Here Be Dragons!

A post detailing all my dragons or dragon-kind.

During the time I've been collecting miniatures, I've picked up quite a few skeletal or undead dragons (large creatures being an exception to my "nothing but bone" rule). One thing is for certain, sculptors love undead dragons. I keep having to add to my collection. At this point I have what would essentially be one army of simply dragons or dragon types. I loan them out as assets to my other armies, but I'd like to fight a battle once with nothing but my Draconis Legion.

Dragons

Black Tree Design FA77934 Zombie Dragon. meh.

Eastern Front Studios DVR-20 Gargantuan Skeleton Dracolich. A very nice model depicting the dragon as a true quadruped, which is rare compared to the biped models. They were supposed to put out a zombie version of this but I haven't seen it.

Fenryll Mummy Dragon for my New Kingdom Egyptians

Fenryll Skeletal Dragon. Very large resin model.

Fenryll Zombie Dragon. Small but nice sculpt.

McFarlane Models Dragon Series Six Dracolich. Pre painted plastic, but huge and imposing. Paint job is not terrible. I like the use of fire.

Gale Force 9's new Dracolich.

The old and venerable Grenadier 5502 Masterpiece Edition Death Dragon. My first super-beast.

Grenadier Dragon Lords 2516 Chaos Dragon

The one, the original Grenadier 9904 Skeletal Dragon by Julie Guthrie


A rare Grenadier zombie dragon from circa 1984. 

 GW Terrorgheist

GW Zombie Dragon. Yes I bought two of the same boxed set so I could make both variations. I'm the sucker GW has in mind...

GW 991 10207101 Zacharias the Everliving on a Zombie Dragon. Fantastic sculpt. I worked the ECKTM (easiest conversion known to man) on Zacharias and popped off his head to be replaced by a skull, turning him into a real Liche.

GW CIT-524 Zombie Dragon with Rider by Trish Morrison.

Grendel F0065 Zombie Dragon. Actually a very nice resin piece. Seeing the detail and easy construction sold me on resin as a medium.

Troll Forged Nightmare w/Necromage by Adam Grabowski. Made in some sort of vinyl/plastic, it's actually well detailed and an excellent model. I performed the ECKTM on the liche.

Mythic Articulations Asian Dragon. One of my faves. Not a miniature company per se, but custom prints anatomically correct mythical creature skeletons. For larger beasts it's just the right size for 32mm. This baby supports my undead medieval samurai brigade

Mythic Articulations Dragon. Another from MA. Very nice sculpt that is one of the rare true quadruped depictions.

Pathfinder Skulls & Shackles Gargantuan Skeleton Dragon. Sculpt is ok. Not really anatomically correct.

RAFM Necro-Drake Mighty Dragon Lich. Superb boxed set.

Ral Partha 10-375 Graveyard Dragon. Pretty large, but I never liked the sculpt.

Tom Meier's original Ral Partha 01-140 Undead Dragon. The memories...

The huge limited edition Ral Partha 01-505 Dracolich by Jeff Wilhelm.

A very small and rather unimpressive Ral Partha 11-582 Council of the Wyrm Dracolich 

Reaper 2705 Skeletal Dragon by Bob Olley. 

Reaper 3593 Akar Nakhal Pharoh Dragon by Kevin Williams.

Reaper 3644 Skeletal Dragon by Kevin Williams. Not impressive. Almost a skeletal wyrmling.

Reaper 10012 original Kaladrax sculpt by Jim Johnson. Tearing up the late 90's with this massive model.

The new Reaper 77190 Nethermaul the Undying by Julie Guthrie

The new Reaper 77192 Kaladrax sculpt.

Wizards of the Coast Attack Wing Red Dracolich. Meh. Like the flight pose.

Wizards of the Coast Lords of Madness 17 Fettered Dracolich. Pre-painted plastic. Meh.

Wizards of the Coast Death Knell 60 Zombie White Dragon. Despite being a pre-painted plastic and very small, it's actually a good sculpt. Would do well with a repaint.

