October 25 - Terror of the Lichemaster: Mikael Jacsen's Zombies

"And whosoever shall be found,

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the Hounds of Hell

And rot inside a corpse's shell"

Thriller - Rod Temperton

A horde of ten zombie 'dancers'

Mikeal Jacsen with his flaming hair and his horde of zombies is typical of Games Workshop's humour in the eighties.

Jacsen is another hard to find and expensive mini. I'm going down the route of just using a nice Undead mini, at least for now*.

The horde is only ten zombies, so it should be easy to complete in October, and I've certainly had plenty of practice painting them recently.

But I'm strangely short of actual Old School zombies. I can only assume that I sold or gave away what I had. I distinctly remember painting up some of the old Fantasy Tribe zombies back in the eighties; one even had an axe head stuck in his head! I'd have been using them for RPGs rather than for wargaming. I've no recollection of disposing of any of them though, ah well.

I do still have eight random zombies from various manufacturers. As with the skeletons, quite a few need some repairs.

But I've also got ten West Wind Zombies from their Vampire Wars range.

Initially I was put off by the rather odd poses of some of them, but then I remembered, these are Mikael Jacsen's zombies, they should be dancing! 

With that in mind, they should do just fine.

Painting 

Unlike my Rangers of Shadow Deep zombies or the D&D ones, I'm not using Speed/Xpress paints for the bulk of them. Instead, I'm going back to my usual base coat, sharp highlight and then wash. Because I want to emphasise their undead nature, I chose a few different base colours for the flesh. I used Vallejo Scorched Brown, Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal, VGC Dwarf Flesh and VGC Glacier Blue. They all got some sort of highlight, VGC Stonewall Grey for the dark skinned zombies, and at T'Other One's suggestion I stippled a bit of light green in places.

The flesh was then washed. I used Army Painter Quickshade Green, APQ Military Shader and Vallejo Game Wash Green, pretty much choosing the shade at random.  These have mostly worked out fine, though I think some look better than others.

Just a step to the left (oops, wrong film)

And lean back...

Two female zombies

The last two zombies

Clothing was done as standard, and given a wash in Marine Juice to provide the shading.  Little details such as some blood staining (Vallejo Special Effects Dried Blood), especially on the ones that seem to have been shot in the stomach, plus the odd bone, exposed muscle, and the guts on two of them finished of the painting. They all got a drybrush of VGC Earth on the legs to dirty them up a bit.

Basing was standard. I like this more desolate look for the undead, and I'm sticking with it for the rest of the force.

I enjoyed painting these minis, but I can't ever see myself painting hordes and hordes of them. I'll admit that I rushed them towards the end, partly as I wanted to get them done before the end of the month.

All parents and necromancers know that you shouldn't have favourites amongst those you've raised, but I do really like the bride. I painted some of the hair detail as flowers, that extra colour helps the mini to pop.

What's Next?

That's the Undead for the first two scenarios done, and all in October too. Admittedly, I don't have minis that match the leaders, but I do have proxies that will do for now.

I've already got sufficient dwarves painted for the mine, but I do need to paint the Bogles for the second game.

I also need some terrain. 

Terror of the Lichemaster was the first Village pack, and included a lot of buildings. As previously mentioned, I've got the dwarven stuff already, though the mine needs a bit of work and some bits like spoil heaps and maybe even a mine cart track will add to the look.

I've already started on the buildings for the Bogel's Farm, but there are a few extra bits that I need, such as hedges and an area of higher ground like a low, flat hill, useful for Ashak Rise as well.

Beyond that, there's the rest of the Undead for the Defence of Frugelhoffen, and the defenders of course. I'm short a few zombies, but I've got all the defenders, or suitable substitutes. They all need painting of course.

Plus yet more buildings, though I don't have any of these already built.

I may never actually get around to the stuff for the third game, at least not in the near future. 

But I've managed to get a reasonable number of undead finished, and within October too.

* I've already mentioned Antediluvian Miniatures 'Undead Heroes', I've also seen some great looking STLs, but not having 3D printing facilities I'll pass.

I've considered doing a bit of converting, I'm still looking out for suitable base minis.

October 25 - The Terror of the Lichemaster: Ranlac the Black and his Skeletons

A while ago I showed a collection of skeletons of mixed provenance, many requiring repairs.

These, plus some more intact minis, are now painted and ready.

24 Completed skeletons

Ranlac 

I must say, though, that I'm not trying to paint or convert anything specifically for Ranlac (or worse, buy him - there's one on eBay at the moment for an eye watering £48*, and that's less than a third of the asking price for Kemmler). Instead, I'll simply use the lich, it's by the Perry's, and from the same range as Ranlac, and I painted his cloak black, so it'll do for now.

Repair Work 

I didn't get chance to repair all the damaged minis, I started simply, pinning and gluing the arm back on the Citadel 'Shaman'. He was part of a job lot of damaged undead off evilbay, perhaps the previous owner was going to repose him?

Various weapon replacements needed pinning; I used a very fine drill bit and brass wire (can't remember the size, sorry). This was thin enough to pin plastic swords, and should hopefully be strong enough to hold everything in place. 

