Sunday, October 13, 2019

Zomtober 2019 Week 2 With Poison Ivy


No, not the Batman villain. I actually got poison ivy last week - and to make matters worse I actually got it around my left eye and it swelled up something fierce! Living on the farm getting poison ivy is nothing new for me, I'm good to get it several times a year and as annoying as it is I can usually power through it without seeking medical attention, but this time, not so much. It took me out of commission for quite a while and obviously made it difficult to get anything done this week for Zomtober, but I did manage to sneak a few completed models in at the last minute.


Anyone who has followed the blog for a while knows that I'm not a big fan of multipart plastic models - especially the WWII ones where trying to glue weapons into hands and arms is enough to make me bang my head against the nearest wall. But the Mantic zombie models for Kings of War are really nice and have some really incredible poses - much more aggressive than any of the undead you'll find in Mantic's The Walking Dead game so that's what I decided to give a go for this week.


The one thing I think I finally figured out is an undead skin tone. I have struggled with this from the very first time I tried to paint undead and have been trying all kinds of different recipes over the years with varying degrees of success, but I think I finally have a winner. The models are primed with the new Games Workshop Grey Seer, then I used Vallejo's Pale Grey Blue to paint all the skin.


I then washed the skin with Army Painters Green Tone Quickshade wash and that made all the difference in my eye (the one that was working at least lol!). I decided to not go all blood and gore on these models as I feel less is more with these types of undead figures.


I did a couple of other figures really quickly using some contrast paints since I only had a few models completed. First was this monk from Effin Cool Minis through their last Kickstarter.


I have 9 more completed but still need to get them based. The red contrast paint made them paint up really easily. I also have some really fun terrain pieces to go with the set that I hope to get completed in the near future.


When I first saw these monk figures it reminded me of what was my piece de resistance of my teenage Dungeons and Dragons years and the adventure 'Master of the Desert Nomads'. The last part of the adventure took place in this monastery high up in the mountains where this group of monks offer help, food, and shelter to the party but when night time comes they change into their true forms - sort of like vampire/undead creatures, making the adventuring party their targets. It made for an absolutely incredible gaming experience and was just the perfect ending to what was already an incredible adventure.


So that's what I was trying to accomplish with these models, and why the undead have red clothing - the monk models would represent the day time and the creepy undead models would represent the night time versions. So ideally I'd like to complete 7 more of the Mantic zombies, which will give me equal numbers for the day and night monks.


Something I would really love to try to do is to run that adventure again. I've subtlety been dropping hints to my son to see if there is any interest from him about playing, and now that I belong to an actual gaming club, who knows, maybe that could be a possibility. But ultimately I'd love to use my much improved terrain building skills and all the models I have to just build the monastery in 28mm. It is something that I've thought about for a long time now, and something that could be pretty impressive visually I think - and could even be used for other types of games, pulp or spy-fi for instance. We shall see :)


And finally just for fun, and since it's October, I painted up the Mummy from Crooked Dice's Pulp Kickstarter. This is a fantastic model and with the contrast paint took no time at all to complete.

Until next time, when hopefully both my eyes will be fully functioning, thanks for looking!
Ivor

28 comments:

  1. That's a cracking group, but sorry to hear about the Ivy! Hope all is on the mend.

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    1. Thanks Rob! Yeah I think I finally found the magic recipe 😀

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  3. The mummy skin, what color is it, it looks brownish.

    I hope you have gotten better and that Poison Ivy is not an big issue, and if it had been Batman Poison Ivy you would just have to activate the batsignal and hopefully Poison Ivy would be gone :)

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    1. Lol! I like that thought process 🤣 The Mummy was primed with the contrast Grey Seer spray and then I used the Apothecary White contrast paint. I did a dry brush with some Vallejo Stencil from the Panzer Aces line. All combined it gave the model a really nice look - which is quite unusual for me lol!

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  4. The miniatures look wonderful. Sorry to hear about the poison Ivy - that sucks. I get exposed once or twice a year doing yard work but have managed to avoid getting any on my face. Thanks for demonstrating its a really bad idea!

    Be well

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    1. Much appreciated Miles! Yeah, incredibly bad idea lol This was my first experience with it on my face and it was absolutely awful!

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  5. A great 'last minute' effort considering yout afflition!
    I do like the matic zeds/ghouls, robably the best plastics around and like you I consider them better than their more recent efforts.
    The monk and his clones look ecellent and the contrrast paint Seems to work very well, but I'm still a bit reticent on using them. The mummy looks huge and imposing - great sculpt.

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    1. Cheers Joe! Agreed 100% on the Mantic zombies/ghouls 🙂 The contrast red is pretty amazing stuff, definitely recommended if your looking to paint a lot of models quickly in that particular color. Crooked Dice are probably my favorite metal figure manufacturer, just amazing sculpts 😀

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  6. I think you've nailed the zombie skin tone! Fantastic work on them! Your the 2nd person this year whom I've seen doing the Mantic Zombies! They are really drawing my interest & I may need to snag some of these soon!

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    1. Thanks Terry, I'm actually really happy with it! Highly recommend the Mantic zombies, they are pretty affordable too if I remember correctly.

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  7. Build a 28mm monastery he says sure it won't take any time at all, well Ivor its like they say think big or go home :) nice work on the models.

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    1. Lol! You know it Frank, always THINK big even if nothing ever comes of it is my motto lol 🤣 🤣

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  8. Nice paint jobs, the contrast red is very good.

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    1. Cheers George! Agreed, the red is probably my favorite of the lot so far.

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  9. Great job despite being last minute. Good looking miniatures there. As a player I would know to never trust monks in red robes. Red robes always equals evil. 😀
    I hope you continue to recover from the poison ivy.

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    1. Much appreciated Stew! Red always does equate to a bit of evil doesn't it 😀

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  10. Ouch hope you have a speedy recovery! I had It on my arms once when me and my dad cleared a patch in their garden. The zombies and ancient evil look great together. Reminds me i want to get some Mantic Ghouls. I had forgot how good the Zombies set looks so good.

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    1. Almost back to 100% now 😃
      Much appreciated! Really like the poses and look of the Mantic zombies, definitely need to get your hands on some.

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  11. Great stuff. It's really satisfying to settle on a zombie flesh recipe you're happy with. It really speeds things up.

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    1. Cheers Kieron! Agreed, finally think that I've cracked the code 😃

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  12. Red cloaks became synonymous with evil in our rpg's as well! Even to this day the players question whether they should trust an npc in a red cloak. 😊

    Lovely stuff mate. One of those monks could even be a nice Mumra the Everliving from Thundercats.

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    1. Thanks Dai! Probably a wise choice on not trusting anyone in a red cloak lol! Good call on Mumra 😀

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