Wizards of the Coast War of the Dragon Queen 31 Dracolich. Also another good sculpt, despite being a pre-painted plastic.

Zombie Dragon from Creature Caster

Finally! Vermis the Wyrm from Fenris Games has been funded through the Rise of the Draugr Kickstarter!

Zombie Dragon from the Battlelore Heralds of Dreadfall expansion

TMS' new Zombie Dragon now on Kickstarter!

Dragonkind

Ral Partha 49-091 Skeletal Hydra. A contribution from their recent Chaos Wars Kickstarter. You can thank me for this model. Yes, me. Personally. I backed the Kickstarter early and RP had as a stretch goal that if they got to $100K they would produce a skeletal dragon. I posted in the messages that if funding reached the stretch goal, that skeletal dragons were a dime a dozen. But if RP truly wanted to do something no previous company had done, they might consider making a skeletal hydra. Discussion ensued on the message board. In a few days, a "mystery stretch goal" popped up at $50,000 which was revealed to be - this skeletal hydra.

You're welcome.

Mythic Articulations Cockatrice. Gaze of Stone motherfucker!

Mythic Articulations Wyvern.

TMS' new Shrieking Horror (aka Wyvern) now on Kickstarter!

TMS' new Court of the Damned. It's a GW Coven Throne analog for the 9th Age wargame, but it's mounted on a skeletal wyvern!

The classic Grenadier Fantasy Lords 167 skeletal flyer. A bowman on a small wyvern.

The 1995 update. Grenadier Fantasy Warriors 51035 Undead Flyer.

Titan-Forge Drakskull's Menace Undead Wyvern. With a zombie orc rider. Sweet!

Blood Keep Miniatures fantastic new Varakai model. Maybe not a dragon per se, more bat-like but definitely undead.

Mythic Articulations Skeleton Kirin

Not Yet Procured

The upcoming Wizards of the Coast Icons of the Realms White Dracolich

Dark Art Studios Gothrac, Zombie Dragon

Bellerophon Rides Again!

Skeletal Pegasus
Company: Mythic Articulations
Part #:
Sculptor: Brian Richardson
Released: 2014

Oh boy, check out these skeletal pegasi and riders from Mythic Articulations! Sculptor Brian Richardson has begun scaling down some of his larger  inch display models to 32mm for wargaming use. Richardson has taken his original Pegasus skeleton model and added spear wielding riders, as well as modifying the poses. This is set of 5 pegasi/riders contains two different poses, one rearing and one flying. Slap an easily obtainable hoplon on the riders and *presto*! Flying cavalry for my undead ancient greek army.

Bellerophon rides again!

I love Richardson's models because they are a) unique and b) anatomically correct. The typical way to go with a skeletal Pegasus is to give it bat-like wings, like with the Mantic vampire lord on an undead Pegasus or this Ral Partha Necromancer on a skeletal Pegasus. Richardson has sculpted true to life bird wings for these models. Pay particular attention to the massive bird-like clavicle and sternum where the wing muscles would attach.

These models are individually printed in a high detail translucent resin. The age of custom miniatures has arrived. If you can dream it - you can print it!

The Skeletal Samurai Host Gets a Big Addition

Asian Dragon
Company: Mythic Articulations
Part #:
Sculptor: Brian Richardson
Released: 2014

Check it out! I've been collecting a medieval skeleton samurai force for years now. The backbone of the host is those old Clan War skeletal samurai and bowmen. I've also supplemented with old Grenadier and Ral Partha skeletal samurai and ninja as well as filling ranks in from newer companies like Wyrd, GCT and Zenit.

And while Wyrd, GCT and Zenit are doing a good job of giving me some undead creatures; Oni, Gaikotsu and such - I have always wanted to put a dragon in there. Obviously, dragons are integral to eastern society myths, symbolizing power and royalty. Having an undead samurai force that incorporated eastern mythological creatures but lacked a dragon would look completely out of place.

