Category Archives: Painting

Undead SAGA Warband episode #6 “Skeletal Giant”

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Pretty intimidating to see this guy coming at you

So just a quick post up of more “UnDead” that should have gone up long ago but just been busy and posting is way down the list of important things in life…. trying to get in more post means less writing and just slapping up the pictures!

I absolutely love the sculpt and especially the weapons on this guy! Also the “repairs” to the bones from past battle damage.

I did this guy last year and he’s figured in a few battles. Very imposing at about 7+ inches considering regular 28mm is a bit over 1 inch! He’s a REAPER figure, the metal version, and was a joy to build, convert, and paint! In SAGA he’s a hard hitter being a 14/0 armor 4 or 12/0 armor 5 depending on how you run him.

It’s a big heavy figure and I took time to drill and brass pin all the joints. Legs, arms, and torso, joints were also epoxied with 2 part JB Weld as even quality super glue would not be up to the task! The JB KwikWeld is also very good at filling in gap and can be carved before full curing and sanded at full cure.

I used a semi-gloss coating on this figure just like the rest of the UnDead warband as it gives a bit more kick, deeper colors, and just looks great to me.

Worked on a few techniques that I do not normally do on historical figures, aged bronze blade, cats eye star sapphire jewel, and a Jade handle.

I love how the modified pose came out, much more dynamic and taller than the original hunched over pose the stock model has. This required cutting, bending, repositioning, and pinning of legs, torso, arms, hands/weapons, and his head.

I liked this figure so much I bought a second version, slightly different and made from that weird plastic and sold under the “Bones” division of REAPER miniatures as well as a second identical figure to this one. Both currently in the “lead pile” for future projects.

Detail on this REAPER figure is just right, not to little nor to much like many over done Games Workshop models.

This guy is always ready to”lend a hand” on the battlefield! He carries one on his belt just in case…..

A small amount of the tattered cloth hanging on him was painted with the same “red” found to some degree on all figures in the warband to tie them all together.

Project Space Marines or Marines from the future for a Future Marine!

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Several months ago, my son mentioned he was playing Warhammer 40k on his PC from time to time and asked me to paint him a Space Marine to sit on his computer desk. This sort of touched my heart as in all the years of seeing me play wargames and paint miniature army’s he never really got the bug for that part of my hobby. He did get a love of history, gaming (on the PC), just never really picked up a brush. It reminded me of my father and I, my dad loved the outdoors, history, and hunting. I picked up his love of camping, history, but never became a hunter.

Well, I took up the task and decided to not just paint a figure but do something that would challenge my skills and give him something to not only enjoy but become a keepsake to remember me by.

I’m not a Warhammer player and haven’t painted any Space Marines but I was familiar with the game and the figures, in fact I had some hanging around awaiting possible conversion for other games. One of them was an old “Beakie” space marine from the 1990’s that had been kicking around my painting area for 20+ years! Plans started to formulate for the project;

  • It had to be impressive, make a statement, inspire.
  • It had to be something you wanted to display, not get tossed in a drawer later.
  • It had to last….
  • It had to have a personal attachment that meant something to both of us.

I decided I was going to do a diorama something that would have multiple facets of interest for the viewer and maintain interest over time. I had the one figure but my son wanted a figure with a banner and after scouring the internet settled on Warhammer 40k Primaris Space Marine Ancient Adeptus Astartes figure off Ebay. Now having both figures I formulated ideas for the vignette. I almost included a 40k Space Marine speeder with four other figures that would be dropping the Space Marine officer on  some ruins seeming to plant the banner, but realized this would be way to big (after I have already bought the speeder set of course). I also started thinking of how to enclose the vignette and protect it from dust and damage.

There are all types and sizes of these little display cases called “Bell Cloques” and they are great for displaying Mini’s!

This led me to looking at Bell Cloques to house the vignette in. If you aren’t familiar with these, they are simply a glass dome set on a base that allows 360 viewing of an item while protecting it. I found one on Amazon for around $25, 3 ½ “ wide x 7 ½” tall, and it had LED lights in it! I thought that would add a whole other dimension to the project and make it display better. It would be a perfect size for his computer desk. Having the two figures and now locking down the space the project had to fit into allowed me to start working out the scene, structure, and figure pose.

