Death & the Fae

And Hell followed with him

This 1980s Death Elemental has a real Oldhammer vibe about him and he painted up very easily. He is the second of the special characters for the (ever increasing) zombie horde. Like the first one, he will be mounted on a 40mm base along with some other zombies so they can be ranked up properly. I must admit I did wince at the price when I pressed the 'Buy It Now' button on eBay. But compared to modern GW  figures he isn't any more expensive than modern figures its just that his original price was £1.25 (originally sold for £2.50 with the Life Elemental who is even more expensive nowadays!). 

"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts

And I looked and behold, a pale horse

And his name that sat on him was Death

And Hell followed with him"

The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash*

*I hope didn't have to tell you that!

Dryad

Now this is one of those genius or awful ideas. After (re)painting this Reaper Dryad with a fairly regular army standard paint job. I decided she needed something extra. So, I added a whirlwind of leaves around her. Quite simply a metal frame was bent around her with a paperclip and then I stuck a load of birch tree seeds as leaves onto the frame. Overall I am quite pleased with the effect. I did then dump plenty of PVA glue over the top of the leaves to cement them in place. 

Rob

More Salute Stuff Finished

 One Figure Done and One to be Repainted

This unicorn model put me in mind of the two unicorns in Foxglove Summer (from the excellent Rivers of London book series by B.Aaronovitch). Not a friendly, docile pony but a wild and very dangerous beast. With a bloody big spike on the top of its head. The Reaper figure might be plastic, but it means they made it into a big model and very happily fills out the 50mm base. And nicely fits into the Fae army and fills out another large monster slot. 

The Fae queen (shown for scale) which I painted last year, has now been dropped in the paint stripper and rebased.  Like the banshee from the zombie unit, I was never really happy with the final look as she is supposed to the Fae army commander and uber-powerful sorceress. And never really looked the part. So, she will get the zenithal treatment. 

In case you are not familiar with the Rivers of London series, the main protagonist, Constable (& wizard) Peter Grant is on the hunt for some missing children when he meets a pair of unicorns causing a breach of the peace and looking to add GBH to their list of crimes.

‘Then the werelight* popped out and suddenly it was there, huge and real and sweaty and pale in the moonlight, its horn bobbing left and right as it swung its head and sniffed the air.’

‘I smelt it, horse sweat and rough hair, and I felt the weight and power of the muscles underneath its invisible skin. And then as if the moon had come out from behind a cloud I saw it, outlined in silver, as big as a carthorse, as shaggy as a pony and as pissed off as a bull in the household goods section of Marks and Spencer. Its mad black eye was fixed on me as it twisted and pulled, trying to get its narwhale horn free of the tree.’ 

* A spell to create a magical light and the first spell every Newtonian wizard learns. 

The dryad will also get the zenithal treatment

Two Pound Well Spent

First of the minotaurs painted, this one pretty much untouched from the original model. I did remove the short section between the top of the hand and the bottom of the club because it was very bendy. Zenithal highlighting (with airbrush) works really well with this model.  I am pleased with the result on this model and feel I am making progress with the zenithal technique. 

The mark one paintjob from October last year, 

Rob

Banshee Queen

Fun & Games with Source Lighting

Very nearly finished off the special character for the zombie unit before a sudden of influx of miniatures tomorrow. I have tried to get several different sources of lighting on this model. The green glow from the ground around the banshee and the moonlight from above. I haven't quite finished her but that's as much as I can get done tonight. 

The once again the airbrush has really helped with the lighting effects and great way to finish off this project (ok, I know I still to finish off the banner).

Lady Clarissa as she summons more zombies to join the battle. 

Rob

Hang On a Minute

I Think I have an Idea

With only four zombies left to finish (maybe I will take them up to fifty?). I was thinking I was probably nearly done. But I decided this unit was missing something, which was a centre piece model. I quite liked the idea of an old Citadel Death Elemental but I decided to go a  different way. 

I have a Reaper miniatures Banshee miniature sculpted by Gene Van Horne. Which,  I bought a few years ago simply because I really liked the sculpt. However, I was never really happy with the paint job I did on her and thought this would be a great opportunity repaint using zenithal highlighting. And hopefully end up with a finished figure that I actually like. Given how much I dislike using paint stripper, you will appreciate how much I don't like the current paint scheme. While technically there isn't  much wrong with her (given my standard of painting at the time) the colour scheme just never worked. 

The figure would be a bit big for a 20mm base, so I will mount her on a 40mm base with a couple of zombies bursting through the ground around her. 

 

Rob 

River Troll (60 pts)

Lurking by the River's Edge

Having the finished the druid, attention has turned to the Bob Olley Troll who I have now decided will be the Champion of the Chittering Horde. However, he will be upgraded to a Level 10 Hero with high Strength (2 Handed Weapon) and scaly skin (Heavy Armour).

 

Mirk (Level 10 Undead Hero – 55pts) – River Troll Scaly Skin (Heavy Armour + 3pts) & Mighty Strength (2 Headed Weapon + 2pts)

60

Fish for tea

Rob