Three years ago I ordered a big bunch of “Fir Bolg” Skeletons from Brigade Models that were originally produced and still sold for the “Celtos” skirmish miniatures wargame. They arrived a couple of weeks later, in Mid-June – and have only gotten around to painting the last of them this year. So three years from order arrival to completion. That’s actually pretty good for me! These models are actually the third “set” that I got from them. The first once I painted were done in August 2015, a unit of “Warscythes” to use in Kings of War followed in March 2016 with a whole lot of Spears (one large unit, or two small units) and then finally is September another dozen of them armed with sickles and shields.
By the time I got to the end of 2016, I was well and truly over painting undead, as I’d churned out at least one unit per month for Marouda’s Undead Army and also my own Gondor Army. (You can see all the half-painted Nazgûl in that pic as well as some of the half-painted named Nazgûl filling out the numbers!)
But… we haven’t played KoW for ages now. Not for a couple of years after a period of pretty regular play. Got to get back to that, of course. But need to clean up the War Room a bit more first since there’s so much shit in there that I can’t even fully lay a mat down on the table right now. So these guys sat idle until I had a few days away from home for work at the start of this year, so I took them with me along with a few paints and started work on them. Before putting them away to one side when I got back. Until now. June. June-It.
And now they’re done. 16 models. 2 units of 8 models to count-as two “troop” formations in KoW, or just 16 skeleton archers for AoS or whatever other game. I’ll have to find my cut MDF bases at some stage and blu-tac them down, but for now, they’re good enough. The two troop leaders are the standard hero models that have both had a hand removed and replaced with a bow-hand from the old Citadel Skeleton Army box. A last-minute modification but one that I think works with them being archer units.
I’ve retaken the blurry mess that was the original header photo, and replaced it so I could finally post these models up – chalk up another two units for June-It! And there’s still one more to come… (yes, there was a spray varnish backlog caused by our cold weather).
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
These are really nice mate – I may have missed it in the earlier posts, but are these metal?
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Yep, all these Celtos models are metal. They date from the early 2000s and a few of the factions have that same “feel” that the Target/Heartbreaker stuff has/had.
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Cool – good to know!
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Great retro style skeletons, can never have enough of them. Nice touch converting the leaders with Citadel bows.
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Thank you! It was literally a decision made in the last couple of days of the month. One that involved Marouda and I spending way too long searching for the “right” container of undead to find the bows!
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I always remain in awe of anyone who can paint skeletons, and these minis reinforce that feeling!
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Thanks mate – I’ve got them down to a pretty straightforward system now.
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Straightforward for you maybe! Do look good!
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Thanks. 🙂
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Nice ones!
Can’t wait to read the roundup post for June-It.
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Thanks Thomas. I’ve been working on the round-up post on and off for the last few days – though I lost most of Sunday to guests and Monday was a complete wash for hobby stuff. (went to see Solo which took all my free time!) I reckon it’ll be Saturday as I have 1 more personal unit post to get sorted out today, then my monthly round-up, my June-It roundup (they’ll be somewhat different), then the Community June-It roundup.
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No stress, I know you’ll get the roundups done when you can.
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Looks like it’ll be Sunday now. I’ve hit a flag-snag for tonight’s post!
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Rarrrwarrrahhh!! You can never have enough skeletons. Hordes of them, throw them in waves at the heroes, bash them against spear formations, populate spooky places with them. In other news, my brushes have come to a screeching halt due to the arrival of a rescued puppy into our home. Big life adjustments in progress…
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Yeeeah, we’ve got a LOT of skellytoons here. And I haven’t even started in on the plastics yet. A puppy (and a rescue one at that) is a reason to neglect models that gets a solid approval from me. Leonard the Cat (who is my avatar) came from the Melbourne Lost Dogs Home as a kitten, so I’m all about the little fur-babies and need to look after them – especially right after adopting them! Though he’s more like a Monkey these days…
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Cool skellies! I love that you’re pushing yourself to complete these – could have been neglected models too. I’m always preferential to metal stuff too. Glad to hear there is yet another unit to come from you. Can’t wait to see it!
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Yep. There are tons of models that fit both into Neglected Models and Squads. In fact, there are also quite a lot of models here that are both Neglected models and also fit the criteria for Jewel of July… funny how those coincidences work out, eh? 😉
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You got some nice looking bones there! I love the ones with the axes. Not sure why skeletons with scythes or axes look so cool. But they always do.
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Scythes and sickles really fit into that Undead-reaper look, and axes are just brutal looking weapons! Might be that!
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Great stuff–I’ve always had a soft spot for the Celtos range.
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Yeah, there are really some hidden classics in there.
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