Tuesday 5 February 2019

"For This War Will Last Through Years Uncounted..."

"...And you shall be summoned once again ere end."
These four "cartoon scale white metal" figures of Lord Rascal's Skeleton Warriors are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range. Sculpted by Steve Saleh and destined to form part of the Necromancer's ever-expanding army of Skeletons, I thought these Undead soldiers would probably form part of a second Light Foot unit I'm currently planning for my 'Lord Of The Toons' project using the "Dragon Rampant" rule-set.

Originally primed with two coats of "Vallejo" Dark Sand, the quartet were heavily washed in "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and subsequently enthusiastically dry-brushed using (more) "Vallejo" Dark Sand. I then dry-brushed them rather more lightly with Dead White, before 'picking out' their spear-tips and shield emblems using a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.
"This curse I lay upon thee and thy folk; to rest never until your oath is fulfilled."
In order to give the pole weapons something of an edge, and to 'highlight' the details on each skeleton's ornamental armoured boss, both of these areas were later delicately dry-brushed with a little bit of "Citadel" Ironbreaker. I also painted each of their shields in either "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Heavy Blue, Heavy Violet or Black, and eventually dirtied them all up with a splash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

Finally I used "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna to pigment both their leather boots and spear-shafts, and also applied some Heavy Brown to their spear-straps. All of these areas were subsequently shaded in "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.
Bloodletter WIPs - The demonic Standard-Bearer is slowly having all his detail 'picked out'
Having now completed half of the skeletons I plan to field as part of Lord Rascal's evil army, I have momentarily turned my attention towards the ten-strong unit of "Games Workshop" Bloodletters I want to add to my Blades Of Khorne force for "Age Of Sigmar". I usually like to start off any such similarly-sized group of models by painting their leader, however, as I hope to simply add these additional daemons to my already existing horde of Hellblade-carrying horrors I haven't included a Bloodreaper in their number.

Instead I have built a Standard Bearer, who will ultimately accompany the regiment's Icon Bearer, and simultaneously bestow upon his brethren a +1 to "Charge Rolls... for each enemy Hero that has been slain by attacks" made by the unit. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I have no intention of trying to replicate the amazing hand-drawn illustration which adorns the "official" model's banner on the "Games Workshop" website. But I do hope to obtain some old Khorne decals which will hopefully break up the merciless warrior's tattered plain flag...

14 comments:

  1. Looking good Simon. I love the group shot the whole force is going to look ace.

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    1. Thanks very much, Simon. That's half the number of skeletons required for "Dragon Rampant", so I'm hoping to get the rest finished over the next few weeks, and then my main two Undead units will be done :-)

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  2. That is an excellent group shot of your skeletons, Simon. I look forward to seeing them in action.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. Still probably a couple of months work to go before I can get going with “Dragon Rampant”, but I’m hoping to have the ‘Forces of Evil’ finished within the next few weeks.

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  3. Great looking group of Skele's Simon, great start on your standard bearer, hope the transfer works for you, as it's a curved surface use micro sol to aid the bending of the transfer

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    1. Thanks Dave. The flag is actually rather flat so I’m hoping to do without anything other than water on the decals tbh.

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  4. Really nice collection of skeletons. I love the fact they have boots. Skeletons wearing boots is just so mad! You are certainly churning out the minis at a ferocious rate at the moment!

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. I had loads more finished “Toon Realms” but am struggling to post them currently, even when I’m uploading every other day. I’ve still got your excellent Top Ten to cram in this month too!!

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  5. That's some force of skellies you now have and I really do like the less-than-"realistic" cartoony style of these.
    It's good to not take our gaming too seriously imo.

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    1. Thanks Joe. I love the whimsical nature of the “Toon Realms” minis, and they just keep producing more and more fun models :-)

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  6. Other than the slightly large heads, there's not really much to identify them as "toons", though - is there? Very nice, even so.

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    1. There are certainly far more 'toony' looking sculpts in the range, Hugh, but even so I think the large(ish) heads give them a Chibi-sort of 'cuteness' you don't tend to see in other Undead models.

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