Painting: Kings of War - Undead: Balefire Catapult

So this post was a little delayed by illness and various other duties. Ever onward, but first a thought that crossed my mind the other day when trying to paint this model.

Painting a miniature is, in most cases, a work of art and you need to be in the right frame of mind to be able to produce art. Occasionally when I have been lacking in motivation I pick up a brush and just start which resolves that; the same cannot be said for painting when in a bad mood. I tried to paint to alleviate the mood I was in but I just made mistakes and more I made the worse my mood got so lesson learnt (after all the years of being in the hobby I really should know better). Just thought I share that

No on with the final part of my Mhorgoth Starter: the Balefire Catapult.

As ever most of the paints used are from the Vallejo Game colour range unless otherwise stated.

I undercoated with Halfords Black primer (Other primers are available), and then lightly applied Bonewhite (72.034) to the bones of the crew and the skull in the catapult.

Next was several coats of Escorpena Green (72.032)

Then was the metals: For the spikes, armour, weapons and crank of the catapult I applied Citadel Foundation: Macharius solar orange then followed this up with drybrushing Chainmail silver (72.053) over the top. The plates, bolts and other metal items where painted with Bright Bronze (72.057) then watered down Foul Green (72.025) was applied to give it a galvanised look. This all done in a "slap-dash" kind of way, creating quite a mess.

Next was the boots, straps and that strange thing on the front of the catapult which I've never seen before on any other catapult but an internet search of the balefire showed it painted leathery so I applied Beasty Brown (72.043) followed by Leather Brown (72.040).

The I painted the rope with Plague Brown (72.039). I also pained up some areas that were missed the stage before

Next was the tidy up stage. as mention above I was a little slap dash so it was needed and took a little time, mainly using Abaddon Black (GW). After which I applied Army Painter Dark Tone all over.

For the final stage I drybrushed the bone and black areas with Dead White (72.001), the cloth/Shields with Livery Green (72.033) the rope with Bonewhite (72.034), and the leather with Plague Brown. (72.039). Finally, for the painting stage, I added a coat of Matt Varnish (70.520).

Next I painted the bases with Charred Brown (72.045), then drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), then Bone White (72.034) and added static grass. Followed by glueing the catapult onto two 25mmx50mm cavalry bases to make a 50mmx50mm base.

With my catapult done the Mhorgoth starter set is complete including some giant undead rats (or are they dogs). I now have an undead starter to work through as well as some other models to add to my army. So I'll either be working on them next or one of my many other projects.

Painting: Kings of War - Undead: Revenants

Edging ever closer to completing my Mhorgoth Starter set this week I have painted up my 20 Revenants.

I have to admit that I didn't like these models at first; I felt they were too thin and flimsy looking for well armoured warriors, and then there's the positioning! their feet are facing forward but the head to the side, so which way do I rank them??!

This aside I started painting them out of completion sake and I now love them! (amazing what a lick of paint can do), so onwards.

As ever most of the paints used are from the Vallejo Game colour range unless otherwise stated.

Now despite my comment in my Skeletons post I still undercoated in black. I did this as there is more armour (and black is a great basecoat) so I thought it would be more fitting. I painted the bone with Bonewhite (72.034). I did a quick light,-almost-drybrush-fashion coat to bring out the bone, then followed this up with another coat applied directly to areas of bone.

Next I painted the cloth in Escorpena Green (72.032). As mentioned in my skeleton post the black undercoat meant that several coats were required.

I used my new rust technique on the armour and weapons, which is applying Citadel Foundation: Macharius solar orange then followed this up with drybrushing Chainmail silver (72.053) over the top.

Next I painted the boots, belts and horn with Beasty Brown (72.043) followed by Leather Brown (72.040) but only over the top of the belts and boots.

I applied Bright Bronze (72.057) to the metal around the horn and the metal parts on the banner, then applied watered down Foul Green (72.025) to give it a galvanised look in line with the rusting armour etc. Then I tidied up the models, before applying AP dark tone all over.

Once the Dark Tone was dry, I drybrushed the bone and black areas (weapon shafts/shields edges etc) with Dead White (72.001), the cloth with Livery Green (72.033), and the leather and the horn with Plague Brown (72.039). Finally, for the painting stage, I added a coat of Matt Varnish (70.520).

Next I painted the bases and (sand based edge) movement tray with Charred Brown (72.045), then drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), then Bone White (72.034) and added static grass.

I finish off by adding a flexi-metal sheet to the tray and flexi-magnetic squares to the bases.

Now I found these easier to paint than the skeletons; this could be because they have less to paint or because the skeletons prepared me. I'm just not sure, either way I enjoyed painting them.

Painting: Kings of War - Undead: Skeletons

This week I have been working on 20 Mantic Skeletons, now the thing about these models is that I wildly underestimated how long it would take to paint these.

After painting Ghouls and Zombies the skeletons have been a pain. This is due to at least two reasons:

1. The skeletons have more detail: armour, weapons, cloth, belts etc.  
2. I undercoated in black; which was incredibly stupid as I said in my zombie post that I didn't want to undercoat in black because it obscures detail, so lesson re-learnt (my next 20 will be in bone white or grey)

As with my Ghouls and Zombie I built the skeletons before reviewing them, but as I have another 40 pending I'll review them when I build them.

