Well just like the Star Wars franchise, the story of my undead or as it started the “secret” warband doesn’t appear in the exact order it was made in, or posted in. The reasons for this are many, my mood, time to write verse time to paint, time to take pictures, and other things all factor in to when I do a post.
DOUBLE CLICK pictures for a bigger picture!
This episode #5 “the Mindless” has figures that are painted sort of far into the project and figures I was frankly not that interested in painting as I thought they would be simple and uninteresting. Heck how interesting is the paint job on a mass of putrid, rotting, flesh going to be? I thought they certainly wouldn’t stand out on the battlefield like the Skeletal Giant” or a group of charging mounted Un-Dead Knights, and I was right they don’t. I approached this build and paint with an attitude of “let’s get this over with”
I had chosen to use the Mantic Games “Zombie and Ghoul” figures that appear in the SAGA age of Magic book as part of the “Undead Warband”. I looked at lots of other manufactures, many with great looking figures but soon realized that most manufactures had a very limited range of poses when it came to the look/style required to fit into my warband. I kept coming back to the Mantic line since I liked the very dynamic style and look. Their range while still a bit limited but by being plastic “parts” offered more possible variations than the others. As I have said in the past “Plastic figures have grown on me”, yep from hating them to almost loving them sometimes! Mantic Games offered a combo deal on these figures at the time so with a few extra sprues from ebay I was set to create my 24 Mindless!
With all of my paint jobs I spend some time thinking about the look I want as well as WHY that look, and why that look works. Last, I decide how to paint them, style, fast, slow, detailed, blending, washes, etc.… although often all this will change as the build/ paint progresses.
The first thing I noticed when I began to cut the pieces off the sprues and assemble them was that the majority of the figures are bent over in squat, crouching positions, to much so for me, but the trusty Xacto knife, some glue, and a bit of putty soon had them looking a bit more threatening! About this time I realized I was actually enjoying this build and growing to like the figures more and more. The plastic is high quality and easy to work with, flash was very minimal, although mold lines were pretty bad. I figured that the look and the way I was going to paint these guys would hide a lot of them. Building them was fun and I think I got some great poses often swapping pieces from both figure types.
Now on to painting. This is where that “why that look” comes into the process in figuring out what “that look” will be. In my mind (a very dusty, cramped, and often dangerous place to roam) Zombies and Ghouls are powered by a dark evil force back into the world of the living, but that initial force can only restore and sustain them for so long. The creatures need to consume the living to continue on and grow stronger, just like a vampire needs fresh blood from the living, Zombies and Ghouls need flesh and brains. So, this governed my thinking when painting them. Individual figures would be built and painted to reflect their current state of re-animation so to speak, some would be just re-animated, in bad shape and wildly looking for more flesh while some of them would be “better” looking more fleshed out and human looking, better fed! Some would be deteriorating, grey-green, falling apart, from lack of food!
Funny how a building and painting session I was not looking forward to ended up to be so enjoyable (really most do!) and I think the final result came out better than I expected! Enjoy and if you do please leave a comment!
Several other units are already done and Episode #6 will soon be here!
Bill,
Thanks for the post. They look great, I love the guy pulling his head off. Or maybe he’s putting it back on. They all look fantastic. I hope I get a chance to see them.
Great work Bill!
Thanks for the comments guys, that’s the reward for all the work in posting that so few take the time to do! I know quite a few folks visit and look but few take the few seconds to say “thanks”! Ours is a visual hobby and it’s very much the support of others that drives us up and on….
Chris A, did you see your Crossbow men below?
Bill, another amazing group of figures. Your skills and execution are truly masterclass in whatever you do! I love the pallet, conversions, and basing!
Thanks for the kind words Sgt Guinness! I know wish I might have taken more time with them but that wasn’t the goal when I did them. The basing may seem strange as most would have done something more “creepy” but I wanted it to reflect that this warband came from the badlands into the more pleasant lands to conquer and destroy! It also matches the terrain we fight on mostly and gives a very nice contrast to the figures. I did stop short of putting flowers, bunny’s, and butterfly’s on them! I hope you found someone to get your Pathan Cav done for you? I might make Hurricon 2021 in Sept! I may be back there around that time, will see.
Wonderful figures !!!