"Nothing Is Permanent In This Wicked World - Not Even Our Troubles."

"Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot."

This 28mm metal model of Zombie Charlie is one of many figures made by “Studio Miniatures” that I received as part of my “Z-CLIPZ” pledge during the company’s “Hollywood Havoc” Kickstarter, and is the first of my four weekly submissions for this year’s Mo’Vember Challenge with Dick Garrison (of “Rantings Under The Wargames Table” fame). Based upon the Undead version of an unlucky member of staff who happened to be devoured during the zombie apocalypse whilst working at a theme park, the brain-eating cadaver is dressed as the instantly recognisable Charlie Chaplin character, "The Tramp"; including his famous bowler hat and moustache.

Primed with a double-coat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black, the dead “Hollywoodland” employee was dry-brushed with “Vallejo” German Grey and then washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I then picked out all the corpse’s ‘bangs and bumps’ with either a combination of “Vallejo” Iraqi Sand and “Citadel” Thrakka Green, or "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

Enchanter WIPs - The Wizard is slowly being 'dressed' from his padded footwear upwards

 Having finished such a straightforward paint-job I am currently making some good progress on my next Mo’Vember model; a “Frostgrave” Enchanter by “North Star Military Figures”. This particular “hands-on” wizard is absolutely packed full of intricate details, not least of which is his red-trimmed bearskin fur overcoat and the numerous tools dotted around his belt.

Fortunately my technique of simply slowly ‘picking out’ out each item one at a time as I move up the model is keeping both my paint-brush steady and my sanity intact. Albeit I ultimately decided to paint the mage’s leg bindings and leather straps black in order to reduce the overall amount of brown I was applying to the figure, and because some of the details appeared incredibly fine and fiddly…

Herald Of Nurgle WIPs - The Nurgle Hero's severed head, Nurgling and brass bells have all been finished

All this brown and grey would ordinarily have proven somewhat dispiriting, but fortunately I have continued to paint my Herald of Nurgle for “Age Of Sigmar”, and as a result been able to add plenty of colour to my palette in the shape of red and green washes. This multi-part plastic miniature is now practically finished, having had its rotting corpse-like bloated body shaded and highlighted.

In addition I have completed the numerous brass bells which adorn its stag-like antlers, as well as the cheeky-faced Nurgling that is clearly enjoying its ride into battle atop the Plaguebearer Hero’s shoulder. The daemon just needs his Balesword to be dry-brushed and his numerous zits washed before he’ll be ready to accompany my Host of Nurgle on the tabletop.

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Frostgrave" Mo'Vember 2016

"Frostgrave" WIPs - These adventurers have so far just been based and primed

This month's themed attempt to try and reduce my ever-increasing horde of metal, plastic and resin models has been severely influenced by both Dick Garrison's suggestion that we once again dedicate part of our hobby time towards miniatures of a 'beardy' nature (in celebration of Mo'Vember), and some recent games of the skirmishing phenomenon known as "Frostgrave" by "Osprey Games".

I actually tried to dedicate myself to painting up a host of adventurers “battling through a ruined frozen city in search of magical artefacts” last year, but got so distracted with the game’s fantastically colourful Bestiary that it inevitably took me several months before I finally finished assembling my Witch’s warband. This time I aim to be far more disciplined and spend the next few weeks simply focusing upon just a handful of the fur-faced miniatures I received as part of the rule-set’s first ‘Nickstarter’.

The Mausoleum WIPs - A long-dead axe-man, spearman and swordsman

To begin with I plan to provide my travelling party with a pair of substitute wizards. My Witch has proved extremely valuable so far during my initial forays into the City of Felstad on account of his ability to successfully summon a Snow Leopard (and his Apprentice’s to conjure an Ice Toad) as an animal companion before any conflicts have even started. But I can’t always rely on such accommodating dice rolls and therefore thought a far more “hands-on” wizard might provide an invaluable alternative. 

As a result I’ve decided to paint up a long white-bearded Enchanter, complete with an assortment of craftsman’s tools, and his bulkier, bristle-faced protégé. Both of these 28mm sized pewter miniatures are produced by “North Star Military Figures” and disconcertingly come absolutely crammed full of detail. However once on the tabletop they should allow me to enchant the armour, weapons and strength of my warband, as well as potentially animate constructs before a blow has even fallen in anger...