It was about this time that I get tired of thinking about a project and start just doing it and letting things progress, discovering problems and working out solutions as they arise. So, I started by cleaning up the two badly assembled miniatures figuring out how to paint them. The old beaky Space Marine was left in his original pose while the Officer/bannerman was chopped up and reposed to look more dynamic. I also decided to not paint these as “Ultra Marines” in their striking blue armor, but go with “Blood Angeles” and their very vibrant blood red armor.

Disappointed that the “LED” lighting did nothing to light up the miniatures in the display!

Once I got the display, I was excited to check out the “led” light function but was disappointed that the LEDs being set into the base under the glass bell really only light up the glass not the interior and frankly were more distracting than helpful. I decided to just work on other parts of the project while pondering the led situation.

I decided to put the two figures in an urban firefight situation and created some two-level building ruins for this. I put a separate round base under it for strength and so I did not have to build directly on the display case in the event it had to be replaced at some point. I was also still a bit unclear on positioning of the figures. I also made a decision to rip out the LEDs, drill a hole in the base to allow me to bring the LEDs up into the vignette area and perhaps use them to actually light it. Once done I played around with position and lighting.

The basic structure formed. The LED’s were gently removed, and re-routed through a newly drilled hole. Batteries and a switch for the are in the base.

Me hanging with “Mr Bean” at Kirkwood ski resort while Paul snowboarded… His harness looks a bit like the armor I’ll put on the figure later.

Things were starting to take shape but there was still something missing, the “personal touch”, the thing that would make it connect with Paul and I.

I couldn’t have found a better match!

Now at the time this was all happening Paul had adopted a dog from the local shelter during a visit at Christmas, an 8-month-old Pit, Labrador mix, a real sweetie! we had both spent some time training and caring for the dog we named “Beans” and the idea struck me to find a miniature that resembled “Beans” and put him in the scene. It was surprised to find the spitting image of “Beans” in 28mm from a company called DarkSword Miniatures and ordered a pack.

The scene now had a theme of an advanced scouting party establishing a forward observation post with their canine war dog!

While I fooled around with the dog’s position, I felt that I needed to alter “Beans” a bit to more fit in as part of the Blood Angeles force. Out came the Kneadite 2 part sculpting putty. I used the putty to ad power armor to his upper body, held in place with a mean looking spiked collar and a belly strap. I also added in a small bump with an antenna on the armor to represent a tracking/voice/camera transponder system. I purposely limited the armor because I wanted to be able to paint and have the figure readily identifiable as “Beans”

I think “bean’s” adds that touch of realism to the scene and shows that despite Warhammers claim that “in the dark future there is only war!” Space Marines still love their dogs!

It was around this point that as always, I get so wrapped up in the process and it’s coming together that I quit taking “in-progress” shots so will get to the finial “done” photos. I will say that I spent some time on working out the lighting effect and how to have it look as natural in the vignette as possible without taking over, or looking out of place in the scene. All in all, this was a real fun project for me done with a lot of love and dedication for my son Paul who is leaving his job in the corporate world with Patagonia (outdoor clothing) to become a pilot in the US Marines! I think his dog and the Marine tie in will give him years of enjoyment!

Picture with the LED’s on.

DOUBLE CLICK pictures to open a larger version!

Japanese Monks for RONIN, the game I’ve yet to play!

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While not a fan of most of the OSPREY rule sets this one really hit the mark in my book just based on reading through it. Cant wait to actually test drive it with game soon!

We all do it, get interested in a game or period, buy the rules, the figures, maybe even build some terrain, and never play the game! That’s me so far with RONIN one of OSPREY’s stable of rule sets. RONIN covers small skirmishes between Japanese Warriors during the late period of Sengoku Jidai or Warring States in 15th-16th century Japan. I’ve always liked the period and have two large 15mm Samurai army’s based for “Battles in the Age of War” by Peter Pig. I now felt the urge to paint some 28mm Samurai but since the amount of detail on Samurai in 28mm would rival Napoleonic uniforms and I did not have the urge to paint 28mm Samurai armies! However, a few handfuls of figures in a very detailed small battlefield setup that is RONIN sounded perfect.

Well, I have had the rules for nearly 5 years, figures for 4 years, and some terrain for 3 years, and still not played, but I have finialy painted my first “Buntai” or group for the game.  North Star Figures makes some excellent figure sets designed for the game and just to get my feet wet I painted up a group of 8 Monks.

REMEMBER… double click a picture to get a lager version.

A good start to my RONIN force! Eight monk figures from North Stars boxed set (metal figures).

