Undead Army Painting

[cra1gwt]

Hello All,

To mark the start of a new project, I thought I'd post some pics to share (and primarily encourage myself to keep making progress!) 

At Carronade 2014, I placed a pre-order with Pendraken for a stack of 10mm Undead from the Fantasy Range, plus some extras like bases, etc.  It's as part of a proposed plan to get some games of Kings of War (KoW) with Ric, a friend of mine from my gaming club (the Falkirk District Wargames Club, FDWC.)  He's doing Goblins, I'm doing Undead.

I haven't gone near Fantasy since my early teens, back about 20-odd years ago(!)  It was Warhammer back then, inevitably, but I had written off ever going back to it.  Too expensive, of course.  However, a few weeks back Ric pointed me towards KoW and the pair of us have been swept up in a little nostalgia-driven buzz!  Pendraken seemed a good option to try it out in a cheaper range than 28mm, but also get good visual appeal and a bit of 'heft' for mass-battles!

The rules also appear adaptable to different scales without any problem, so we have decided to settle on 60mm frontages for bases.  One base for a small-sized unit like a squadron or troop; Two bases for a Regiment; and Four bases for a Horde.  Taking the plan of about ten figures a base, this fits with the KoW sizes of 10/20/40-models in a unit.

I'll post about the army shortly, to let you see the figures I picked.  Short pause to follow, as I try and work out how to post photos. 

First attempt!:

[fred.]

Excellent!

Hordes of Zombies

What are the tall thin figures at the back right?

[cra1gwt]

Success!  I may master this technology gubbins after all!



Hopefully the above photo won't be quite so massive as the first, thanks to an attempt to re-size it.  The first photo above is my full force, which I'll hopefully 'tour' around over the next few posts.  The photo just above in this post (if it's worked right, and hasn't been too blurry) shows my three regiments of Skeletons.  These are 20-figures each, mostly FU1 figures (sword & shield) plus some FU20s (pose 2) for some variety, and each regiment has a commander & Standard-bearer from the FU5 command pack.  

[cra1gwt]

Hi Fred - sorry, I'm going through the tedious practicalities of learning photo-posting formats here!

The figures I think you mean are the Skeleton Archers FU3 - they just happen to be facing dead-on into the camera, in that shot.  I'll post a better pic shortly!

[toxicpixie]

I was going to say they look like dead straight on archers by you beat me to it Looks good to me - let us know how KoW gets on

[cra1gwt]

I now see that Ric, my co-collector for the project, is now up and running with his own force!  His painting diary is at http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,9976.0.html - just in case anybody wants to switch over quickly! 

I've gotten the lot based, and have more photos which I shall pop up shortly - the plan is to talk through each unit, provide a picture, and say about the figures etc. selected, painting plans, etc.  Perhaps the main thing to mention at this stage is that I have taken a lead from Ric's advice (he being the more experienced painter) and based the lot for painting and prepping.  I would typically use sticks etc. for painting individually, but it can take a while to paint, finish, re-base, etc.  As such, I'm trying Ric's tip of basing first, then painting - some experimenting with my methodology! 
So far, thanks to the thin/cadaverous shape of the figures, I think it looks possible for them all without too much fiddling about.  The only possible exception is the two large Zombie Swarm bases, but I have used pva glue for them so if the worst comes to the worst, I can simply pop a few off for painting to thin our the crowd, then re-glue at the end.

Such is the plan, anyway!

Craig

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice plan!

[Techno]

Look forward to seeing the project progress, Craig.
Cheers - Phil.

[toxicpixie]

I've taken to painting most stuff ready glued to the base, speeds things up greatly! Unless they're really densely packed it's ok...

[smokie gunner]

Looks like you have things well in hand, Craig.
I have often thought of painting an undead army myself as it would be a very quick process to get troops on the table.
I'm a frightfully slow painter.

Enjoy!   

[cra1gwt]

Hello all!

I'm still fiddling around with my camera resources, but the ones above were taken with my mobile-phone camera - hopefully future ones should improve in clarity.

Anyway, the above pic should show my undead cavalry (FU4) which shall form my fast-moving army element.  It's actually two of the small KoW 'squadron' units, as Ric and I quite randomly selected a 1500-point starter army-size, and these were all I could afford.  Shame, as I think a big cavalry unit would be very powerful - as it is, these guys will just have to get by as they are - more of a raiding and flank-protecting force, rather than a striking bunch. 

Next to them, moutned on the coins, are the two 'Hero' characters I have selected for my force.  Nearest the camera is my 'Vampire Lord' hero, who comes from the FU13 pack.  Accompanying him are two non-Pendraken figures, from the Kallistra 'Undead Command' pack (I bought it at Carronade, basically on a whim.)  I've added a standard-bearer and a skeletal champion, just so my vampire didn't look too lonely as he waded into the thick of the fighting.

Behind that I have my necromancer, who is the back-room guy in charge of using dark magic to motivate the troops into action - the 'Dark Surge' ability in KoW rules.  The man himself is again from the Kallistra set I believe, but the little coven following him are Pendraken - two from the FU15 Zombie wizards set, and a standard-bearer from the command set, if I remember right.

[Techno]

I'm still fiddling around with my camera resources, but the ones above were taken with my mobile-phone camera - hopefully future ones should improve in clarity.

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about mobile phone cameras, Craig, but you might get clearer results with one of those, by taking your shot from a little further away. ......Then crop the picture ?......That'll depend on the definition the phone is capable of.
From what I understand, a camera phone has a fixed focus that won't be able to cope with close up shots, nearer than a certain distance. (3 feet ?...said he guessing wildly)
Hope that helps (and makes sense..I'm not properly awake, this morning  )

Cheers - Phil

[cra1gwt]

Here we go with the better-defined pics!  I have successfully spray-painted the whole force with Army Painter 'skeleton bone' - appropriately enough!  The above shows three of the classic skeleton regiments, with my Vampire lord to the fore and the Bowmen in the background.


Here's my commander in close-up.


And here, for a comparative experiment with the photos, is his necromancer compatriot.


My skeletal cavalry


My unit of Wights (done with an Undead hero FU26 and some giant skeletal companions FU9.)  On the right, my skeletal catapult - previously only photographed while being glued together.


Zombie Horde! 

Next up, the actual painting!

[Techno]

Coming along nicely, Craig.
Cheers - Phil

[toxicpixie]

Coming up good, I find even just undercoat makes a difference in feeling they're getting done. I really do like the huge zombie unit - looks the part. Should be a great anchor unit that's impossible to shift!