Nightfang Specter Lord

This horrible Wight champion only appears when summoned by Mortreich von Todtstein and the means of his magical blade "The Nightfang". By wielding this powerful ancient weapon and reciting but a few of his dark incantations Mortreich can instantly summon a great host of undead warriors to join him in battle. It is no wonder that this object remains one of the main reasons for envy and hatred towards Mortreich from almost every other undead commander serving under the “Night King”, especially his brother Kain. That being said it is not known where does this warrior captain originally came from and what was his role in the past life. Even his very name remains unknown both to the world of the living and the dead. He is mounted on what was once a mighty, heavy warhorse, but now a nightmarish steed, skeletal and sinister, just as his rider. Most often, when summoned, he comes forward leading the undead cavalry in unstoppable charge. The extraordinary helmet he wears and the mighty sword he is wielding tell the story of their own. Some believe these were forged in the heart of Dark Lands, near the foothills of Worlds Edge Mountains, by the Chaos Dwarves themselves and imbued with immense magical power providing him with unnatural strength and speed. Townsfolk whisper that by tapping into his true origin and rediscovering his real name one might achieve ultimate power and control over him. Is this really true or just some deranged dark fantasy of the common people hungry for power it is impossible to say, at least for now. Will it ever happen or will the world burn and become shrouded in darkness instead, we shall hopefully witness in the coming events. For the evil and the restless dead never sleep. And they never, ever, come alone...

One of those models I immediately fell in love with! The moment I saw this Mounted Wight for the first time in White Dwarf I was fascinated by it. It is hard to explain what is it exactly that I like so much about these 90's Warhammer miniatures. I absolutely love everything about them and this model embodies that style perfectly for me. I decided to paint his ancient armor in rusty tones and oxidized bronze. The only thing that is not from the original model, is the shield. I believe it is from Grave Guard upgrade kit.

Mortreich Von Todtstein

Mortreich Von Todtstein is a brother of Kain Von Todtstein. He is as cruel and merciless as Kain, and equally vicious and capable commander. The two brothers always competed for dominance. Even in life, from the time they were little kids fighting with wooden swords, these two were constantly battling each other, be it in a direct way or by plotting schemes behind the curtain. Now in undeath, they are again confronted in the eternal battle for the favor of the supreme commander and their lord Kruger "Der Nacht König". Mortreich was absent for several centuries while at the same time his brother supposedly banded with the Night King in his expedition to the Black Pyramid. It is said that he was roaming the lands of the old world on his own, in a search of a magical blade, an ancient dark relic of great power - the “Nightfang". Eventually, his search was successful. Some say that the sword was hidden within dimensions of the dark gods and demons, beyond this universe. Equipped with this ancient blade, it is widely believed that he can open various portals to netherworld and summon a vast horde of spectral minions in an instant. Therefore do not be fooled by his appearance of a lone vampire count warrior. The shadows that follow him reluctantly are always there, waiting to be unleashed upon his single commanding word from a death spell. There are even stories that the blood that ends up on this ancient blade never coagulates, keeping it in liquid form indefinitely. Words about Mortreich wielding the mighty Nightfang reached Kain fast. Thus his hatred towards his brother grew even greater, for every vampire’s dream is to hold this potent weapon. What will the future bring, and will this bad blood ever come to an end, only time will tell.

I remember, some 20 years ago, when me and my friends were playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th edition, this was one of my favorite Games Workshop models. I was playing Empire at the time and was so envious of my friend who played Vampire Counts. I wanted this Red Duke model so bad. :) Today, 20 years later, I still find this mini to be bloody awesome! The Duke is so full of character. Something that today's minis lack, in my opinion. And I finally own it! :D 

Mournful Knight and Armored Skeletons Command Group

Recently I have finished my second Mournful Knight from Gamezone Miniatures. I'm happy how it turned out. However, I realized I can not fit the bases of the two models together, which is quite frustrating because I want to be able to put all the models in one unit. I guess if you are playing Age Of Sigmar this wouldn't present an issue, but for Warhammer Fantasy Battles it is crucial that you are able to do so. I will try to reposition the models so that the bases can be placed side by side, but I'm not sure if that would be even possible since the models are pretty wide.

Also, I have painted the command group for my Armored Skeletons. I'm not completely sold on the (Bretonnian) banner though. I might replace it with one from the Grave Guard box and make more traditional design to fit better with these classic models.

Armored Skeletons

Lately I've been working on my Armored Skeletons. So far the unit is 25 strong. I plan to go up to 50. I am really pleased with how the unit is turning out, especially the shields! If you are interested in how I made these unique shields, check out the following post: Converting Kite Shields.