The problem is, despite the fact that I have a TON of skeletal/undead dragons, they are all western style dragons. You can't just plop a western style dragon in a a far eastern army. Eastern dragons are typically portrayed very differently from western ones (You know... you've been to Chinese New Year!). Instead of a large, hulking dinosaur-like reptile, eastern dragons look more like lithe, sinuous snakes with four legs. Unfortunately, no company I know of has ever made a skeletal or undead eastern style dragon.

Enter Mythic Articulations. Sculptor Brian Richardson produces a wide range of models portraying skeletons of "cryptids", weird mythological (or supposedly real) hybrid animals combining features of various species. And he creates them as basically "anatomically correct", coming up with creative ways to fuse the anatomies of say, a bird and a horse (Pegasus). I just recently bought the Asian Dragon to happily fill the void in my skeletal samurai army. At last!

Mythic Articulations isn't actually a producer of wargame miniatures however. Richardson has created these figures as anatomical models of various cryptids that are meant to be display pieces. He sculpts them virtually using Zbrush and then has them printed on a 3D printer to sell on Shapeways or Etsy.

Because they are display pieces, they are printed at a size that is much larger than the 28-32mm standard. The Asian Dragon, clocking in at 9 inches long, is a perfect fit for the skeletal samurai host, however. Also I plan to incorporate some of his other models into my armies, at least the ones that are rightly "giant" creatures - wyvern, minotaur, this lovely depiction of the Jersey Devil (which will make one awesome Major Demon).

But there are other sculpts which I'd love to incorporate that would simply be too big to use in my armies, such as the unicorn, the Pegasus, the harpy and the faun/satyr. Man, It'd be killer to mount a Bellerophon/hero on the back of that Pegasus if it was the right size! Or an Empire style hero on the back of that hippogriff (although - as a giant creature, I might get away with using the hippogriff as an independent monster).

But hello! We are entering the age of 3D printing and custom miniature making. Richardson designs the models on a computer, so he can easily change the scale of the sculpts and create an infinite number of poses. The problem is, the 3D printing technology is not quite at the level where you can effectively print his designs in 28mm. They're too fragile at that scale and the printers cannot print that thinly.

However, Richardson is open to doing some modification of his original design work in order to make the sculpts more robust (but a less realistic) so they can be printed in 28mm scale. Who knows? I might be able to field those skeleton satyr psiloi I've been yearning for faster than I expected!

Gnome Liche

Liche from the Von Drakk Manor set
Company: Soda Pop Miniatures
Part #:
Sculptor:
Released: 2012

Well, what did I pick up today? It's a cute little liche from Soda Pop Miniatures.

Isn't he just precious?

It's a piece from Soda Pop Miniatures, which makes tremendously un-serious lil' folks miniatures.

But looking at it on ebay I immediately thought it would make a good gnome liche, to compliment my entirely serious other gnome liche; Reaper's Kurand the Ever Living.

This is the serious one...

Plus he could serve well my growing stable of undead little people; dwarves, gnomes and halfings. 

Morghasts!

Morghast Archai & Morghast Harbingers
Company: Games Workshop
Part #:
Sculptor:
Released: 2014

Images leaking of some sweet, new (incredibly expensive) models from GW's new "End Times" expansion...

GW calls them "Morghasts" - heralds of the dread Nagash.

I, however, call them GIANT FUCKING DEMONS! Finally, I have some major skeletal demons to field in my undead army of chaos.

Giant Fucking Demons

It may sound odd, but there has been dearth of suitably large scale undead demon models. I have a variety of what I would call "lesser demons" - "angels of death" and such like these:

Yeah bitches!

I have a whole bunch of these, enough probably to make two units worth. But while most of them are suitably kick-ass (especially those Rackham figs), they're all normal sized. I've always been envious of those impressive looking giant demon sculpts. They look devastatingly frightening in those chaos hordes and I've always wanted one or two for mine. But unfortunately, like the long desired skeletal hydra, no company has ever really made any such models.