The Mausoleum WIPS - A long dead cultist, great swordsman and armoured axe-man 

In addition to my magic-users I also thought I might try and bolster my treasure-hunting party's options by including some more missile-based troops. I already employ two crossbowman and have found their +2 Damage Modifier extremely useful when it comes to wearing down the opposition. For the cost of a single Templar (100 gold pieces) another duo of such hired soldiers would also prove doubly useful by providing me with an extra pair of hands with which to snatch any loot from under the very nose of my wretched opponent.

Sticking with “Frostgrave”, I am also hoping this month to paint enough skeletons to re-enact The Mausoleum scenario from the tabletop game's rule-book. This particular "unique and interesting" encounter depicts rival groups stumbling across "a small square or rectangular building" which is described as "overflowing with both gold and the undead..."

Zombie Charlie WIPs - The hapless comedian has been dry-brushed and had his undead flesh picked out

As the setting's Special Rules state that "at the every turn (right after the creature phase) another skeleton moves onto the board through one of the doors in the central building", in addition to the two models which start the battle alongside the Necromancer's resting place, I'm planning on getting at least ten of the long-dead creatures finished. This total should provide enough opposition for at least eight or so turns, and allow me to use some of the cracking undead heads and limbs found within the "Frostgrave" Cultists multi-part hard plastic boxed set.

Finally, as something of a 'baton passing' project from Zomtober to Mo'Vember I have started work on the first of my zombies by "Studio Miniatures". This particular figure arrived as part of my pledge for the "Hollywood Havoc" Kickstarter and depicts an unlucky Theme Park staff member dressed as one of "Hollywood's greatest stars", Charlie Chaplin.

“Born From Sickness And Despair…”

"As the Nurgling matures it feeds upon the filth of the Great Unclean One and pops out."

These two 28mm multi-part plastic swarms of Nurglings are made by “Games Workshop” and are two of the three such “stacks” that can be created using the “variety of characterful” components found within the “Gleeful Castoffs” "Age Of Sigmar" set. Indeed the company boasts that “you can actually make twenty-seven combinations of Nurgling towers” using their sprues should you purchase enough boxes of the “wriggling little horned beasts”, and that number doesn’t include the additional “individual Nurglings” the kit comes with “for using on bases for the rest of your army.”

"Sometimes Nurglings are gifted to Heralds or other powerful Chaos Champions to act as a living litter for him."

As a result of the complexity of these 'builds' I decided to paint the front, middle and back rows of each 40mm circular base separately and then later superglue the towers together after they had been varnished. This meant that, having placed each line of Khan’gurani’I on an individual stand, they were all initially undercoated with “Vallejo” Heavy Khaki and washed with “Citadel” Thrakka Green. The tiny toothed daemons were then dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Khaki before having details such as their horns, “sores, cuts, lumps and opened orifices” coated with “Citadel” Abaddon Black.

With all the miniatures’ groundwork completed, I started painting the Nurglings’ internal organs with either “Vallejo” Heavy Red or Heavy Warmgrey, and washed the grisly sculpts with a combination of “Citadel” Thrakka Green, Agrax Earthshade and Carroburg Crimson. As a final touch their numerous zits were ‘picked out’ with a dollop of “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre and given a heavy covering of “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade.

"A unit of Nurglings has three or more models."

Wonderfully timed to coincide with Zomtober 2016, I have taken possession of my pledge from “Studio Miniatures” and their “Hollywood Havoc” Kickstarter. These “highly detailed” 28mm models are part of their zombie horror range “Z-Clipz” and supposedly depict “the unlucky staff dressed as Hollywood’s greatest stars” who were devoured whilst working at the Funland Theme Park during the zed apocalypse.

The first three brain-eating cadavers I plan to work on are Zombie Lee, Zombie Charlie and Zombie Norma Jean; undeniably characterful undead versions of Bruce Lee, Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe. My collection also contains the survivor versions of these silver screen personalities, alongside the company’s four “Monster Madness Haunted House” figures. However as I’m currently painting a number of other walking dead miniatures as part of my "Mongoose Publishing" Mega-City One Zombie Horde I thought I’d start with the infected versions first.

"Hollwood Havoc" WIPs - Bruce Lee, Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe

What is somewhat disappointing about these models though is their seemingly slender size when compared to other zombie models I own. The Kickstarter was keen to emphasise that “all of these new miniatures are fully compatible with our existing modern zombies and survivors” and highlighted you could “mix them together for some movie madness” if you wanted. I don’t actually own any other “Studio Miniatures” sculpts to compare them against, but have found these latest acquisitions to be slightly diminutive when placed alongside even my slender “Zombicide” plastic zeds…