Night Haunts

Yeesh. What do I need ethereals for???

More bone! More bone!

Seems Legit

Recent Haul - TMS 9th Legion Archers

9th Legion Archers
Tabletop Miniature Solutions


Continuing the review of my recent haul we have a blister of three Imperial Roman auxiliary archers from TMS. The bodies are the same as the other 9th Legion infantry, with bow arm, quiver, shooting arm as well as standard, musician and centurion head options.


These resin casts are nicely detailed with little in the way of flash or other things I'll need to clean up. I like the sculpts in general, although I can see why some people think they are a little too chunkily proportioned for skeletons.


These guys will serve in my Undead Imperial Roman Legion in one of the auxiliary units. During the Republican period and the early Empire, the actual legionaries were rarely, if ever armed with missile weapons. The Roman legion evolved as an almost pure infantry melee force. Cavalry and missile troops were supplied by allies who had more historical skill in those areas. In the early Empire they were organized as auxiliary units to the legions.


Auxilia were formed from non-citizen allies or provincials and could gain citizenship after 25 years of service in the military. Many fought alongside the legions and were armed and armoured in a similar fashion, the exception being that they carried large oval shields instead of the square scutum of the legions. Almost all imperial archers and cavalry were auxilia. Archers were originally recruited from Crete in the Republican era, with recruitment expanding to the eastern provinces such as Syria where the native skill with a bow was valued.


What's interesting, and quite frankly frustrating for me as a war gamer, is that we basically have no idea how the Roman military actually used their archers. We know they had them from surviving personnel records and archers appear in artwork from the period like Trajan's column. But the histories we have do not talk about archers in accounts of Roman battles and we have no surviving military manuals.


There are several ways you can use archers. You can use them as light skirmishing troops that screen your main infantry and harass the enemy. You can mass them in units on your flanks and use direct fire to keep the enemy from trying to wrap around, or you can mass them in units behind you and have them use indirect fire to volley arrows over your infantry.


But just what path the Romans took is unknown. Lost to history like just exactly how they were able to constantly retire and refresh their front line infantry.

Recent Haul - Lesser Demon

Death
Black Sun Miniatures
by David Ayral


Continuing the review of my recent haul.


This is "Death" from Black Sun Miniatures. A pretty standard winged grim reaper, he'll be rounding out the 2nd band of lesser demons in my undead Chaos Horde. He's got the book. He's got the hourglass. I really like his wings. The skeletal structure is nicely appointed with shreds of hanging flesh. I really do like resin as a medium over metal. You can get finer detail and it's way easier to work with.

Recent Haul - Kentauroi

Malifaux Kentauroi
Wyrd Games


Continuing the survey of my recent haul we have these "Kentauroi" from Wyrd Miniatures for their game Malifaux.


In terms of the Malifaux lore, these are technically constructs, as they have been created by the Resurrectionist Guild from the corpses of both humans and horses, instead of being a reanimated true centaur.


But, I don't play Malifaux so - they can go suck it! These guys will take their place in my undead Classical Greek army as part of my growing undead centaur herd. I remember back in the early 90's, when I would have given my left arm for some of the few undead centaur models out there. This was 1990-1993. There was no internet. We had to find out what miniatures were out there by looking through paper catalogues! And there was no ebay either. If you missed something, it was gone. I so desperately wanted those Grenadier skeleton centaurs that I saw in the catalogues, but they went out of print in the early 90's and I couldn't get them. The horror!


You kids don't know how good you have it. Now, I'm up to my ears in undead centaurs. Grenadier, Ral Partha, Rackham, Dark Horse, Die Hard, Dead Bard...


In any case, I may not play Malifaux, but Wyrd does a good job of scratching my various itches. These centaurs are sculpted in dynamic poses and are well detailed for a set of plastics. And they've got a very "wild" feel to them that makes them look like they've galloped down from the Thracian hills!

 

Recent Haul - Death Tyrant (Undead Beholder)

Death Tyrant
by Jax Miniatures


Continuing the survey of my recent haul we have this "Death Tyrant", which is an undead beholder.


This model is somewhat unique in that it isn't actually cast in metal or resin, but rather is my first example of a 3D printed mini. I ordered it off of the Jax Miniatures on Shapeways.


I'm very excited about 3D printing and think it's definitely that way of the future in table top war gaming. Instead of having to spend hundreds of dollars on figures, you'll pay $20 for a set of .stl files and have them printed out. At the moment, 3D printing is good for larger figures like this. The sculpt is interesting and is fairly detailed. You may notice the surface is a bit rough. That's the nature of the material the model is printed in. It's the "strong and flexible" type of material. Other materials are smoother and pick up more detail such as "Ultra-detail Frosted", but they are consequently more expensive. In the coming years expect prices to drop.


One good thing about 3D printed figures is changing the scale is a snap! This figure is the "medium" size as opposed to "large".