Even though they are arguably less detailed than other Samurai figures the colors and getting the simple robes of a monk to look good and stand out is very challenging. I really liked the poses on these figures and the sculpts are very nice. I think the sculptor did an excellent job of getting the Japanese face structure right without it looking comical. The figures were sealed with a gloss coat but then I used a semi-gloss instead of a total matt finish as it gives a bit more depth and richness I like on Samurai figs.

This art work was an inspiration to paint and play a warrior monk force.

The warrior monks of feudal Japan were not much different from their sometime enemy, sometime allies, the Samurai. Politics and alliances in Japan during this period were in a constant state of change, sometimes even during the course of a battle. Dozens and dozens of factions all grasping for power or simply protecting their “piece of the pie”! The religious sects were generally peaceful but not afraid to fight when their interest were threatened, also very well trained, motivated, and fearless when doing it. Some of these monk sects power rivaled that of  Daimyos at the time. Often Diaymos tried to rally the monks to their side and some Diaymos were monks as well having taken the vows of the order. The conflict between Oda Nobunaga and some sects of monks lasted for years, producing some of the most vicious fighting of the period!

 

Warrior Monks used the same weapons and armor as the the Samurai. They tended to specialize in some weapons like the Tetsubo (club) and the Naginata (polearm). If you took off the priestly robes worn over their armor you might be hard pressed to tell them apart from the Samurai.

Painting these figures was fun and with less sculpted detail on the figures allowed me to concentrate more on the method I used when applying it. Blends, washes, glazing, dry brushing all contributed to the depth and richness in the cloth. I went very simple with my base treatment’s as I did not want it to detract from the figure. I used a style of long grass and crushed stone, common to Japanese gardens.

 

The second-best lamp for painting miniatures

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My Workbench about 5 years ago, not bad, looking well used! My old lamps were hot, didn’t have the best output, and never quite reached or stayed where I wanted them.

Over the last couple of years I have been upping my game as far as workbench/workspace when it comes to miniatures painting. Well, this weekend I bought and added the second-best miniature “painting lamp” to my work bench setup! It’s made by BYBLIGHT and is easily the second-best painting light I’ve ever owned!

  • Touch control, no switches to have to twist and go bad. Memory remembers your settings from use to use!
  • 6 level, touch dimmer control
  • Color temperature selection, 3200k, 4200k, 5200k, and 6200k, paint under the right light!
  • Very nice diffused light with changeable diffusion panel.
  • LED’S with 50,000 hours life expectancy with no Flicker of UV on all levels.
  • Low power consumption and generates low heat.
  • Well built arms that get to where you want them and stay there. Fully adjustable lamp head.

Well made, well packed, and well worth it!

Tools, replacement rubber grommets, clamp, cleaning pad, and instructions, wow!

Add to this the great design and look of this lamp along with great quality in manufacturing makes this lamp a winner! Its not cheap at around $90 bucks but taking into consideration that I’ve gone through 2-3 of the cheaper typical one bulb desk lamps over the years and this one looks to last much longer, it’s not bad! When you add all the above features in and paint with it a few times you wish these would have been around years ago! They also come with a high quality clamp for attaching to a desk, a wrench for tightening loose parts, a cleaning cloth, and a nice bag to keep it all in. There are a few “knock offs” of this lamp, cheaper but not as good! I got one on sale at $86 during the “pandemic” but $96 with free shipping is the best I can find now.

Buy it here;  https://www.amazon.com/BYB-Architect-Eye-care-Drafting-Dimmable/dp/B00V9YW41O

Even the packaging is well done and shows some pride in manufacturing, rare today!

Miniature painting and wargaming is a visual hobby and your eyes are an indispensable tool! We often think about, figures, paints, brushes, and other things more than these most important of all resources! Treat them with care, you only get two, one time, and they have to last a life time. Some of us are getting older and it becomes even more important to have the proper type of light and enough of it!

You may be wondering why it’s “the second-best miniature “painting lamp” and not the first?” well simply because its the second one of these lamps I’ve purchased! The first one was such a joy and for me “the best miniature painting lamp” this one could only be the second!

Yep, a second lamp! Everyone knows that two lamps are better than one!”

I originally made the move to this second lamp as the old desk lamp was failing and rather than spending $45 replacing it I upgraded. I was about to toss the old lamp out when I got a twinge of recycle-ability and thought I take a stab at repair first. Well I now have a new (old lamp) lamp on my “spray station” cart!

