Wednesday 22 July 2020

"Give Me The Children Of The Hydra's Teeth."

"The children of the night!"
These two 28mm scale Skeleton Warriors are manufactured by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and are part of the company’s ever-expanding Fantasy product line. Both these particular metal miniatures are single-piece castings, and can be bought separately or as part of a four-figure deal.

Having super-glued the Undead walking cadavers onto their plastic bases, they were primed using a double-helping of "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand before being shaded with plenty of Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". Each model was then enthusiastically dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Iraqi Sand and, a somewhat lighter, dusting of White.
"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - The Skeleton Warriors have been washed and dry-brushed
The skeletons' swords and other metallic areas were treated to a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. Whilst their wooden shields were layered in "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna before being washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. I also went back and 'picked out' the warriors' eye sockets and grinning mouths with a little "Citadel" Abaddon Black, simply to ensure these ghoulish areas stood out a bit more on the tabletop from a distance.

Ordinarily, I would usually leave such figures at that that. But I wanted to make these particular grisly fiends look a little more weathered, so decided to apply a little "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash over the skeletons' hand-weapons and shields. I then tidied up a few of the sculpts' edges with a delicate dry-brush of "Citadel" Ironbreaker.
"Kitbash Games" WIPs - The Blue Scarab, Blackthorn and the Shark
Alongside these Fantasy horrors I have been steadily progressing a few more "Supers Unlimited" by "Kitbash Games" for some upcoming Weird War Two battles. I've still got a bit of work to finish on the superb Blue Scarab's face and hair, but, after a bit of tidy up following some of my "Vallejo" Gold dry-brushing going everywhere, I'm now pretty confident the female costumed crime-fighter will shortly be finished.

Far further behind schedule are the Shark and Blackthorn, one of which is still showing some of the effects of being squarely in the firing line when a pot of "Vallejo" Gunmetal Blue suddenly exploded on me and splattered the majority of my painting line with metallic pigment. I'm also rather nervous about applying a brush to Blackthorn and patiently picking out all the twisting vines the excellent sculpt's tree-like torso has been encircled with...

18 comments:

  1. Great work on the Skele's Simon, the added rust to the weapons adds a sense of realism, as I can't imagine the dead spending a lot of time cleaning their weapons.
    Great progress on your supers, shame about the exploding paint, hopefully you will have the corrections done soon

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Dave. I'm hoping to get the other ten skeletons finished over the next few weeks. Definitely more Supers Unlimited to be posted, as hopefully the Shark is the last one showing signs of the great paint explosion!! LOL!!

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  2. Awesome! Reading the title to this post I was instantly transported back to my youth and the joy of watching Jason and the Argonauts for the first time! Staggering to think that it was made in 1963! Wonderful stuff Simon.

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    1. Cheers Michael. I too love that movie, indeed anything by Ray Harryhausen tbh. I still own a very old jewel-cased DVD of "Jason & The Argonauts" which I play repeatedly - mostly because it has a 60 minute special on Ray's work :-)

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  3. Brilliant stuff Simon! Absolutely love Jason and the Argonauts, I could instantly hear Bernard Hermann's score when I read that title 😀

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  4. Great work on the Skeletons Simon, had me looking at a possible 15mm Hott Skeleton army (you naughty boy!). Love a bit of rust on an undead weapon (well on most things actually!).

    Nice progress of the Supers too, "Shark" looks like a damaged Terminator at the moment ;-)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Oh a HOTT Skeleton Army would be awesome. I might even join you in a 15mm monthly challenge should you ever fancy going down that route. LOL!!!

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    2. Hmmmm, I might just hold you to that!

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    3. LOL. Any time Roger. Always been a big fan of "Alternative Armies" range, so any excuse to dig out my Dogman or The Evil Dead Army would be terrific :-)

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  5. Those skeletons have turned out well. Great job. I really like the WIP on Shark. Great looking colour on the trousers. Been there with the exploding paint pot. Ruined a pair of trousers once so you have my sympathy!!!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. The Shark should hopefully be finished soon despite my mishap. Unfortunately it was my last pot of "Vallejo" Gunmetal Blue so I'm waiting on a new supply as I need it for some WG Sontarans I was planning on finally finishing.

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  6. All lovely work Simon! Blue Scarab is especially striking!

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    1. Cheers Dai. Hope to have Blue Scarab posted tomorrow :-)

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  7. skeletons look cool, i like the poses. so much more dynamic than GW's skeletons, awesome job.

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  8. The skeletons, look the biz, great shading and rust effects- more to come too !
    Scarb is superb as she is atm the spandex, face and everything about her is superb.
    Of course I've never heard of any of these super-heroes, but Blackthorn looks a usable character for a lot of other genres.
    Shark man (though superbly painted atm) - meh!

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    1. Cheers Joe. Definitely more skellies coming as I want to crank through the twelve I own as soon as I can. The super-heroes aren't from any comics just "Kitbash Games" imagination :-)

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