Unfinished Necromancer Vampire Conversion

 I have a very rough conversion style.

This vampire is not quite done yet. I will post the final version too, but I did not want to miss the occasion. There is cleanup of greenstuff and seams to do, and maybe some more reinforcement. The rat is load-bearing.

That is all I have to say on the matter for now. It is my hope that some of the faults fade away once primed and painted. The true magic of conversion is when something like that happens. Before then however I must put in the work to make it so.

Happy Halloween!

Quilty, The Vampire Hunter

 This is Quilty. He fights the undead.

 He might look somewhat underequipped for the task at hand. That is the idea. It is both a constraint of his nonexistent resources and a tactic to trick creatures of the night into a sense of security. Not a false sense, but even the slightest bit of overconfidence helps. He might show up in the depth of a hive or in the dungeons of a castle. Quilty is quite a wandering soul.

 Quilty's body is from a Necromunda hive scum, with the sci-fi kneepads sanded off. The lantern is from a Black Templars kit, the hand from a zombie. The dagger is of Tempestus Scion make and his head and arms come from the Empire Handgunners kit. I removed his original chin and sculpted a new one. Quilty does not scream like his original head implied, he only whimpers a little. I built him in a very cautious pose. His lantern is held out in front of him, and he is taking great pains to conceal a dagger behind his back. The base he stands on is my first attempt at both stone and sculpting brickwork. I had fun doing it, but in the future I think I will use a different material. Greenstuff does not take kindly to becoming a base.

 He is my first attempt at a checkerboard pattern and at painting yellow. I think I came out of the affair better than expected, though the greenstuff seams of his arms could have done with some sculpting touch-ups. The lantern especially was a great challenge to work with. I started with the darker colours and then painted lighter ones in the bottom sections. I tried to make it so that the change in colour didn't always happen between the lantern slats to give it a more organic look, but the iron coating of the lantern covered much of that effort up.

Behind the scenes I have been continuing with the Afghans, I managed nine in only eleven days recently. I had hoped to get out another October themed figure for him to do battle with before Halloween. Perhaps I still shall, or at least finish and prime an assembly. After all, Quilty the Vampire Hunter needs vampires to hunt, or be hunted by.

Forgive my impertinence

I must announce with some regret that this week's post will be delayed slightly. This subject in question is ready and willing, but distinctly monotone and not in a pleasing way. I shall endeavour to post again as soon as I am finished.

Platoon Command Squad

 This is an Imperial Guard Command Squad. It is worth 60 points.

 This is the Regimental Standard Bearer. His brilliant banner inspires whole platoon.

It does not frighten the men. Nor does it suck power from their lasguns while they sleep to sustain its own cursed existence.

 This is Master Vox Operator. He relays the orders of his commander with utmost precision.

It does not drown out cries of fear with static howls. The thing will not scream-cast maddened drumming at torturous volume to the infantry columns.

This is the Heavy Flamer. He burns the Heretic, the Mutant, and the Alien.

It is not a Heretic, a Mutant, or an Alien. It has never ripped trinkets from the hands of dying men to festoon a growing carapace of refuse.

This is the Platoon Medic. He works diligently to keep Guardsmen ready for combat.

It is not a carrion-beast which feasts upon dying men. It does not drag the wounded away, never to be seen again.

They are brave soldiers of The Emperor, nothing more.

Where is their commander? He will make himself known soon enough.

Spooky Skeleton, for October.

Autumn is not my favorite season. 

October, however, ranks number four in top months of the year. I imagine you can guess why.

Sometimes a hobby purchase can fester on a shelf for quite some time. Many are destined only to serve as a source of greebles and bits for kitbashing projects. Cursed City was bought with that intention, and to satisfy my bargain-hunting nature (30% off!)

Even so, a lot of the miniatures in the box stand perfectly on their own. This gentleman is just a marker piece for the game and yet he has more energy in his sculpting than some entire boxes can put out. I've left the gallows and rope unpainted for the moment, more out of laziness than any statement. I had painted skulls before but never a full skeleton. It proved a fairly novel experience and a great opportunity to practice highlighting skills. The eyes are my favorite portion to be sure. The front ribs were harder to highlight, but the back came out very clean in the end.

In my painting quest to improve from middling to fair this skeleton represents a fairly big step. Not only is he my first full skeleton, he is also the first unit I fully painted with a new light, and the first unit I painted with a thinning medium other than water. Good equipment does not a good paintjob make, but preventing everything from being saturated in an incandescent orange glare while I paint it should help somewhat nonetheless.

With October in swing I should really see about painting some more spooky boys. Vampires perhaps? Most of the zombies and nighthaunt have been turned into guardsmen already. Maybe they deserve a turn in the spotlight next week.