Roll around airbrush / spray can station I built years ago. Hose at rear plugs into shop compressor.

Undead SAGA Warband episode #5 “Mindless”

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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!

I did these fast and used all the tricks I know to cut corners while still having them look good and match the rest of the Warband. Painted all at once I think they came out pretty well for a “mass o figures”

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”

Mantic has both Ghouls and Zombie sets and I figured this would allow quite a bit of body part/head swapping to create even more variations. Also being plastic a good deal of figure modification was possible (sharpen up the xacto knife!)

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!

Primed and ready for paint. I usually use a black primer Krylon spray can primer for metals but for plastics my new “goto” is Alclad black primer with micro filler. It works very well but must be applied with an airbrush.

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.

A lot of Ghoul and Zombie figures have clothing or weapons that “date” them or tie them to a theme, the MANTIC figures a generic enough to allow them to serve almost anywhere.

Their flesh is is always in a constant state of deterioration or restoration so my color palette reflected this. I went from near living flesh down to a grey/green rotting look. I loved the exposed bone on many figures and the anguished looks!

The advantage of plastics is invaluable when doing conversions! This pose would be impossible in metal. The figure was originally a squat pose but by cutting, bending, and use of certain arm combination, creates this dynamic leaping figure.

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.

Mold lines like you see on the flesh colored figure at center right were common. I removed some but left many as you don’t really notice them in a group. The sword through the belly was created by me with help from the “bit’s box”

Another favorite pose with a meat cleaver, the camp cook! Clothes were intentionally left drab and nondescript to avoid drawing your eye from the rest of the figure.

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!

 

“Scabbard? my sword don’t need no stinken scabbard!”

24 figures and every one different! By keeping a consistent palette it allowed me to keep the group look and build/paint quickly as a group even though they are all different.

Several other units are already done and Episode #6 will soon be here!

Byzantine Crossbowmen ready for SAGA action!

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Just short little post here but wow two in about 24 hours! A record for me! These are some Gripping Beast Crossbowmen painted for Chris A’ Byzantine SAGA warband. Yep Chris wants all the possible options and since I had already done some work on this war-band he commissioned me for these. These are the last of 4-5 extra units I did for expanding the original War-band he bought from Stevie G. It must be up to 12 plus points or more!

I think they painted rather well and hope Chris likes them, but I sure wish he’d let me upgrade them with bow strings and bolts! They would really be an eye catcher on the table!

The figures actually paint up nice and were not to bad flash wise. I didn’t like that there were 12 figures in the unit and only 4 variations to the figure. I worked hard to make them look individual as possible but still have a unified appearance, does that even make sense, you get it, right?

I love the “bowl” haircuts on some of them and I gave a few the “5 o’clock” shadow.

I liked the heads on these guys, some having a distinctly roman look while others more barbarian looking, right for this period at what might be said was the close of the Roman Empire. With my working on the house and finishing up projects preparatory to moving out of state, I have been trying to clear my shelf of partially completed paint projects. Both these last posts were projects off that self, finished yea!

The Secret is out, an Un-Dead Warband

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Places like Paul Freilers (Torrance, California) were magic and I could spend hours there just dreaming among the oh so cool treasures!

Back in the beginning (early 1980’s) when I first started to collect and paint miniatures it was only a hobby to relieve stress from work, an outlet for my creative/collecting desires. I didn’t play games with them, I simply bought figures I liked, painted them and stuck them in a small cabinet I had. Most of the first figures were from the Dungeons & Dragons world since that was the rage at the time, for me Historical’s would come later but it was fantasy first.

Like most folks I painted the “good guys” to start with, some Wizards, Elves, a few Human hero’s, my collection grew. One day while in a shop looking at figures, I noticed a rack of books with small rule books allowing you to play games with these miniatures, sort of a way to bringing them to life. I now became interested in playing with these miniatures, found a group in Santa Monica’s Aero hobbies (sadly closed) that played and I signed up for a Saturday session. I was hooked, my minis now had a purpose in life!

Back in the day painted mini’s were not always that common in games, well painted was rare, and basing…whats basing?

