Ghouls Gone Wild

In this post, I finally get around to updating my Crypt Ghouls for the Old World...

 

I've had the same 40-man unit of ghouls for ages. They are on 20mm bases, which prevents me from properly fielding them in a skirmish formation in The Old World, and instead limits me to fielding them as ranked open order unit in a spacer movement tray. I don't want to re-base them, and I have a bag of 40 classic metal ghouls that I've been sitting on for ages, hoping to some day convert them into ghouls worthy of fighting alongside Marduk the Ghoul King.

 

These are the 5th/ 6th Edition metal ghouls, released around 1999 or so. I really like these models. They have a nice variety of poses, and their thin arms allow you to bend them a bit to vary their stances a bit. I also collected a bunch of accessories from the old plastic Kroot Warriors, Chaos Marauders, and Ogre Kingdoms boxes– lots of knives, pouches, cloaks, and bits of hanging meat. My plan is to convert the ghouls with the accessories and sculpted fur cloaks to tie them in with Marduk's wolf theme. I also want to update their skin tone because the old "pink" ghouls really aren't doing it for me anymore.

Something else that I've started considering is my army's ability to handle battlefield scenarios, namely the Lonely Tower Command and Control scenario. The objective of that battle is to control a tower in the center of the table with a unit of infantry that has a unit strength of 10 or less. So far, every time I've encountered that scenario, I haven't had any 10-man units in my army, leaving me to capture it with a single character late in the game.

I've decided that I should start including a small unit in case that scenario pops up, and a 10-man unit of Crypt Ghouls is ideal because they cost less than 100 points and with their two poisoned attacks and high toughness, they should do okay fighting in the enclosed space.

 

 

After selecting ten models from the batch, I cleaned them up and converted a test model: 

 

 

...and he's just not quite working for me. It looks okay, but just feels a bit "off." The arms bug me because if they are bent at all, the elbow loses its "point." Even though the model is tall enough, the weapon and meat accessories feel a little big on him, or don't get a good "hang" from the belt. And the fur pelt isn't really framing his head and shoulders the way I want.

I've had my eye on the Flesh-eater Courts Cryptguard, so it's time to check them out.

 

 

The models and weapons look good, much better than the regular plastic Crypt Ghoul kit. The only issue I'm finding with it is the heads– The facial features are a little small compared to the ghouls, so I think I'll use the older heads instead.

 

 

To add a little more realism to the wolf pelts, I've made a quick press mold of the feet on the old Space Wolf torso.

 

 

Once the putty cures and the edges are cleaned up, the wolf feet are pretty serviceable.

 

 

Here's one of the Cryptguard with the feet glued to his back. Theback hair on these is much better and looks lore realistic than the hair on the back of the Crypt Ghouls, and I can incorporate it into the sculpting of the wolf pelt.

 

 

For the pelt, I just add some putty on either side of the back for, and then use a sharp sculpting tool to shape the fur and blend it into the wolf feet. I also use sharp tweezers to pull some of the hair up, matching the spiky points of the plastic back hair on the ghoul. The overall effect is to create a very shaggy and ragged cloak of wolf fur.

 

 

Once the putty has cured. I add the heads and accessories, and they are done! I think the hand weapons and bits of armor also help "accessorize" the figures, so I don't need to get as carried away with the belt accessories.

 

 

Finishing these two test models has also solidified exactly what was wrong with the first model: The metal ghouls aren't hunched over enough. My Ghoul King and the Cryptguard are really bent over, and that allows their fur cloaks to be piled up on their backs, creating a "fur halo" around their heads.

 

 

Going forward, I guess I'll be using the plastic models because I think they look great alongside Marduk and really match his feral vibe. I'm looking forward to finishing the first batch of ten and getting them painted.

 

 

'Til next time!