As ever most of the paints used are from the Vallejo Game colour range unless otherwise stated.


As mentioned in my opening statement I undercoated the skeletons in Halfords black primer. This stupid mistake was done in an attempt to bring out the bones when painted (leaving recesses etc) and give the armour/weapons a better look when metallic paint was applied (which as you'll see i didn't). I found it very difficult to see all the detail with this undercoat; now of course this could be the level of lighting I was using or a number of other variables - either way next time I'm using a different undercoat.

So following on my the undercoat I painted the bone with Bonewhite (72.034). I did a quick light,-almost-drybrush-fashion coat to bring out the bone, then followed this up with another coat applied directly to areas of bone.

Next I painted the cloth in Escorpena Green (72.032). Due to the black undercoat this needed three coats.

As these are skeleton warriors, the flesh removed from their bones after years in the ground, I thought the armour should be suitably rusty. Now not wanting to use my 4 stage technique mentioned in my ghoul post due to sheer amount of armour and weapons I had to think up a alternative scheme, and this can in the form of using Citadel Foundation: Macharius solar orange. I painted the areas that I wanted to look rusty with this, which, believe me the bright orange against the orange looks hideous. I then followed this up with drybrushing Chainmail silver (72.053) over the top. This suitable reduced the glare and I feel has given a decent rusting effect.

Next I painted the weapon shafts and half the shields in Abaddon Black (GW), this is better than the Vallejo black in the game colour set as it's not glossy. Then I painted the boots, belts and anything I considered to be leather in Beasty Brown (72.043)...

...and then painted Leather Brown (72.040) over the top

Tidy up stage: As you may have noticed from my other pictures above, the application of paint is a little slap-dash, with colours going all over the place; so this is where I paint over the mistakes on the cloth, both, rust etc to clean up the models. Next I painted the musicians bell Brassy Brass (72.058) and then I doused every thing in Army Painter: Dark Tone

Once dry I drybrushed the bone and black areas (weapon shafts/shields edegs etc) with Dead White (72.001), the cloth with Livery Green (72.033), and the leather with Plague Brown (72.039). Finally for the painting stage I added a coat of Matt Varnish (70.520)

Next I painted the bases and (sand based edge) movement tray with Charred Brown (72.045), then drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), then Bone White (72.034) and added static grass.

I finish off by adding a flexi-metal sheet to the tray and flexi-magnetic squares to the bases.

There all done, and despite them being a right plan I am extremely pleased with the end result, and I actually look forward to painting the other 40 I have.

Also yes I know there is a Revenant in the front rank pretending to be a Skeleton Warrior, I accidentally picked him up when I gathered up the skeletons for painting. That does mean there is a Skeleton in with my Revenant, which will result in a switch around when they are done.

Painting: Kings of War - Undead: Ghouls

So life is still a little hectic at the moment not helped by me spraining my ankle. Despite this I have been able to finish the 10 ghouls that came in the Mhorgoth Revenge box.

Now, much like the zombies (and everything else in that box set), I was way too excited and just built everything without going through my usual review process, so like my zombie post here is a quick run through of the models before I proceed to the painting of my ghouls

Packaging:

It was part of the Mhorgoth Revenge two player starter set, so was a good box with the miniatures nicely stacked inside

The Models

These models have a great level of detail.

The models are made of a strong plastic, which can make them slightly difficult to remove from the sprue. 

On the sprue there is a nice selection of heads, arms and some extras to add/convert the models.

Building the Models

The model range come in 3 parts: torso, legs and head, so are are easy and quick to build especially as the pieces fit together nicely.

Now I have encountered two issues when building these, one was converting a hand to the hand holding the cleaver/claw; it's just small and fiddly, resulting in concerns that it will fall off at a later date. My second issue is ranking them up, the arms are in such a way that it can be difficult to rank them up nicely to a bit of shuffling is required to allow this to fit correctly.

The was little to no excess plastic or mould lines.

So as mentioned these are easy to build, so quick as a flash 10 were built (which is good as I've got 30 more!)

So onto the painting: all paints listed are from the Vallejo game range unless otherwise stated:

I started with a grey undercoat in the form of Halford Grey Primer, then based with pva and sand.

Once the sand was dry I tided up the edge of the bases so they ranked up as best they can, then painted the flesh with Pale Flesh (72.003). I like the idea of Ghouls still having an element of being human yet being degenerate at the same time.

Then I painted the cloth in Escorpena Green (72.032), as mentioned in my zombie post this will be my army colours.

Next I painted the nails & spikes with Gunmetal (72.054) and barbs/other spikes with Bonewhite (72.034)

I wanted to give the Ghouls weapons a rusted look so I used an old technique that once featured in an issue of White Dwarf (but adapted using Vallejo colours): Start with a basecoat of Dark Flesh (72.044)

Then dab on a light amount of Parasite Brown (72.044)

                         

Followed by a light dabbing of Orange Fire (72.008)

Then drybrush/highlight with Gun Metal (72.045), and there you have it, rusted weapons

Next I used Gory Red (72.011) around the nails/spikes/barbs etc to represent a soreness in the flesh and added it to the claw of the leader. Then painted the leader's hair Beasty Brown (72.043) and tidied up the flesh/cloth of all of them.