The Death Tyrant is essentially a skeletal beholder - one of the most iconic D&D creatures. Powerful and terrifying, he's going to fit right into my Undead Chaos Horde with my two other examples of undead beholder-kind.

 Wizards of the Coast D&D Unhallowed #31: Beholder Lich

Magnificent Egos: Oculus, The Rotten Eye

Recent Haul - Undead Minotaur

More miniatures from my recent haul

Undead Minotaur
Bear's Head Miniatures

I funded Phillip's "March of the Dead" Kickstarter last year and now the fruits of that investment have paid off!

This is an undead minotaur to add to my undead 5th century BCE classical Greek army. Suitably ogre-ish in size (about 45mm), he's got the classic two handed axe. A little bit of flash on the loincloth, horns and axe-head - but very well cast overall. An outstanding sculpt overall. Again, I prefer more bone, but Phillip does the taut. pulled flesh so well it's difficult to want something else.

Recent Haul - Zombie Ogre

Due to the nature of my work, I am overseas most of the time. This seriously cuts into my painting, modelling time - not to mention actually playing any games.

Another issue is that I continue to collect miniatures for my undead armies, but I can't have them sent to Ukraine because a) it is impossible because I am behind the line of contact in the non-government controlled areas, b) it would be outrageously expensive and c) I have always to keep in mind that the amount of stuff I can collect is limited to what I can carry in two suitcases and a backpack.

Back in the day, when I was working in Iraq and could use the army post office (APO) - I could ship stuff back and forth relatively easily. No more.

So I order things online and when I get back home on leave - I have a big pile of miniatures to open and catalog.

So I've been on leave and am now posting my recent haul. It's like Christmas!

Zombie Ogre

Bear's Head Miniatures

This is a zombie ogre from Bear's Head Miniatures, a small, independent company run by the fabulous Phillip Hynes. His sculpting work is excellent, especially when it comes to horses and drapery. This model fills a gap in the undead world. As I've noted before, undead ogres are oddly under-represented in the miniature market.

This is a solid model. Very zombie-ish (I prefer more skeletal), but I love the ball and chain. There's a little bit of flash that needs to be cut away from between his legs, but otherwise, he's ready for priming and painting. Will go nice with my other undead ogres for use in my medieval European or Chaos armies.

Worlds Collide!

Holy mother-forking shirt balls!

My two favorite aspects of geek: dinosaurs and the undead. Mashed up together!

A zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex from Gale Force 9 for its Tomb of Annihilation miniatures.

Oh man, my undead Lizardman brigade just got stepped up to the next level.

Recent Purchase - KT-009 Skeleton Warrior Iron Rust Edition

In the mail, all the way from the land of atomic breathing lizards and giant flying reptiles, the Skeleton Warrior (Iron Rust Edition).


Again, not a miniature per se, but a display model that the Japanese love so much. At about 150mm tall, however, he's a great addition to my undead Sengoku Period army as a Gashadokuro - a skeletal giant from Japanese mythology. With some creative basing work, he should be looking like he could take on Godzilla himself!

Recent Purchase - Boss Fight Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S.

Just recently purchased two figures from the Boss Fight Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. line. One Skeleton Warrior and one combination set of a standard Skeleton and Aged Steel Accessory Pack B.



These aren't miniatures per se, but rather a line of highly customizable action figures. But at just under 100mm tall, with a little painting, they will make excellent giant hoplites to fight in my undead Classical Greek army. My skeletal titan from Ral Partha needed some company and I stumbled across these while doing a google image search for undead hoplites. (I always like to browse google images to see when something new pops up). So now I have two units of giants - one of giant Cyclopes and one of human hoplites. More flexibility!



These figures are highly customizable and I love the armour available, especially the Athenian helm with the transverse crest. It will look excellent painted in bronze and washed to achieve the verdigris effect.



WIP - Skeleton Snake Men

Doing some work on these wonderful skeleton snake men sculpted by Tim Prow from Die Hard Miniatures. They produce four separate snake men, which will eventually appear in my undead lizard man contingent, but because I can't stay away from my armies of antiquity - I got a few extra to convert into figures for my undead Classical Greek army, starting with an undead Cecrops I.

Here are the individual figs out of the pack:

After zenithal priming:

Basecoated in Thar Brown and Decayed Metal by Scale Colour:

Bone parts washed with GW's Agrax Earthshade:

Verdigris effect created using GW's Nihilakh Oxide technical paint. I love that stuff!

And here is the progression of Cecrops I. Cecrops was the mythical first king of Athens who is portrayed as half man and half snake. This is a simple head swap using the helmed skull from the (recently defunct) Spartan Games Heroes of Myth & Legend Skeletons. It was fortuitous that I had some extra blisters of these skeletons, because the snake men are ogre sized and a 28mm skull is too small, while a 54mm skull is too big. The Spartan Games minis were in an unusual 40mm size - which actually made a perfect match with the snake men!