Tag Archives: Undead

A poignant fan-sculpt

29 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by in AoS Undead, OldHammer

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Greetings Terrans, a bit of a strange post today – a sombre affair in many ways. As you probably know, I’ve been working my way through my existing mountain of minis over the last year or so, trying (and mostly succeeding) in not buying anything new… (or more importantly, in not buying any oldhammer goodies from ebay). Instead I have been picking things out to suit projects that have had me excited, or occasionally painting something I just fancied painting!

Last month, I found a gorgeous fan-sculpt of an undead version of Jes Goodwin’s famous Hrothyogg Ogre Captain from 1986, (itself inspired by a Blanche piece I think). Now I don’t recall the exact circumstances of me getting the undead version – I suspect it came up in the OldHammer group, but I confess, I don’t remember for sure… What I do know is that it screamed out to be painted & here’s the result:

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Now for the poignant bit. I went looking back through the story behind this mini, knowing that I would want to do a good job in this post. I learned that the guy who sculpted it was called Justin Coutange, and sadly, that he passed away back in 2019. It sounds like he was a similar age to me, and while I didn’t know him personally, he sounds like my kind of guy. It made painting this mini much more of a reflective experience than it usually is for me – enjoyable as a painting project, but more melancholic perhaps… it was an absolute privilege to paint.

There are some very nice words on Justin here if anyone wants to check it out.

Zombies of Karr-keel part 2

16 Tuesday Mar 2021

Posted by in AoS Undead

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Greetings Terrans, how goes it? Quick post today to share some incidental minis finished during my Fembruary efforts. You may remember this pair of female Zombies that I painted as part of the challenge:

Well, I couldn’t not paint the remainder of the set while I was at it, so here they are!

This is the second set of Karr-Keel zombies, (I painted the first set waaaay back in 2017), and like the first set, they were a joy to paint. The sculpting was done by none other than Kev Adams & the minis have all the humour & quirkiness you’d expect from the Goblin Master himself. I painted them in my usual non-fussy Zombie stylee – the minis are entirely done with washes, with the addition of some diluted Contrast paints here and there. I used base paints for the metals, and then technical paints were used for blood, gore, corrosion & Verdigris, and that’s about it! All in all, a very loose, quick and easy paint job, and all the more enjoyable for that.

Ok, so next up is a weird one – IRO has been asking people to post their favourite t-shirts in March… I think it’s creepy, but it’s IRO so whaddaya gonna do. Here’s my current ‘feeling crabby’ fave:

Aaaand that’s it for this post – the next one will be a similar affair with another February project expanded on, and maybe another t-shirt if the one I have in mind cycles through my pile of clothes.

Not-Gash!!

29 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in AoS Undead, OldHammer

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Happy Deadcember Terrans, I hope you all had a good festive occasion as per your chosen proclivities! I know I did – way too much food, family visits, barely any arguments, and some solid hobby time! I’ve been batch-painting Orks for my Wolf Time project, but I also had time to wrap something up for Deadcember – an Old Hammer Nagash tribute. Now, most Grogards of a certain vintage will hear the word ‘Nagash’, and will think of this guy…

Yes, it’s the (in)famously gash Gary Morley sculpt of the arch-necromancer – widely considered one of the worst GW minis of all time. There is a strange story behind this mini – after all, Gary is no slouch when it comes to sculpting! Apparently, this was Gary’s first big multi-part mini for GW, and he was very much left to wing it… His original version had a zombie-like face, but the design team didn’t like it & sent it back to Gary for revision. Gary claims he then submitted the clownish skull face as a deliberately shite alternative, figuring that the tight production deadlines would make his original (and better) version the obvious choice. Much to his horror, the design team went with the big ol’ skull face, and this became the definitive version of Nagash right up until his reincarnation as the towering plastic tour de force that is all the rage these day. This presents something of a problem for a dedicated lead-head like me – how to have a version of Nagash that had that Old Hammer vibe while avoiding the Morley debacle! First world problems, eh?

Anyway, imagine my delight when the eminently talented Geoff (Oakbound Studios) showed me his own re-imagined OH version of ‘Gash across a beer-soaked table at the last BOYL… I jumped at the chance to grab one of the very few examples that he had cast in lead, and made a mental note to save it for Deadcember. Well, Deadcember is upon us, and so here he is – the Oakbound Not-Gash version of Nagash:

I embellished the original slightly with the addition of some spooky skulls whooshing around the place, but other than that, this mini is as intended. I’m sure you’ll agree that it is a huge improvement on the Morley original.

Anyway, that’s about it for today – I’ll be back in the new year with the last of the Wolf Time Orks before starting on the Space Marines needed for the campaign. I’ll also be fitting in the odd bit of fantasy as and when – my rather excellent Brother-in-Lead Ross got me a copy of Dragon Rampant for Christmas, and I’m really looking forward to giving it a whirl! Until then, I wish you all a Happy New Year!