Now... an embarrassment of riches! The Morghast boxed set allows you to make 2 figures each of either the Archai (the ones with the halberds) or the Harbingers (dual swords, less armor). Combined with the undead demon just recently achieved as a stretch goal on Mantic Games' new kickstarter, I have up to five major demons to field alongside my lesser demons, skeletal chaos warriors and skeletal beastmen in my undead chaos horde!

The Return of Nagash

Nagash: Supreme Lord of the Undead
Company: Games Workshop
Part #:
Sculptor:
Released: 2014

Dammit. GW is going to force me to crack open my wallet again. And it is going to cost me dearly.

But seriously, How friggin' cool is that? The giant liche lord borne up by a spirit host.You can't turn that down.

Nagash is the Ur-liche in the Warhammer^(tm) mythology. But for someone so important in the lore, he's never gotten his due in a model. The only other attempt was that mid-1990's sculpt by Gary Morely:

Cannot unsee!

Yeah. It's pretty much entered miniature lore as one of the worst executed models ever released. It's pretty dumb looking. Although it is one of my four liche giants along with the old Grenadier Lich Lord, Liche Giant and Grim Reaper Casting's Lich Lord.

Now, Nagash has been reanimated (see what I did there?) in a super cool format as part of a slew of new undead minis to support GW's "End Times" expansion. I don't give a flying fig about the lore. Neither do I care about the new rules that will undoubtedly force 12 year olds everywhere to switch to an undead army for official Warhammer^(tm) tournaments since I don't play Warhammer^(tm) anymore.

However, I am powerless to resist the lure of Nagash as a general for one of my legions - perhaps the entire legion. Ugh. I'm done for.

Werewoolf - Ancient Legion XXI Rapax Command

Ancient Legion XXI Rapax Command
Company: Werewoolf Miniatures
Part #:
Sculptor: Krzysztof Jonczyk (design), Marcin Szymanki (sculpt)
Released: 2013

The "Predator" legion raised by Augustus has returned! (Not in the best shape after their tangle with the Sarmatians). These marvelous designs show, once again, the sculpting artistry coming out of Poland these days. It seems the Polish have caught the fantasy war-gaming bug big time.

This pack of three resin figures represent a Roman legion command group. Perfect for my Roman skeleton legion. The designs are pretty sweet, with appropriate undead poses. They look suitably beaten up. The resin picks up the detail nicely. I like the fact that the Werewoolf has provided us with two different signifiers, either of which can be put on the standard; the (cool) bat sculpt or the (more historical) eagle sculpt.

I sincerely hope Werewoolf sculpts some generic legionnaires to go along with this command group because I could use some nice sculpts to fill out my centuries.

Alionas - Undead Legion Signifier

Undead Legion Signifier
Company: Alionas
Part #: 105-001-01
Sculptor:
Released:

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! A standard bearer for my Roman skeletal legion from the German company Alionas. Useful because if I get some more of these I can place a standard in each of my legion's centuries.

The design is pretty good. The sculpt for the skeleton is pretty standard. I like the lion cloak and the eagle standard.

All the Alionas stuff has been out a long time but I've just recently procured the Roman skeletons because I am filling out my legion.

I had to order him directly from Germany through the Alionas web-site, as I don't think they have an American distributor. That makes shipping pricey - one reason I've held off. Their web store is also a little weird, in that purchase is not immediate. The store emails the owners and they get back to you.

Alionas - Undead Legionarri

Undead Legionarri
Company: Alionas
Part #: 105-001-pilum
Sculptor:
Released:

A trio of 1st century AD skeleton Roman legionnaires from the German company Alionas. Good filler for my Roman skeleton legion. I like the design and the pose, engaging with the pila ready to fly. I fully intend to use the Roman pilum rules in Piquet: Archon whenever I get a chance to field these. I do wish there was more than one pose though.

Alionas - Skeletons

Skeletons
Company: Alionas
Part #: 105-002-Skel
Scultpor:
Released:

A trio of regular skeletons from the German company Alionas. They've been out a long time, but I only recently got around to picking them up because I decided to just go all out and pick up every Roman themed skeletal miniature to finish out my Legion.

