Mustering the Troops

I'm finally getting around to painting the Cursed City skeletons and zombies.

Last time, I talked about the assembly and conversion of the skeletons. This week, I painted a pair of test models to see how the color scheme would look, and how complicated it would be to paint all those roots and grave markers the zombies are lugging around.

The Skeleton was pretty straightforward, and came together in about five steps: The base and bones (including the shield icon); the red robes and shield; the leather straps and wood; base rims and grass; then matte spray and paint the metal bits. That's very easily manageable if I paint one step across a batch of 10 or 20 models at a time.

 

 

I stuck with my traditional blood red robes. I used Formula P3 Sanguine Base, and Army Painter Pure Red. The color is mainly Sanguine Base with a bit of black to darken it in the shadows, and Pure Red to brighten it on the highlights, but never taking it all the way up to straight red.

 

 

I painted the shield rim with gold and gave it a patina with Coelia Greenshade and Nihilakh Oxide. These are going to be Vampire Queen Olivia's skeletons, so the green helps tie into the greenish shade of her gown and the other ethereal elements. 

 

 

Painting the zombie wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I painted the skin with Army Painter Necrotic Flesh, and shaded it with Aggaros Dunes Contrast paint. That took care of the majority of the flesh, and I just drybrushed up some highlights and added a bit of brown ink and Agrax Earthshade in the deeper recesses.

 

 

The roots were a little noodly, but I made quick work of them by basecoating them with P3 Bastion Grey, drybrushing with a bit of Screaming Skull, and then shading them all with Agrax Earthshade. In fact, that's how I painted all the wood, simply adding a bit of Tau XV-88 brown into the mix for the wooden grave marker and stake.

 

 

The grave included a bouquet of roses as part of the sculpt. I've never been a fan of "sculpted" vegetation, so I covered them with some Silflor leaf foliage. 

 

 

While I was working on these two, also I finished the robes and bases for my Wight Queens. 

 

 

I'm really looking forward to painting up the rest of this batch of models. I think I need to get back on a #HobbyStreak to maintain some consistent progress.

'Til next time!