Category Archives: Undead Army

Undead Archers – Harlequin Miniatures & Bones Fillers

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Another small unit for Kings of War. Undead archers. Something I’d not even thought of until Marouda told me in no uncertain terms that she wanted some archers for her undead army, so I painted these suckers up.

Black Tree Design Skeleton Archers

Harlequin Miniatures Skeleton Archers

Black Tree Design Skeleton Archers

Harlequin Miniatures Skeleton Archers. Again.

 

The stars of this little show are obviously the single blister worth of Harlequin Miniatures Skeleton archers that I had sitting around from the early 1990s. The company either changed their name or sold most of their stuff to Black Tree Design years ago now. Not that it matters here. These figures are definitely on the very chunky, very heroic side of things, but they’re also very nice sculpts, and while they lack the fine detail of something like the Otherworld Skeletons or WGF’s plastics, there are no worries that these guys will easily break from normal game handling. They’re still available, it seems, but with just the three sculpts in the range, there’s little point in trying to make an entire unit or expand this one using them. For me at least in this day of easily available and reasonably-priced HIPS models, metals are great for individual sculpts and character, but I’ve largely moved beyond buying multiples of the same sculpt to make up units – at least when I can avoid it.

Skeleton Archer Troop for Kings of War

Other angle of the Skeleton Archer unit.

The Reaper Miniatures here are the Skeletal Archer figures from the 1st Bones campaign, and like the others that I’ve shown are good for roleplayers, kids, and unit filler. As usual, I’ve put the nice figures up front so the Bones aren’t as noticable. I also gave the unit early-1990’s style “redwood” bows, which both give the figures a splash of colour (it fits in with the army scheme) and draws the eye away a little from bad Reaper sculpts.

77001: Skeletal Spearmen (Reaper Bones)

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Recently I showed the Bones Skeletal Swordsmen that I finished for Marouda’s Mythical Greek force. These six are the other half of the group. Originally the twelve of them were to make up a single unit of more generic undead troops, whether spear or blade worked out simply by swapping the front rank as appropriate. Since the Mythical Greeks are now becoming a thing with the addition of a big load of stuff from Wargames Foundry, they got split into the Blade regiment and these guys, who I finished last Friday and will be the back half of the Spear regiment.

Reaper Bones 77001 Skeletal Spearmen

Reaper Bones 77001: Skeletal Spearmen

You may well have noticed that the spears appear to be made of rubber. Well, that’s Bones PVC for you! While I could have replaced the spear shafts with wire by cutting them off, drilling out the hands, and reattaching the spearheads, just look at the sculpts! They’re hardly worth that kind of effort. I did what I think is a nice enough job on the actual bones, but that’s because I enjoy painting bone most of the time. I’ve painted the shields with a kind of pseudo-Verginia Sun to give a Greek-Macedonian vibe to go with the preudo-Dipylon style shields. I left the shield bosses bronze rather than painting them the colours of the rays, or carving them off as I did on the swordsmen.

Reaper Bones 77001 Skeletal Spearmen

The arse end of the Skellymans!

The unit will be completed soon, hopefully. I’ve got the four Foundry skeletons with spear completed, though I still have to do a shield for one of them and I’m unsure about shields for the other three, due to their poses. I’ve used a Wargames Factory Model for a fifth, but I’m still struggling to find an appropriate sixth to complete the unit. Any ideas? I’m looking for an unarmoured skeleton armed with a spear, sturdy one piece casting, nice enough sculpt, and preferring metal or at least sturdy HIPS. (The Wargames Factory ones seem a little fragile).