They're supposed to represent Germanic barbarians, contra the company's skeleton Romans, but they could represent generic spearmen in any army.

They're ok, but nothing to write home about. A little to "cartoony" in their expression for my tastes, but certainly usable.

You Think Skeletons Are Slow?

Pictured: Sheer Badassery...

YEAH! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, BITCH?! THIS AIN'T NO ZOMBIE PARTY!

Take that weak ass "shuffling undead" shit back to AMC where it belongs.

You come to MY house? I'm gonna go Harryhausen all over your ass!

Rogue Necromancy - Wyrd Miniatures

Rogue Necromancy
Company: Wyrd Miniatures
Part #: WYR2050
Sculptor:
Released:

This is an interesting piece from Wyrd Miniatures for their Malifaux line of miniatures.  The Resurrectionists for Malifaux are definitely undead, but run the gamut from steampunk to Japanese mythology.  In fact, I am using some of the models for my samurai brigade.

I'm not sure why this figure is called "Rogue Necromancy".  What it is, in fact, is an undead chimera.  A monster from Greek mythology.  As such, it has a place in my Undead Acheans brigade.

The figure is a multi-part metal miniature, with the serpent and goat heads being separate, as well as one of the hind legs.  My original package mistakenly lacked the sprue with the hind leg.  An email to Wyrd miniatures was enough for them to kindly send me a new sprue at their own expense.

I haven't painted this up yet.  It will be a bit of a challenge as it requires some decent skill at blending.  But, after I get it put together and painted, it will look outstanding screening my skeletal hoplite phalanx!

Titan-Forge - Cryptstalk Boyz

Cryptstalk Boyz
Company: Titan-Forge
Part #:
Sculptor: Slawek
Released: 2013

I've put up some of Titan-Forge's stuff before.  What is there to say?  Skeleton orcs!  Armored and bad-ass.  I can't relate how grateful I am to Titan-Forge for doing a line of undead orcs and goblins.  I am now at the point where I might be able to field an entire brigade of undead green skins (green bones?)

Very nice sculpts.  The armor is suitably primitive and "orc-like".  Big chopping weapons.  They generally fit the GW orcish conception, which I generally deride as "cartoony" versus some of the hulking brutes like, say, Nick Lund orcs (the holotype orc as far as I'm concerned) or Rackham's versions.  But in a skeletal form, they are definitely cool, and very distinctive.

The set of five allows you to make five warriors, or three warriors, one standard bearer and one musician.  I have to buy another set so I can field all the variations.  Kudos all around!

Daemon Oxen

Realm - Daemon Oxen
Company: Realm Fantasy Warfare
Part #:
Sculptor: Serious Lemon
Released: TBD

These are not out yet, in fact, there aren't even greens for them. But I just put them up here because, you know, awesome. Undead samurai beastmen/minotaurs. I'm not sure if these are legitimate Japanese fantasy creatures, but they are definitely going into my undead samurai brigade when they drop.

Sculptor Serious Lemon (is that his birth name???) is producing some very nice samurai sculpts for his new wargame Realm Fantasy Warfare. If it looks anything like the art, I can't wait. Look at that guy up top.  His katana is sheathed - he's just charging your sorry ass!

Dark Hammer - Undead Samurai

Undead Samurai
Company: Dark Hammer Miniatures
Part #:
Sculptor: Johney
Released: 2013

OK.  Dark Hammer is a brand new company, which again, seems to be more of a boutique outfit than a company making whole lines of miniatures to fill out your armies. This piece, which comes in both 28mm and 54mm scales, is a limited run.  Supposedly, only 100 will be made.  That's a bit of a bummer and I hope that we will see more cast, and more undead designs from Dark Hammer in general.  So why did I immediately buy this piece when I saw it up on Tabletop Gaming News (other than the fact that at a 100 piece limit I thought it wise not to tarry)?

