Friday 23 September 2022

28mm Fantasy - Undead Hoards - Skeletons

For reason still as yet clear to me after a short conversation with my eldest teenage son I began painting my massed skeleton (from various manufacturers) collection (see below, HeroQuest [top left], Warlord Games [top right down to bottom], Wargames Atlantic [middle left down to bottom] and there was even some Games Workshop lingering around off camera): 


My colour palette (see below, Army Painter Grey Spray Primer plus the paints shown - Citadel Base Corax White (which I think is a lovely grey), Citadel Contrast Skeletal Horde, Vallejo Game Bonewhite and Vallejo Game Dead White): 


Corax White (see below, looking white, but a grey white to my eyes, perhaps it is the primer coming through - but as a base paint it is rally rich in pigment): 


Skeletal Horde with the Bonewhite highlight (see below, I must confess to using it more as an all over wash than a selective paint so perhaps I am missing a trick here, still I like the end result):  


Dead White ultra-highlight (see below, trying "not to do too much" with a dab, giving a fine-lining highlight effect - which I find the hardest part, just to put enough on and no more): 


Thank is the bulk of the figure done, just a bit of work to do on the weapons and shields. The aim is to produce a suitably rusty grimy effect .. watch this space ;)  

Update (3/10/2022): Swap out Vallejo Game Dead White for the less bright Vallejo Game Off White, the less intense colour works better for the highlight IMHO. 

4 comments:

John Y said...

Perhaps it's just because I watched Jason and the Argonauts too many times (not possible) but I will always a love animated skeletons. Looking forward to seeing the shields and weapons done up!

Independentwargamesgroup said...

They are very nice, but Ive found if you buy the Contrast wash for white/skeletons it give a really good finish, especially if you water down the tone a bit.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Cheers John Y, likewise it is a labour of undead love for those nostalgic days of Jason ;)

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

IWG thanks for the tip .. I am struggling with my application of Contrast paints and trying to think of them as not "just washes" .. my mixed mode of remembering old GW/Foundry the three layer technique (Shade-base-highlight) and using Contrasts between shade and base is probably counter productive (painting the same area twice). Pure contrast paints definitely have the advantage of reducing the numbers of layers of paint you need to put on a model and these days that really makes a difference!