Saturday 30 June 2018

"There'll Be A Cold Time In The Old Town Tonight!"

"This man's jaw feels like it's made of solid ice!"
These two 37mm tall “Wizkids” models of Solomon Grundy are both miniature number 018 from the Arkham Asylum DC Comics "Heroclix" range and have been converted into members of Mister Freeze's "Cold Pack" for this year's annual "Forgotten Heroes" challenge. Based upon the poor unfortunate millionaires who foolishly underwent one of Victor Fries' cryogenic treatments in an attempt to have their lifespans greatly increased, the living zombies first appeared in the February 1979 edition of "Batman" and were created by Len Wein and penciler John Calnan.

As the plastic pre-painted models originally carried a formidable-looking tree branch, they both had to momentarily suffer under the blade of a sharp modelling knife so as to appear as empty-handed as they do in the "DC Comics" publication. I then primed one with two layers of "Vallejo" USA Olive Drab and the other with Charred Brown.
Volturnos WIPs - The High King's mount has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed
The "failed experiments commanded by Freeze" subsequently had their shoes painted in "Vallejo" Black and their frozen flesh layered with Dead White. Their icy skin was later shaded using a little watered-down "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade and patiently dry-brushed with some (more) "Vallejo" Dead White.

I was briefly perplexed over the choice of colour for my Cold Pack members' shirts. They were always going to be predominantly "Vallejo" Dead White, but I was somewhat worried this 'whiteness' might easily merge in with their pallid undead flesh if I simply washed the areas with some Pale Grey. In the end I therefore applied some Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter" over their ragged shirts, as well as more heavily across their jacket and trousers.  
Stormcast Eternals WIPs - Sigmar's warriors have all had their armour layered
With two of my planned three ice zombies finished before the "Forgotten Heroes" deadline, I have started to make some increasing inroads on my Idoneth Deepkin general for "Age Of Sigmar", their Akhelian King, Volturnos. The Sea Aelf High King's serpentine mount has now been primed, shaded and dry-brushed along with it's base's marine-based scatter terrain, and I'm hoping to turn my attention to the water-beast's rider over the next week or so.

In addition, along with the Errant-Questor I recently purchased from "Warhammer World", I have also progressed the three "Games Workshop" Stormcast Eternals which come in the Nottingham-based company's "Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire" starter set. These "Sigmarines" are incredibly detailed and well-posed, and more importantly can also be used for an Order Army on the "Age Of Sigmar" battlefield too.

24 comments:

  1. Looks awesome dude! Perfect fit as a zombie goons of Mr Freeze.

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    1. Thanks very much Simon. Last one needs varnishing so I can do a group shot, but the varnish has a nasty habit of picking up any washes used if I don't let them dry overnight... so a slight delay...

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  2. Great job getting two of your ice zombies done in time Simon.
    Nice start on your deepkin and sigmarines as well

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    1. Cheers Dave. The third and final one should be ready for posting on Monday, and then its off into another mini-project, something three million years in the future ;-)

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  3. Well done of the Forgotten Heroes entry Simon, great job Sir.

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    1. Thanks Michael. Simple stuff, albeit the ragged sleeves gave me some issues. Hopefully the group shot next week will show just how large these icy brutes are.

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  4. More zombies are always welcome, even ice zombies. Good work on them.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. They don't really look much on their own, but should prove impressive pieces on the tabletop with the rest of Mister Freeze's crew.

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  5. I do like the high kings mount. I have no use for it but that does not stop me waning to get one now!

    As always a good and varied selection of figures.

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    1. Thanks Clint, I do try and make my postings varied when I can. The Sea Aleves are great minis imho, and there's a lot more "Age Of Sigmar" coming over the next few months.

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  6. Brilliant, love the tones in the colors! Anytime you can get a Grundy figure on the table is a good thing :)

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    1. Cheers Ivor. Tbh the other minis' colours are a little more varied, but these two brown-suited ones were the first pair finished :-)

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  7. Nice work dude, those Sea Aelfs are mighty tempting

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    1. Thanks Andy. The Deepkin are indeed a tasty-looking faction for "Age Of Sigmar" imho.

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  8. The ice twins looks great, especailly that slight blue effect they have on their skin.
    The High King model looks huge and delicate, with all those sticky-out bits (I'd be afraid to use him) and no doubt he'll look spectactular when he's finished.
    The 'eternals' look very interesting...

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    1. Cheers Joe. I've the third and final Ice Zombie to post up tomorrow, and that's another "Forgotten Heroes" in the bag until next year. Hopefully the Sea Aelf King won't be too far behind either, or the three Stormcast (I've got four in total planned to finish over July).

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  9. Sorry Simon, you must have posted this after my bedtime last night (just go in from work). Great to see you got three of the "Zom's" finished in time for the deadline, I thought I was cutting it close! Great work, love the flesh colour on them. The GW fig's look awesome too, especially the Aelf.

    Have now re-posted this to the FH site.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger, and absolutely no apology needed. I've got the third one and a group shot ready for tomorrow too, and then it'll be on to my next mini challenge :-)

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  10. Nice work on the ice zombies once again. Looking forward to the AoS models being finished as they look lovely. That sea horse is great so can't wait to see the final result there. I have painted those stormcasts in silver so looking forward to seeing them in a splendid gold colour scheme.

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. I did consider painting the Stormcasts non-gold, but as I want them to form part of my initial 1000 pts for "Age Of Sigmar" I went with their traditional colour scheme.

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  11. One of the things about visiting other's blogs is spotting a figure you weren't aware of and reising that it would be ideal for a project that you're working on. So, that Solomon Grundy would make a good 'Adam' for Ravenloft...

    Looking forward to seeing your group shot.

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    1. Absolutely, Jez. If you ping me your email address, then I can pop one of my spare Grundy minis to you in post if you’d like? It’s been primed, re-based, and had the tree branch cut away etc. but you’re welcome to it :-)

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  12. Yup, they fit in just loverly with Freeze's lot.

    I'm finding all of these new GW products of the last 5 years are flippin complicated sculpts! And the larger ones... yikes! Braver soul than me mate.

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    1. Thanks Dai. Mister Freeze has a rather impressive crew now, imho. Lots of assembly needed on these latest “Games Workshop” minis I’m afraid. But they do look good, imho, once painted :-)

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