I took the parts from my sprue pile, specifically the Mantic skeleton sprue for swords (suitably chipped and aged) and the flail, and the Oathmark Goblins for the spears/spear heads.

Painting 

This was pretty straightforward. Priming with Vallejo German Green Brown Surface Primer, then all metals in Vallejo Game Color Gunmetal. 

Bone in VGC Bonewhite, leaving deep shadows in the primer, cloth as required and all wood and leather in VGC Charred Brown.

Then a black wash on the metals and in the eye sockets, followed by extreme highlights everywhere else; White on the bones, leather brown on belts etc. Normally I edge weapons and armour, but this is supposed to be old and decaying gear; besides, it'll get some rust effect later. I do use VGC Tinny Tin and Brazen Bronze to give some interest on some hilts, pommels, buckles etc. Finally, those lighter 'wood grain' stripes on weapon shafts that I still struggle with.

Then everything is given a wash of Sonic Tonic (Marine Juice). I wasn't sure if this would be dark enough, but I think it looks fine. 

Some of the boney lads are given a few extra details (shield designs, for example, and it makes a nice change not to deface them with orc symbols) or extra highlights. Minis with bare heads get a white drybrush on the skull. All the metals are aged, either with VSX Dry Rust/Rust or Verdigris.

Basing the Horde 

The skeletons were all superglued on 25mm round bases (GW slotta bases). The chap with greatsword without a base got pinned to a bit of plastic foamboard first, so he's now standing on a rock.

Any obvious slots showing were covered by masking tape, and the step between the slotta base and the mini's flat base was smoothed out somewhat with acrylic modelling paste.

The texture is Geek Gaming Scenics Arid Grasslands to which I added some dry grass tufts,  I was going for a less lush look than my dwarves,  elves etc, and I think it works well. Definitely a look to keep throughout the Undead.

The Miniature Manufacturers 

This is an eclectic bunch, most are minis I already owned, though I did buy a couple of small job lots of skeletons of evilbay. 

Citadel;  most of these are pre slotta minis, but the Shaman (looks more like a clichéd 'caveman' to me) is a later C17 skeleton.

Citadel Skeletons L to R; Fantasy tribes skeleton, C 17 skeletons (including Finrum the Lich) and later (1984) C17 skeleton Shaman

Ral Partha; just two of these.  If I don't find anything better for Mikael Jacson in the next game, the chap on the left will do. 

Ral Partha skeletons

Grenadier; very nice minis these, most were from the job lots, though I had a few already. They are very nicely detailed, the ones wearing armour have obvious damage, dints and gashes, presumably where they took their fatal wound. Three are from various Fantasy Lords packs, the four on the right from the Undead Lords of Khomar-Lolth set.

Seven Grenadier Skeletons

Harlequin Miniatures, sculpted by Roy Eastland (now available from Northstar), I had to ask the Old School Miniatures Facebook group brains trust for ID. 

I do remember buying these at Something Wicked,  Huddersfield's premier games shop from the 1980s through to the 2010s, probably for use in RPGs.

Five Harlequin skeletons

Mythic World, now available from Broadsword Miniatures, another random purchase from some time in the past. I recognise the other minis in the pack, so presumably I once owned them as well, I wonder where they got to?

Plus a Citadel Fantasy Tribes skeleton that was in hiding for the earlier picture.

Mythic World and Citadel

Prince August; I cast these myself from Prince August moulds. I must have had loads of them at one time, many of them not very good casts.  Still, these are OK, and have painted up well. 

Three home cast skeletons

Just a quick mention on design. Skeleton miniatures have a potential weakness at the ankles, far more so than most minis. While painting these I was fascinated how different designers have approached this issue.

Some, such as the Harlequin skeletons, have an extra point of contact with a spear or similar. Some rely on armour and equipment, such as a long scabbard to add strength (I've a Grenadier skeleton that I'll try and add greaves to).

Perhaps my favourite are the two early Citadel C 17 skeletons. They both have a weapon shaft in the right hand and the left arm has its sleeve ripped so that ribbons of cloth hang down, providing that extra strength. Clever!

I really enjoyed painting this wonderfully eclectic collection. More than enough for the first game in The Terror of the Lichemaster. It gives me a couple of units for other games of WoE, with weapon options. It's tempting to look out for a few more, just to make up full units with two handed weapons, spears, armour etc, but that sounds like a dangerously slippery slope. 

I don't have any missiles yet though, which is something I'd like to add for games beyond the campaign.

What's Next?

That's a nice collection of skeletons. More than enough for the Attack on the Mine, but I thought I might as well do all my skeleton infantry at once, at least the ones I managed to repair. I've a few more minis needing to mend, and a load of more recent Harlequin skeletons, but they can wait until it looks like we're playing the final scenario. 

So next up undead-wise will be the ten zombies for the Attack on Bogel's Farm.

*A certain seller notorious to Oldhammer collectors, I shan't name them has Ranlac for ove twice this price!