through the sole of the foot and into the ankle. 

To hold the foot in place I used superglue.  I'm not relying on this for the actual strength of the joint, it's merely to keep everything in place for the pinning. To ensure everything stayed in place I wrapped the glued leg tightly round with masking tape. I didn't want anything coming adrift when I was drilling the holes for the pins.

Underside of the foot showing where the pins were inserted

I got some 1.5 mm brass rod from a local model shop (2K Hobbies), I've got plenty of drill bits. I used a cordless drill fitted with a 2 mm bit. This gives plenty of space for the epoxy around the pin.

The holes were drilled to a depth of about 40 mm and the pins cut just a little short. Then it's simply a case of slathering each pin with two part epoxy glue and inserting them, making sure that the holes are filled.

The pins were fitted separately, and were drilled in at angles. This ensures that the foot won't just lift off if the glue fails.

The leg repaired, but still with a gap at the ankle

That's not quite all. The bottom of the foot needed a gentle sand to remove excess glue, and the new join at the ankle needed a bit of greenstuff/milliput mix to smooth everything down.

All fixed!

Finally, it was all packed and posted off.

This has been great fun to do. I'm glad I got the giant back on his feet (literally), and it's been fun to be involved with this classic mini, if mini is the right term to use, even if only in a transitionary role.

I hope the new owner gets the giant painted up soon, and enjoys having him.

If I can persuade him, I'll share some pictures.