I painted, I played, but after only a few sessions the Game master of our little group failed to show up for our Saturday adventure. In his place I was nominated to run an adventure (perhaps because in of all the group my minis were actually painted in more than two colors!) so letting my imagination go I winged the group through a made up on the spot adventure. Afterwards I figured I had done so poorly that they would never have me as a GM again but to my surprise the players said it was one of the best sessions yet and could I do it next week! I agreed but without telling them that I had no idea what I was doing, that most of my die rolls had nothing to do with actual rules, I just rolled dice and then interpreted results, balanced with what I thought should have happened for FUN! Most players back then had little knowledge of the rules anyway…thank God for those GM screens!

Sure I read the “Hobbit” and had to have three trolls for under the bridge!

I realized that as a GM, players relied on me to bring the “bad guys”, the monsters, NPC’s, the things in the game they had to fight, out think, and overcome. I started painting Goblins, Orcs, and the various things one finds in D&D dungeons. Remember Kobolds? Lots of those! I would go down each week to the hobby shop to see what new treasures had come in, yes, remember when you had to “go to the shop” to see figures!

Fast forward to 2018, D & D is long behind me, I’ve been playing “historical games” for many years and with many different groups. One of the groups I have played with the longest is the “Dogs of War” in Los Angeles, they had gotten deep into a game called SAGA by Studio Tomahawk, dark age battles involving warbands instead of full armies. I was never a big fan of Ancients, Dark Ages, or the Medieval period although I had painted several large “Tactica” armies, Romans, Huns, and played that for a while. Still this new SAGA “Dark Ages” period interested me, especially since it had “Vikings”. Several of the movies from my youth involved Vikings and had left strong impressions on my young mind, adventure, gold, sex, and hacking apart your fellow man to get them! What’s not to like?

Who better than Kirk Douglas to play a Viking!

Yes, my dad and his buddies had a habit of taking me to all those movies their wives were not interested in, Goldfinger, Fantastic Voyage, The Longest Day, etc.… (thanks dad!). I’m sure my mom was not thrilled about me going either but go I did (thanks Mom!). Movies like “The Vikings” staring Kirk Douglas. Tony Curtis, and Ernst Borgnine as well as “The Long Ships” with Richard Widmark and Sydney Poitier were what SAGA was about! I got roped into a few SAGA games with a “lender” Viking warband and was hooked! Soon boxes of “all the Vikings in the world” were headed to my house (I bought almost the entire line of Foundry Vikings). Warbands of Vikings, Saxons, Normans, Teutonic Knights, and Moorish hordes poured off my workbench! I painted, played and enjoyed SAGA for several years but then like many other popular games it grew and produced an updated version SAGA II

It was the move from SAGA into SAGA II that worried me. Now SAGA II changed a few things around (for the good) but it introduced “Fantasy” warbands and “magic” as an option, yet another peroid, and one I was not interested in starting, my lead pile is big enough! . As we moved into SAGA II some of the group leaned towards creating some “fantasy” warbands, in fact they fairly quickly built them! Ha! “Not me” I said “NEVER, not going to happen” I told them, over and over, right up to the point while watching one of their silly Saga Magic games I picked up the “Age of Magic” supplement book to help look up a rule. While looking through the heavily illustrated book I saw a skeleton warband in 28mm and felt faint….my head started to spin…..I spun straight back to my youth once again, I’m sitting in a darkened movie palace, gobbling down popcorn, and watching “Jason and the Argonauts”.

Burned into my memory was one of the last scenes where after Jason kills the Hydra and steals the fleece the local king cuts out the Hydras teeth and scatters them on the ground to release long dead victims, “Children of the Hydra”, only skeletons now to catch and kill Jason and his band. The Ray Harryhausen’s master piece of animation that brought the “children of the Hydra” to life was when I fell in love with skeleton figures.

What young boy was not inspired to create his own adventures after seeing this!

The “Master” of stop motion Ray Harryhausen works with one of his skeletons on the set!

Now this photo in the SAGA II  Age of Magic book was not the first time I felt that pull from my past as far as skeletons are concerned, it was years ago on one of those trips to the hobby shop for some new D&D figures that I first saw skeleton mini’s! They were quite possibly the first skeleton minis ever made in 25mm, and knocked me over, I had to have them!  They were modeled in the style of Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death, or “Totentanz” renaissance wood block prints from the 1500’s. As I recall the sets were produced by Minifigs in 25mm and the range was called “Valley of the Four Winds” or “VFW” for short. I bought perhaps 30-40 figures in the range and had them on display in my miniature’s cabinet for years, even after becoming mostly “historical only gamer”. Yes I did some Victorian Science Fiction, Battle Tech, even Starship Troopers. As the years passed, I started to sell off most of my unused fantasy figures to create space and cash for the historical figures. The cherished VFW skeletons went to greener pastures, but I never forgot them….

