Tomb Kings Project Queue (June 2026)

I've been participating in an Old World map campaign with my Tomb Kings, so that's where most of my hobby time has been focused lately. I have a lot of projects on my painting table, and while one of them are quite finished yet, they are getting close... 

 

 

Liche Priest
 

The campaign is the one from the 6th Edition General's Compendium, and we are playing with 1500 point armies. Occasionally, supporting armies can bring the game size up to 1650 or even 1800 points. In smaller games, I struggle to fit in all the characters I want, so I haven't been motivated to finish this guy. He's further along than pictured here– Primed and sprayed a base color, with all of the sand finished. 

 

 

Spell Effects
 

As I've indicated many times before, I prefer to use modeled counters to represent spell effects rather than immersion-breaking tokens or cards. These are a few of my go-to spells that need something to indicate that they were successfully cast. First up is Glittering Robe, a defensive spell that makes it difficult to hit the caster or any unit he's joined. I decided to represent this with the veil from the Nighthaunt's Lady Olynder.

 

 

I used a large washer as the base, with the veil inverted to create an ethereal shroud that obscures the liche priest. The center of the washer was filled with Aves Apoxie Sculpt and I put a magnet in the bottom so I could stick it in my carrying case.

 

 

Another spell (technically an incantation) that accompanies any army with the Screaming Skull Catapult is the Scroll of Righteous Smiting. This spell remains in play until dispelled, and while it is active any war machine in range can re-roll either its artillery or scatter dice each turn. This has been invaluable, allowing me to score direct hits and avoid misfires with the catapult.
 

For this counter, I used the large scroll that came in the Liche Priest kit. I cut up some scraps of the thin sheet sheet metal I make my movement trays out of. These were trimmed and bent to serve as the foundation for sand trails cascading down from the floating scroll.

 

 

The base was sandwiched around the scroll to hold it securely, and more strips wee glued underneath.

 

 

I thickened up the metal strips with some modeling putty to give them a little more form.

 

 

Like the veil, the scroll was mounted on a large washer, and then a mix of fine and coarse ballast was added to both.

 

 

Another staple in my magical arsenal is Djaf's Cursed Blades. This simple spell allows me to re-roll any to Hit Rolls of 1, which often allows me to add another hit or two to my archers' fire. To represent the blades, I had the idea to make swords thrusting out of the sand. For the blades, I used the new Deathrattle Skeleton swords, and I cut a sand trail for each one out of thin styrene.

 

 

The styrene was then covered with ballast to create the sandy trail behind each blade.

 

 

The blades were then glued onto a coin, and more sand added to the base.

 

 

As for the painting, I still haven't settled on a good "magic" color for the spell effects. I might try glowing runes on the scroll... 

 

 

...and for the cursed blades, I am planning to paint them glowing red-hot like I did with the Quicksilver Swords endless spell.

 

 

Skull Brigade, 2nd Regiment
 

I have also come to the realization that I need more infantry to soak up wounds, so I've begun another skeleton regiment. I have a unit of Tomb Guard, but they are more than twice the cost of a skeleton. I assembled these thirty over the course of two weeks. They are primed and ready for paint.

 

 

Casket of Souls
 

Man, I have been sleeping on this thing! I've been struggling to successfully (and consistently) cast my spells, and this thing grants +1 to casting rolls for friendly wizards, and even gives bound spells +1 to their casting rolls! So, I'm dropping everything to get one of these in my army as soon as possible. I've had this metal casket stashed away since 2004, and a ton of the guardian models that I've been using to convert my skeletons– Speaking of which, since the skeletons use some of the casket guardian parts, I need to make my guardians more impressive. I'll probably use Tomb Guard for them, with some kind of converted great weapon.

 

 

For the base, I've put together four 40mm bases, mounted on a sheet of thin black styrene. I puttied the gaps between the bases, and added four magnets underneath. The excess card will be trimmed and the edges sanded smooth.

 

 

I've been working on these projects while posting the Danger Room showcase; hopefully I'll have some finished miniatures to show off by the time I complete that series. (I need to get some more boxes checked off on my Wargame Bingo card, too!)

 
'Til next time!