Wednesday, October 7, 2009

66 - TOEMP Challenge #5 Finally Finished!


5 days past the deadline, 3 days past when I wanted to finish them by, but here they are - my Vampire Counts Skeleton Warriors command group. Almost zero highlighting done on them, but overall, I'm glad I took my time with them. Usually, I consider painting skellie models kind of a mindless activity - you know, just basecoat in White or Ivory depending on the look you're after, then wash in Devlan Mud or Badab Black and, voila!, you're done. But these 3 command group fellas (or at least the Champion and the Standard Bearer - the musician was kind of simple) had plenty of fun fiddly bits to fuss over.

All 3 Skeletons are, again, a mixture of Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings. The Musician, for instance, is basically a Tomb Kings Skeleton with a Vampire Counts shield; the Champion is a Vampire Counts torso, head, and swordarm on Tomb Kings legs; and the Standard Bearer is essentially a Vampire Counts Skeleton holding a Tomb Kings standard pole with a Vampire Counts banner affixed to it. Even though the primary reason for all this mixing and matching is one of necessity, I'm actually digging it. It gives the models a bit of a different look compared to if I had just used all Vampire Counts parts.

By the way - the piles of skulls and tombstones in the background are actually extremely cheap yet nicely detailed and pre-painted bits I found at my local Michael's craft store. They were selling them for Halloween dioramas, and they were exceptionally cheap - about $1.99 each for a pack of 6 skulls and 6 tombstones. They're also just the right size - well, the skulls are a bit big, but not strangely so. I also changed the background color for these pics, swapping out the powder blue for a light purple. Overall, these 2 minor changes to my usual light box set-up added nicely to the models, I think.

Okay, so TOEMP points wise, here's the rundown:

7 Foot Sloggers = 7 points (even though my previous rank and file Vampire Counts posting had 7 skellies, only 4 of them were newly painted)
Missing Deadline = -3 points

I wonder if the Standard counts as an Icon/ Symbol or Mark? Well, either way, it wouldn't really change my tally all that much. Grand total? 4 frikkin' points! Whoohoo! I'm livin' the high life now, baby!

Well, my GRE test is this Saturday, and after it's over and done with, I think I'll have time over the remainder of the weekend to start in on my TOEMP Challenge #6 committment. I'm going to paint up an Imperial Guard Company Squad, I think, composed of a Company Commander converted from the Baneblade Tank Commander, a Company Standard Bearer, a Vox-Caster, a Medic, and I really would like to put together a Meltagunner and a heavily converted Bodyguard, but I'll have to see if I have the parts and the inspiration and the time laying around somewhere this weekend.

Click here for more pics.

5 comments:

HuronBH said...

Wow there turned out great, I especially like as you pointed out the mix of parts. The bases are also great, the plant life on them is awesomely done, I want a Tutorial as that is a skill I do not have.

I would definitely count the detail on the shields and variety of coloring on the models as painting details and give yourself 7 more points.

Paul Wu said...

@ HuronBH:

Thanks for the kind words! As for the plant life - my secret (if you'd even call it that) is dried moss purchased from the floral section of my local Michael's craft store. A.C. Moore carries the stuff too. They come in pretty large bags of dried moss of various colors (to be used, I guess, for decorating flower pots or something), and all I do to make them work on miniature bases is to rip a little bit off with my fingers and apply it on top of cork rocks and such and superglue it on. Really, most of the work is done by the moss itself as it takes on a life of its own once you leave it alone.

As for the extra 7 points...I'm tempted, friend, I'm tempted! hehe

Mordian7th said...

Looking great! I'll echo HuronBH, not only to the models look fantastic, but the bases add a lot of character as well. Fantastic stuff mate - keep it up!

Max said...

Excellent work sahr.

Shrink to Fit said...

Beautiful models. Such great work!

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