1. It's flippin' epic!  It's just a great sculpt that captures the weary despair of eternal undeath.  See how the samurai sags in the saddle?  The bowed head.  The weary pointing arm. The nagita hanging limply in the other hand. The armor is intricately and beautifully sculpted. The mount a perfect mixture bone and rotting flesh.  The tattered banner attached to the crooked back. Just a winning piece all around.
2. I'm in the middle of putting together an undead medieval samurai force (brigade, but may be able to expand into an army depending on how much Wyrd and Zenit eventually put out). So this piece was a natural fit. The thing I need most is undead samurai cavalry. I have several of the Clan Wars Lost Moto, but not yet enough for a unit. I might be able to fit this guy into that unit but it would be a stretch. They just look too different design wise. But he'd make a good hero, or even a brigade leader. His weary pointing stance pressing on his skeletal compatriots onward toward their objective.

Dark Hammer has some concept art up of a skeletal Egyptian chariot on its web page so hopefully we'll see that soon.

Of course, skeletal Egyptians are as common as dirt.  I myself have an entire army of nothing but skeletal Egyptians.  So, I'd much rather see their talents applied to making more undead samurai.  It seems to be a growing niche.

Death Knight
Company: Dark Sword Miniatures
Part #: DSM7527
Sculptor: Dave Summers
Released: April 2013

Dark Sword Miniatures is one of these boutique miniature outfits that produces a limited amount of figures.  However, they seem to have licensed the works of many famous D&D illustrators like Larry Elmore and bring figures from their paintings to life. They also have a license to produce works from George R.R. Martin - so anyone who want that Tyrion Lannister mini, look here.

DSM does have a few undead, which I still have to pick up including this awesome spectre. But I saw this figure yesterday on Tabletop Gaming News and figured I had to have it.

Basically, a skeletal demon (the wings give it away). I'll be adding it to my Undead Chaos force, in which I have a number of undead demons already in force from a variety of manufacturers.  The question for me is how to handle them in the Piquet context.  I have a good number of these types of skeletal demons/fallen angels, enough to make a unit.  I could never field them all individually.  So I'm thinking of collecting them into a unit of a dozen "lesser demons".  Give them "flight" and "Cause Terror" and send them off to the races.  Although I think a band of demons should somehow be able to use magic as well.

Titan-Forge - Zomblins

Zomblins
Company: Titan-Forge
Part #:
Sculptor: Slawek
Released: 2012

If there is one thing I wish we'd see more of, it's miniature companies making more demi-humans. I have thousands upon thousands of skeletal humans, but only a handful of skeeton orcs, goblins, dwarves, skaven, lizardmen or elves.  Especially elves! Jesus, can't we get some more undead elves other than the standard bearer from the Cursed Company and that one in the Otherworld Demi-Human pack???

Well here to fill the void is Polish company Titan-Forge, who ran a startlingly successful indiegogo campaign last year to fund their Drakskull's Menace line. When you look at the miniatures from Titan-Forge and Scibor, there is some seriously outstanding work coming out of Poland these days.

Now normally I don't do zombies (Nothing but bone! NOTHING BUT BONE!!!) but in this case, I'm making an exception. Not only do these miniatures fill a glaring gap in my Legion (undead goblins) but they are darn cool looking as well.  Not to mention fun to paint. So now I have a solid unit of undead gobbos to compliment my hodgepodge undead orc units. I'm taking the fight to my orcish rival! Beware Ork-boy!

Well it's been quite a while since I posted here.  Almost 2 years.  Here's the deal.  I've been in Afghanistan for a year, then I came back to N. America - but not to my home but rather my fiance's place in Toronto. And now I'm back in Afghanistan.  In no place have I been near my miniatures!

Well, for now, I'm going to just start logging my purchases, with explanations of what I plan to do with them once I get someplace where I can unpack all my stuff!

Grenadier - Undead Minotaur

Undead Minotaur
Company: Grenadier
Part #: Fantasy Lords 529
Scultpor: ??
Released: 1980's

Continuing with our theme of monsters for my Ancient Greek brigade here is an example of a Grenadier Fantasy Lords Undead Minotaur.

