Vampire Wars: The Empire vs The Undead

[Tiny]

Spent the weekend building and painting some skeletons.

Colour test:

Wargames Atlantic skeletons are nice but don’t really fit all that well with GW ones... unless you swap the weapons and heads. Thankfully the GW kit comes with loads of spares.

 

[Ben_S]

I thought those skeletons looked rather bare, but didn't immediately realise they were a third party kitbash. It works well.

How robust are the WGA skeletons? I'm told the Wargames Factory ones were very spindly and prone to breaking. I hope they've corrected that.

 

[Tiny]

The WGA ones are very robust. One per sprue has separate legs which is a little wobbly to assemble but the others are just head and arms to attach. They’re a little on the chunky side but nice minis for a good price. Not quite enough of each weapon option for my liking with only 1 bow and 1 sword per 4 guys. Not an issue as I’m replacing them anyway. The Wargames Factory / Warlord ones are super fragile but look a little nicer. The GW ones are my favourites but are about triple the price of the others.

 

[Ben_S]

The GW ones certainly have some nice bits - heads and shields in particular - but I can't get over the size of those weapons.

 

[Tiny]

Yeah they’re huge. Another downside of the GW (and all the other kits) is that all of the hand weapons are swords. New GW bodies and heads with the weapons selection of the old Skeleton Army set would be a winner.

 

[Tiny]

And finished...

The astute among you will notice the lie about being finished due to the missing back rank. First 25 finished at least.

About 5 hours all in which is very reasonable and means I should be able to finish an army in no time. The next lot should be even faster.

 

[MedMos]

I like that! Do the extra bits -like the empire hat in the back- come with the kit, or did you add those from your other bits? I only have the previous GW skeleton warriors...

 

[Tiny]

I added the extra hat from my bits box. All the rest is GW kit mixed with a couple of Wargames Atlantic bodies.

 

[Ben_S]

5 hours? I know skeletons are quick, but that still seems fast to me.

 

[Tiny]

5 hours? I know skeletons are quick, but that still seems fast to me.

And 3 of those hours were while I was watching TV. I didn't count time for primer or PVA to dry or for painting the movement tray.

My secret recipe:

Prime Army Painter Leather Brown spray can.
Overbrush bone with Terminatus Stone.
Drybrush white.
Skeleton Horde Contrast all over. [Up to here took about an hour]
Quick very gentle white drybrush over face.
Paint Leadbelcher.
Paint Retributor armour.
Wyldwood contrast on wood.
Wash silver, gold and wood with Agrax.
Shyish Purple on cloth. [Up to here was 3 hours of TV]
Overbrush some other purple (an old Citadel one with no label).
Red bits are white with Flesh Tearers Red over top.
Base VMC Chocolate brown, PVA, Geek Gaming base ready & my own Alpine static grass (also applied this to bits of models).

All done with big (size 3) brush or a large drybrush. No need to be super precise as leather brown base is all that shows through. Goes super fast.

 

[Tiny]

Ok, in order to properly time myself painting... I’m going to time myself painting.
Made a start on another 20 skeletons (well 23 but 3 are gravestones and a few bones).
Step 1: Prime Leather Brown. I didn’t time this bit (I primed them yesterday). We’re starting from a primed mini.

Steps 2 and 3: Overbrush Terminatus Stone then drybrush white.

Step 4: Skeleton Horde contrast all over the bone.

more tomorrow. Time for bed now.

 

[Punktaku]

What?!? That’s it? Man, talk about leaving ‘em hanging....

 

[Tiny]

Sorry. I only decided to start the unit this evening. Was going to leave it until tomorrow but strike while the iron is hot and all that.

I tend to paint sporadically, up to an hour at a time at most just before bed or before starting work for the day.

I also like to jump from one unit to another (I currently have a unit of Free Company and a Steam Tank half painted and a unit of spearmen half built ready for primer too).

There’s no way I’d manage 5 hours in one go without serious forward planning. I did once a few years back and painted 60 Poxwalkers in a weekend.

 

[MusingWarboss]

Yeah they’re huge. Another downside of the GW (and all the other kits) is that all of the hand weapons are swords. New GW bodies and heads with the weapons selection of the old Skeleton Army set would be a winner.

Yeah, the old Skeletons had a great range of weapons. MY favourite was the scythe. Classic.

Your bony fellows look fantastic, I'm thinking of adding to my extensive range of unfinished projects by resurrecting (no pun) some of my old Undead. I have some Skeletons, I have Mantic zombies and ghouls. I'd like to get some LotR ghosts and then its just Mummies. I liked the oldhammer era classic Mummies but its a bugger to find any for sale now that look good. I know Foundry do a few. I'd probably be playing WFB 3rd with a mate and maybe sometime at BOYL if i ever get finished. Mostly skirmish.

Quick Q: DO you ever change the rank and file of models? In the 3rd rulebook you can change between various formations but I mostly see people use set movement trays of, say, 5x10 models.

 

[Tiny]

There’s not usually much point in changing the r&f size of most units mid game. You may form a line of archers into a block if they’re getting charged and in some versions you may lap round an enemy to get more models in combat but then I’d just pop a few guys out of the tray. Usually in 8th Ed you’re looking to either maximise ranks so take 5 wide or attacks so take 7/10 wide although people seem to like units of all sorts of sizes.

 

[Tiny]

Skellybobs part 2.

Step 5: Drybrushed faces white.

Step 6: Contrast Wyldwood on spears, belts etc. (this took a lot longer than on the hand weapon skellys).

more later or the boss will beat me again.

 

[Tiny]

Lunchtime painting time.
Steps 7&8: Leadbelcher and Retributor Armour. (I also did hair on some skeletons and gravestones with Basilicanum Grey in this time).

by far the longest part so far.

 

[Willnox]

And finished...

View attachment 117999
The astute among you will notice the lie about being finished due to the missing back rank. First 25 finished at least.

About 5 hours all in which is very reasonable and means I should be able to finish an army in no time. The next lot should be even faster.

These look great for only 5 hours of work!

 

[Tiny]

Skeletons part next...
Step 9: Shyish Purple contrast on all the cloth.

Step 10: Agrax Earthshade on metals.

Step 11: unknown purple on all the cloth.

Thus ends the actual painting of the models. Just bases to go
I make that just over 2 hours of actual painting so far.

 

[Tiny]

Got in a few minutes more painting today...
Step 12: Paint base VMC Chocolate Brown.

Step 13: PVA and Base Ready stuff.

and we’re done. Huzzah.

my two favourites (that I didn’t even count in the 20 models total)

2 3/4 hours in total for 20 dudes. Not bad. Call it 3 hours by the time I give them a few coats of matt varnish.