Pretty impressive for the early 80’s….many of the GW crowd who might think they came up with this stuff were still learning to walk.

Original packaging from the still popular among collectors line. (out of production)

It was after returning home from that game at the “Dogs” clubhouse that I felt the urge to see those old skeleton figures and what was produced in 28mm Skeletons nowadays, heck just “looking” wouldn’t hurt… Little did I know that like a fish below the boat looking at the bait, I was in dangerous water.

 

Wow! found an old picture of my painted VFW skely’s! Painted Circa 1981

Wow, there are tons of skeletons out there nowadays!!! A dozen or more manufacture’s, different period’s, styles, historical and total fantasy to choose from. Now being a very “traditional” type I was not impressed with the many times overblown sculpts popular with some gaming systems and manufactures, I yearned for the style I remembered from my younger days. I wanted Skeletons from “Jason and the Argonauts”! Well it was not long using the power of the internet that I found what I was looking for. The bait was looking good!

I couldn’t believe how close these figures looked to the figures in “Jason and the Argonauts” and then I read the box that proclaimed “Children of the Hydra” doh!

There it was, a box of 24 Skeletons looking as if they came right off the silver screen! They were pretty bare “bones” (pun intended) and had only options for spear, sword, or bow, and a few Greek style shields. I figured I’d just take a look at prices and availability but  before I knew it my shaking finger hit the “buy it now” button… the hook was set, and I was into the net called “Age of Magic”

The figures arrived and while unboxing them I remembered they were plastic, I had to assemble them and oh boy what a lot of parts, small parts, fiddly parts! This was going to take time. The good news was that there was little flash, and mold lines were not bad at all. Yes, there are a lot of parts but with some proper glue and a bit of patience I built the first one and he (?) looked great! I soon got the hang of assembly and could churn out 5-6 of them in about an hour. You get plenty of options for body parts, and since they are plastic the posing possibilities are nearly endless! They even have options for a few coming out of the earth which is really cool and something I definitely wanted. I actually really enjoyed building these! The box says you get 24 figures but if you want you can use extra pieces to make partial skeletons emerging out of the ground, or as casualties, and increase that number. I think I got 28 figures all told with a few casualty markers (pile of bones) to boot!

Now normally I have a habit of not revealing my new projects until they hit the table, it’s fun that way, the big reveal. Now with the Corona Virus, Sheltering at Home, and social distancing get togethers are done for a bit so I have decided to just share my build of this warband here.

Ok, enough! Let’s see the figures!

REMEMBER “clicking” on the picture will give you a larger version.

Some might question the basing choice since I went with a “fairly” simple flocked base instead of a more intricate “undead looking” base that many people use. Well several reasons,

  1. I didn’t want the base distracting from the mini, sometimes “skeletons” are  a bit plain.
  2. We play mostly on “grass” covered mats (and see above)
  3. Skeletons, even with their armor, weapons, and dressing, can be a bit monotone so the green color really helps off set this.
  4. There was going to be a lot of skeletons and simple is faster!
  5. I had a plan to “tie” in the basing with the figure! (see further down)

While there are a few bases designed for “clawing out of the earth” poses its very easy to take spare parts and create your own. I actually found creating varied poses was a lot of fun and pretty easy given the thin plastic. In part two of this series on the “Undead Warband”  I’ll talk more about the nuts & bolts of building and modifying.

My crazy brain like to analyze figures before I paint them, what are they doing, why are they doing it, what are they thinking, etc. I find it helps me in selecting how to paint and pose them. With the “skeletons” I started thinking, “well their frekkin dead so what keeps them going?” and thought “ok, dead equals no “life force” so to reanimate them the Necromancer gives them a magical shot of “life force” but how can he keep this up for a whole army?” well he doesn’t! Once they are brought to life and sent off they have the ability to steal “life force” from any living organism they contact.

So if you look at my bases you see that the grass where the skeletons walk is black or brown, wilted and destroyed as the “life force” is pulled away. Yea, I sometimes go down the “Rabbit Hole”……

These are just the first five of 30 that I’ve done already, they are fairly simple as I was using them to develop a style and paint selection for the rest of the army. I will post picks of the others soon. There are also quite a few other components to this army to be revealed in future post!