Converting Kite Shields

For my OOP Armored Skeletons I wanted to create special shields and make the unit really stand out. The original ones are small rounded shields with decorations that look a bit childish to me, although, I must admit, totally in the spirit of the 90s Warhammer Fantasy Battles. :)

Looking at the miniatures I thought that the kite shields would fit them perfectly and make them look striking. It then came to me that the Tomb Kings tower shields that I have laying around could be converted into cool looking kite(ish) shields.

Since I don't have the plastic ones, but only metal, I decided to make molds in silicone rubber and cast the shields in resin. This way I will save the original shields and make the converting process easier. You can use plastic ones if you have them. I decided to use three different designs.

After I made my recasts in resin it was time to start cutting and shaving unwanted parts of the original design. Parts that I cut off are marked with red color, and those that I shaved off are marked in green. To get that V shape I simply cut off the lower parts of the shield. I removed those hanging parchments on the front side of the shields. On the back I removed the handles and over-leaping canvas.

Next, it was time to carve in the wood-grain in the parts that got flat after shaving. For this I used a sharp scalpel blade.

Now the shields were ready for some modeling putty. I used Green Stuff to model the metal rim on the edges of the shields and the circle (gluing area) on the back side.

Finally, after the Green Stuff has hardened completely, I added rivets to the rims on both sides.

To save some time, I again made the mold for the converted shields and multiplied them. :)

And here you can see the shields in action:

Todtstein Zombie Troops

The relentless shock troops of Von Todtstein were originally raised in a small village of Brashovice, where Kain Von Todtstein apparently made his first appearance in the Old World. A few days after his ravage, Altdorf witch hunters came across an utterly mad priest wandering in the wilderness. Distressed, he told a hardly coherent madman's tale of terror. The tale that most of the townsfolk find hard to believe even till this day...

"Just before sundown a great, terrible fog appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. From it, a huge dark shadow with burning red eyes emerged. That very moment, without any warning the whole village burst into flames, as if by some apocalyptic evil magic. There was no escape for the unfortunate and surprised villagers, young and old, as they started running down the streets, screaming their lungs out, while slowly being consumed by fire. Flesh falling apart with transforming, shifting colors. Bodies flailing and buildings collapsing through unnatural black burning. Those who fell continued twitching in agonizing torment as they slowly passed away. But they did not remain dead for long."
In days to come, no proof of black magic was found, but there was no other way to explain the obliterated village, burned to the ground, abandoned by the living and the dead. No bodies were found, neither those killed on that terrible day, nor those buried long time ago in the local graveyard. All of the graves were desecrated, every single one of them empty and gaping. Not a single plant, root, animal or any other lifeform was to sprout in the village of Brashovice ever again. The village remains a place of utter desolation. 
This is how the first of many Todtstein legions came back to life, or more precisely, unlife.

For the first unit of zombies I decided to go with the Games Workshop Zombies from the Age Of Sigmar range. These models have been around for about twenty years, but I still like them very much! Partially because they remind me of the good old days when me and my friends played Warhammer Fantasy Battles. :) What I like about them the most is their expressive faces with the sunken and staring eyes, hanging tongues and grinding teeth! My main objection would be their oversized hands that are definitely out of scale. This by itself does not present a problem. It becomes a problem when you want to mix them with zombie models form other manufacturers to get some variety. Zombies from Fireforge Games or Mantic, for example, are about the same height as those of GW but their hands are way smaller, so it looks kind of silly. The other issue that I have with the GW zombies is the way that the shoulders look. When you assemble the models the shoulders look very exaggerated, with no transition from the shoulder to the torso. However, this can be fixed by adding some modelling putty. It does take additional effort, especially when you consider the numbers, but I think it is worth it.

To get some variety using only GW models, I did some minor conversions like ripping the jaw on one of the zombie heads and making his tongue hang out, or making the skull open exposing the brain inside, etc. My favorite conversion is the zombie staring at the sky with the slit throat. I always loved the severed head which can be found on the GW zombie sprue. Sadly, this had wasn't intended to be used as a zombie head. I always thought it had a perfect expression to be used as one, so I took the matter in my own hands and with a bit of Green Stuff created my favorite and unique zombie. I also used some parts from the OOP Empire Free Company Box and Empire Flagellants sprue to make the unit even more interesting. The unit is twenty zombies strong at the moment but I will be adding many more. The zombie legion will constantly grow! 🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟

Year 2022

Year 2020