I picked this up on ebay fairly recently.  I actually had no idea this piece existed.  I'm not sure how I missed it.  It's possibly in some of my old Grenadier catalogs, but you would think I would have remembered this one.  In any case, it's always nice to be surprised with a new find.  As you can see, it's an ogre sized piece, similar to the Minotaur Lord previously highlighted in yesterday's post.

It's not a great sculpt and suffers from the monoplane problem so common to larger Grenadier figures from that time.  Essentially, the sculptor crafted him in a pose that is aligned along only one plane.  That makes him easier to cast, but much less dynamic.  On the other hand, he is purely skeletal.  More points in my book.

I took on this one as another brown wash project.  I applied Aged Bone to all the skeletal areas and washed it with my standard Shield Brown wash.  It hasn't turned out as well as it has on other figures, mostly because the detail is lacking the sculpt.  I do like how the marble column turned out, painted with Pure White, washed with a black ink.  It gives it the proper Hellenistic ruins look.

So, there we have my two minotaurs for the Ancient Greek brigade.  Up next... more monsters!

Citadel - Minotaur Lord

Minotaur Lord

Company: Citadel

Part #: 074640/4, 074640/5, 074640/6B

Sculptor: ??

Released: 1980’s

This is an old, OOP Citadel Minotaur Lord from GW.  Some of the old Minotaur Lords, including this one, came with variable legs, torsos and heads.  In true Chaos fashion one of the heads was skeletal.

For a while I had been looking for some monsters to fill out my Ancient Greek brigade.  Yes, when you play against me, the question is not, “what figures will he field?” but rather “which brigades is he going to field?” 

I have a bunch of generic/medieval fantasy type of brigades, but I also have some that run to various themes; a 1^st A.D. Imperial Roman skeleton brigade (a quincunx of infantry and supporting cavalry/artillery), a medieval samurai skeleton brigade, a New Kingdom Egyptian skeleton brigade (natch), a chaos skeleton brigade (chaos warriors, beastmen, demons), etc. etc.

One thing I’ve been putting together is an Ancient Greek skeleton brigade.  But instead of sticking to 5^th century B.C. types, I’ve also wanted to flesh it out fantasy-wise using figures from Greek mythology (cyclopi, Cerberus, centaurs, etc.) 

What other Greek fantasy monsters do I need?  Why, minotaurs of course!

The problem is, there are not that many good examples of skeletal or otherwise undead minotaurs.  I have one AD&D skeleton minotaur from Wizards of the Coast that is pretty lame.  Another pre-painted AD&D plastic which is even worse.  And a smallish Chainmail zombie minotaur not much better.  I have a Ral Partha one that has an, of all things, Egyptian theme.  But really big, ogre size minotaurs, not so much.  And I figure a minotaur, even if not a giant, has to be at least ogre size.

I found this on ebay.  It’s a pretty big size mounted on a 40mm base.  Even though I had collected all the Citadel skeletons from this era, I had skipped this piece because, well, the skeleton part is kind of an afterthought.  It’s more a creature of chaos.  But, given I’m looking for such a minotaur to field with the Ancient Greeks, he’ll do.  He can definitely pass as an undead in any case.

He came already painted, rather badly at that.  The flesh was painted a horrendous orange and the bone was splashed on.  I immediately rebased all the relevant parts with black primer.  I decided to leave the clothing the way it was, but may in the future come back to it.

After I primed the flesh and bone black, I dry brushed the flesh bits with Ghoul Skin to give him that rotting zombie look.  This sculpt is not one of Citadel’s best, but there is some neat detail in the flesh around the eyes that the dry brushing picked up.  I then painted the bone directly onto the skull.  It’s naked with no wash.  I like how it looks, but I might revisit it later on.

Unfortunately the axe that he originally wielded is missing so I'll have to replace that later.  But for now, he is ready to roll with my skeleton hoplite phalanx.