Friday 17 January 2020

"Theoretically, The Corpse Of Any Living Creature Can Be Turned Into A Zombie."

"But, for whatever reason, most necromancers find humanoid subjects to be far easier to reanimate."
This 63mm tall metal model of a Zombie Snow Troll is manufactured by “North Star Military Figures” and can be bought as code FGV316 from their “Frostgrave" Range. According to Joseph A. McCullough's lore for the Frozen City these undead monsters are “a popular choice for a death mage looking to add a little strength to his forces”, and whilst zombie trolls are “not quite as tough as their living counterparts”, they “are still creatures to be feared.”

Although I’m a big fan of Mark Copplestone’s official paint scheme for the miniature, I actually thought the palette chosen was a little too dark-skinned for my taste, so I primed my model “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey in the hope of becoming reacquainted with my preferred zombie colour scheme from six years ago.  The living corpse was then drenched in “Citadel” Biel-Tan Green and dry-brushed using some (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey.
"Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures" WIPs - The Earth Elemental has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed
I also decided that I wanted the troll's shaggy fur to be brown, so applied a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to the large clump of hair partially covering its back. For the rotting behemoth's visible intestines, I first applied a layer of "Vallejo" Squid Pink and then washed its guts with "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. Some of this Shade spilt onto the monster's rancid flesh, so I used a piece of sponge to dapple the area around the gash in the creature's side with even more Carroburg Crimson.

This technique seemed to work well to suggest the skin was mottled and bruised, so I extended my sponge-work across the figure where appropriate. I then tackled the beast's huge partially-exposed skull by layering it with "Vallejo" White, shading it using some Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter", and finally dry-brushing it with (more) "Vallejo" White. Once dry, I similarly treated parts of the bone to some "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.
"Toon Realms" WIPs - Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths are ready for a series of lighter dry-brushes
Finally, I 'picked out' the troll's eye socket with a dollop of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, and then sponged on plenty of "Citadel" Bloodletter across areas of its decomposing body, head and matted fur. With the gore finished, I glued a double helping of "Citadel" Snow around the plastic 40mm circular base in order for the hulking zombie to fit in alongside the rest of my "Frostgrave" collection.

Working on such a considerably-sized figure has momentarily given me a real taste for pigmenting large models, so with some gusto I have also been working on a plastic Earth Elemental from “Wizkids” increasingly impressive Nolzur’s Marvellous Miniatures range. In addition, I have taken receipt of eight Lord Rascal's Ghostly Wraiths by "Lucid Eye Publications", and immediately primed, washed and dry-brushed the "Toon Realms" ghosts...

14 comments:

  1. Great work on the zombie troll Simon, often wondered what colour would green skin turn when no longer alive ! LOL
    Off to a cracking start on the earth elemental, and ghostly wraiths look very playful

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    1. Thanks Dave. The grey-green skin is an old recipe I started using for my Nazi zombies in "Secrets Of The Third Reich", so I was eager to give it a try after such a long time :-) The Earth Elemental is now finished, so should be posted next week, and I'm hoping to get all the highlights etc on the wraiths this weekend.

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  2. Ooo! I like that Zed Troll very much! Rather disgusting in undeath!

    Elemental looks good too - large?

    Ghosts are very Caspar-ish.

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    1. Cheers Dai. The troll's a fearsome beast. And yes, the Earth Elemental is actually a bit bigger than the troll :-) Hopefully my pale(ish) palette for the ghosts will work with their cartoon vibe.

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    1. Thanks Simon. Nice to get a "Frostgrave" mini done before the second edition comes out.

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  4. That's a wonderfully disturbing piece Simon. Great job.

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    1. Cheers Michael. Not sure why its taken so long to finish tbh, as its a great sculpt.

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  5. The zombie troll looks very icky, which is not an insult as it is supposed to look horrible! I for one wouldn't go anywhere near that thing! Nice job on him. The elemental looks like a cracking sculpt and the guidebooks cute. Can't wait to see how he turns out and what you do to transform him from raindrop to ectoplasm.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. The Earth Elemental is fortunately already finished, and I hope to crack on with the ghostly wraiths ("guidebooks"!?!) over the weekend :-)

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  6. Sorry! I think the spell check went mad i am sure I typed ghost looks!! Oh well, I will check better next time!

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    1. LOL! I thought that was what had happened. But your comment did encourage me to get a bit more done on my "guidebooks" nonetheless :-P

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  7. 63mm tall ! - you're having a larf.
    Great piece and very rotting-looking, slimy-looking and evil-looking, so another job well done.

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    1. Admittedly the mini is measured from foot to overhead claw, Joe. But my forthcoming Earth Elemental is quite a bit bigger ;-)

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