A (little) bit of a break from WarZone models today, however briefly (I have another two close to finished, so hopefully can get them done and posted over the next two days.)
A couple of years ago, around about September 2014 – I bought a whole bunch of Undead off Nerdfest over on Dakka. Amongst those were a bunch of Spirit Hosts which I rebased individually got got up and done within a day of receiving them. These models… not so much.
Blister photo via eBay.
Part of the Vampire Counts range from the early 2000’s, 2004-05 being the earliest reference I can easily find, they seem to have come in very specific blisters, since I keep finding the same trio when I was looking to find out more details about these models. That makes them models from the 6th Edition, so they could easily date back from as far as 2001, which was when the 6th Edition Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts book was released.
Anyway, when I got them I thought they were decent models that could be pretty simply painted up. I suggested to Marouda that they’d be good models for her to paint up. She never showed much interest, so I got started on them myself. Of course, I didn’t exactly get them done quickly. I felt that as a trio of models that are quite different to everything else I have in sculpt style, and a re a bit bigger than the norm, I thought they could work well enough as a unit of three Wights in Kings of War. With that in mind, I mounted them on 32mm bases as opposed to the 25mm bases they came with. Wights are (now) on 40mm bases, but I’ll just build them a unit tray-base for KoW with the correct 40x120mm footprint.
Later.
Lord of the Rings Barrow-Wights. Yeah, that “OSL” is incredibly rough, but it was my first ever attempt.
Similarly, their paint scheme was informed by the scheme I used on the other unit of Wights, which is made up of two Lord of the Rings Barrow-Wights and a single Army of the Dead plastic model in the same paint scheme. Spectral blue-green robes (yes, these are more blue-blue-green than the previous set), metal weaponry and armour, and the creature inside looking roughly how they might look that far into their death.
So here, I’ve followed that with the robes, but the leather coifs and cuirass straps looked a bit silly in spectral blue-green, so instead I went with dark grey instead, over other choices like leather browns. Being in that awkward space between the metal armour and the spectral cloth, dark grey-black was good enough to fit in without drawing too much attention to it.
Shields came from a mid-point range of GW’s Chaos Warriors. Following the old-school, Realm of Chaos models with their open-hole shields but before the range went all-plastic. Given the skull-tastic designs on all three, I nicked them out of my shields tub for these undead fellows instead.
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Love that vivid blue! Also I have some barrow-wights in my ‘neglected’ pile. I definitely won’t get to them this month, but someday….
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I know that feeling. I’m already thinking of models that would make good targets for the *next* neglected models month.
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Really nice mate – that blue is lovely!
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Thanks Alex! They came up well in the end.
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The blue is striking and I love the chaos shields
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Thanks IRO. I got stuck on that blue for ages, but eventually broke through the pain barrier to make myself get them finished.
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LOL we seem to both be going through the ‘neglected models’ category recently. I’m having fun moving old bags of troops into nice clear Plano boxes so I can actually see and organize what I have. Painting resumes soon. Check my blog to see some really old fantasy miniatures, left to me by an old friend…
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More than that mate – it’s the theme of this month’s Community Painting Challenge!
https://azazelx.com/2018/04/25/neglected-model-may-18-community-painting-challenge/
I’ve been running a community challenge each month this year (and will be for the foreseeable future, until I get bored with it or sick or something). The initial point was of personal challenges to motivate myself to finish different things, but people asked if they could join in, so I opened them up to become community ones.
After all, if they can help other people to be motivated as well as myself, then why not?
All I “ask” is for a link back to the original challenge page for the month, as it makes it *much* easier for me to do the monthly community round-ups without missing participants.
https://azazelx.com/2018/02/05/painting-decemb-uary-2017-18-part-6-the-final-round-up/
https://azazelx.com/2018/03/13/community-painting-challenge-neglected-february-round-up/
https://azazelx.com/2018/04/07/squad-march-community-round-up/
https://azazelx.com/2018/05/08/assembly-april-18-community-round-up/
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That really is a great blue for Undead. I actually really liked the Chaos Warrior kit those shields came from, too. Not necessarily to make Chaos Warriors from, but there were a ton of bits in there that were great for CSM conversions, and the shields are wonderful for all sorts of things.
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Oh yes! They came with that plastic “hunchback” chaos warrior box as well. I’d actually forgotten that. I’ve even got (had?) the box, so clearly I subconsciously tried to put them out of my mind. I think I must have given most of them away, since I’ve got no idea what happened to any more than a few parts worth of them.
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Good re use for old plastic shield chaos warriors !
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Yeah, they work better for Undead than Chaos I think.
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A nice break indeed. I am always keen for my own undead (when I finally get to them). I feel the blue would be even better with some weathering effects applied, but it is sure vibrant and draws the beholder right in. Naturally they have an old school vibe to them , not unlike some of the earliest Confrontation undead. Excellent metal by the way, especially with the LotR Wraiths.
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I wanted to keep the blue clean, as I see it as spectral, but not with *too* much glow (aside from the ground), because I wanted the stark contrast with the dull armour and no OSL onto the metal. If they were entirely corporeal, then definitely on the weathering. Same kind of thing as to why I haven’t applied rust to their weapons, armour or shields. Thanks for the kind words! 🙂
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What paints did ypu use for the blue? They look amazong. I’m Painting my old grave guard unit now and I love this!
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Thanks mate!
It was some time ago now, so I’m not 100% sure, but I’d pretty safely say that the base colour is P3 Paints Arcane Blue blended up with Vallejo Game Colour Glacier Blue for the highlights – the ink is Army Painter Blue Tone with Citadel Lahmian Medium as a thinner.
Edit – Definately P3’s Meredius Blue as the base coat, not p3 Arcane Blue (that might be part of the highlighting, though!)
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