I added a liberal coat of Army Painter Dark Tone all over.

Then drybrushed the flesh with Bonewhite (72.034) and the cloth with Livery Green (72.033)

Next I painted the bases with Charred Brown (72.045), then drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), then Bone White (72.034) and added static grass. I finalised the painting by varnishing them all with Matt Varnish (72.520).

Once the varnished was dried I finished by adding a adhesive metal sheet to the movement tray and added magnets to there base. This allows them to be used for KoW as well as any other game that Ghouls feature in like the eagerly anticipated Dragons Rampant.

Once again I am pleased with the end result, I hope you found this helpful and in someway inspirational.

Next unit to paint will be my Skeletons...watch this blog.

Painting: Kings of War - Undead: Zombies

I've recently been working on a regiment of 15 Mantic zombies for my Kings of War Undead army and thought I would document it below.

As per my recent posts I'm all about getting multiple uses out of the same models, so although the title is Kings of War, these could of course be used for any zombie game.

Those of you that have read my blog before will know that I usually post up a "miniature" blog first where I review the building of the models; unfortunately I got a bit excited with these zombies (and all the undead I recently purchased) and built them before reviewing them so I'll do a quick review as part of this painting walkthrough.

Packaging:

It was part of the Mhorgoth Revenge two player starter set, so was a good box with the miniatures nicely stacked inside

The Models

These models have a great level of detail, and suitably gory.

The models are made of a strong plastic, which can make them slightly difficult to remove from the sprue. 

On the sprue there is a nice selection of heads, arms and some extras to bulk out the unit.

Building the Models

The model range from 3 parts to 4 parts, all are easy to put together and pieces fit together nicely. The only issue I experienced is the bodies rising out of the ground, where I couldn't get the torso so fit snugly.

The was little excess plastic or mould lines.

There we have it 15 zombies built in no time at all. Now onto painting them...

...it's worth noting that paints listed are from the Vallejo Game colour range unless otherwise stated...

As you can see I started with undercoating in Halfords Grey Primer: I decided to use grey as it's still dark but not too dark that detail is obscured.

Next I painted the areas of skin with Dead Flesh (72.035). Painting lightly over the areas in quick succession, in almost a drybrush fashion (but with more paint on the brush), this way holes, and creases were dark. I would recommend using an old brush as this process can ruin a brush. I would also advise to do 5 maximum at a time before cleaning the brush and continuing.

Once the flesh was dry I painted the cloth in Escorpena Green (72.032) .  I used this colour as I wanted something distinctive and I feel that Escorpena Green really jumps out. This is going to be my army colour

Next was one of my favourite stages; painting the wounds. Using Gory Red (72.011) I painted all the wide open wounds. I even painted over the bits of exposed bone and brain . This almost instantly adds depth and gives them a gory element.

Now I did learn a lesson when painting these: when squeezing a Vallejo paint pot, if the paint is coming out slowly don't keep squeezing instead stop and unplug the blockage otherwise the lid will pop off and red paint will explode everywhere, making your paint area and hands look like a scene from a horror film (quite apt considering the subject)

Although not clear in this picture, I painted the body parts that some zombies were carrying. Deciding to go with Pale Flesh (72.003) to give them a suitably drained look.

Using Bone white (72.034) I then picked out the teeth and all the areas of exposed bone, trying not to loose too much of red. 

Braaaaaaaaiiiiins! were painted with Squid Pink (72.013). From this picture you can see where I've picked out the exposed skull with the bone white as mention above.

Next I tidied up the models, going over any areas that needed it. Including painting the zombies hair Cold Grey (72.050) and adding Gory Red to the carried body parts.
Then onto my favourite stage; giving everything a covering with Army Painter Dark Tone.

Once the Dark Tone was dry I mixed 50% Dead Flesh with 50% Bone White and dry brushed the flesh areas, including the carried body parts. I feel this has added depth and really made the models "pop"
I also drybrushed the cloth with Livery Green (72.033) followed by varnishing the model using Matt Varnish (70.520)

Once the varnish had dried I covered the bases with sand which, once set, I painted with Charred Brown (72.045), then drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), then Bone White (72.034) and finally I added static grass.
I then did the same process for the movement tray.

Once the bases were dry I added a adhesive metal sheet to the movement tray and adhesive magnetic squares (cut to size) to the bases of the zombies. These have a strong magnetic bond so will allow the regiment to be stored with ease as well as helping with moving around the battlefield and by magnetising each model I can use these individually for other systems as mentioned at the start.


I'm rather pleased with the end result, and as this is my first undead unit, it sets the bar for the rest. I look forward to finishing the remaining 5 (built after I painted these using the spare legs and spinal columns, which goes against everything I believe for zombies that they need a brain to function, but makes the regiment upto 20 as required) and to fielding them very soon.

I hope you found this helpful and in someway inspirational.