Al-elib Iblis

From the south, all the way from the lands of Araby came this deteriorating mad man, riding an obscure corpse cart filled with rotting bodies. On one stormy night he arrived to Sylvanian forest drawn by the very potent dark energies he felt. It is not known whether he was summoned by some powerful individual, Necrarach or Blood Dragon, who are lately gathering the troops within the Sylvanian borders, or for some other obscure, personal interest. The word about the pale rider with piercing insane eyes started to spread among townsfolk all throughout the Empire. It is said that the corpses risen back to life and fueled with arcane necro magic are pulling the damned thing relentlessly, day and night, without ever needing to stop for food or sleep. Cloaked in the green mist he is rarely to be seen and most often his arrival is foreshadowed only by unbearable putrid stench and cackling sadistic laughter. However, once he reveals himself, there better be no living person around! Stories have been told about men being paralyzed by his abysmal gaze and whipped to death, only to end up on his ever-growing pile of corpses. The sound of the sinister bell mounted on the top of his chariot freezes the blood in the veins of the living. When the chariot stops, Al-elib is seen knocking the bell four times, most often in vicinity of the graveyards and sites of the recently ended battles. Upon the fourth knock, the souls of the departed are seen leaving the bodies and being sucked by the demonic bell. It seems he is using the bell to collect the souls of the recently deceased and then channel this energy to the corpses pulling the cart and attacking the unsuspected pass byers. On top of all this, it is also believed he is bringer of disease, for wherever he arrives people start to suffer from various infections and deadly illnesses and so the misery he brings stays with people even after his departure. This mad man is whipping the animated corpses for no other reason than for pure fun. When bodies become wrecked beyond recognition, he likes to change the crew. So by all means, if you ever encounter this wicked necromancer and his cursed entourage, run as fast as you can!

I think this is a really cool looking model from Games Workshop and for the most part I enjoyed working on it. However, once I finished painting the cart, placing the corpses inside was a real nightmare! I barely managed to squeeze them in, using force. In the process the paint got pealed off on some of the hanging limbs. I would definitely recommend gluing the corpse pile on the wooden bottom of the cart prior gluing the poles that are sticking out. If you are interested in the whole process of painting this model and checking out all the posts concerning Al-elib, follow this link: corpse cart

Adding non GW miniatures to my Vampire Counts army

Last two weeks I've been painting non GW miniatures for a change. I've used three different companies for the first time. I'm pretty happy with the quality of their stuff and I'm going to use them again.

I've had my eye on Scibor Miniatures Necromancer for quite some time and finally decided to get it and paint it. He will be designated to the Todtstein Shock Troops. Model is cast in resin, great quality, no air bubbles, minor flesh to be cleaned. I had to place him on 50mm base, so he is taking four spaces in the unit, which is kind a logical since there are three zombies emerging from the ground around him. I had to put in extra effort on the base, to make the zombies look as though they are raising from the ground.

I'm pleased with the end result. Only thing I'm not 100% sure about is the green glow. Think maybe it would look better if I made it a bit more subtle.

Another company I've been wanting to try out for years is the Reaper Miniatures. I've always been a huge fan of their Bone Horror model, so I ordered it together with some Arachno Assassins. These are metal miniatures, although the company has many ranges, some in plastic, some in metal. I decided to paint one of the Assassins first. The design is really simple but effective! Since the model is 90% bone, you can paint it really fast.

Far back in the past, while browsing the internet, I stumbled upon Mournful Knights by Gamezone Miniatures. My mind was blown! They looked so menacing, vicious and packed with action. The whole unit looked as if in the glorious charge. I thought these models are really ahead of it's time. And still, even today I consider them to be one of the best cavalry models out there. That being said, there is some work required prior painting. The miniatures are metal and there are some gaps that needed to be filled with modeling putty. Another thing thing I noticed while painting my first knight is that sometimes it is hard to differentiate what is what on the model. All in all I really like the final result and can't wait to add more knights to the unit!

Corpse Cart

After some struggling, I finally managed to take decent photos of my finished Corpse Cart. I'm quite happy with the result. Usually I always paint the skin of my vampires and necromancers in pale colors, but this time  I decided to paint necromancer's skin in more lively colors (he is human after all :) ) to make him stand out more from the corpses and zombies.

As much as I enjoyed painting this model, I don't want to do another one. I think it would be a drag to go through the same long process again. However I do plan to add another Corpse Cart to my army but I am going to use Chariot of the Harvester model from Gamezone Miniatures. I think it's a really cool model and will complement my army nicely.

Chariot of the Harvester

OK, so here are the photos of the finished model. Now we need to give this necromancer a name and a background story. :)

Corpse Cart WIP pt. 2

Moving on with my corpse cart... I have finished painting the cart holding the bodies. I wanted to make it look worn out and weathered. Prior painting I used a scalpel to carve in the wood grain into the wooden parts to make them look more realistic. I also used Mig rust pigments on all metals and coverd all of the vials on the back with a layer of clear water effect from Vallejo to make them shine and give them glass effect. Once I finished painting the cart, placing the corpses inside was a real nightmare! I barely managed to squeeze them in, using force. In the process the paint got pealed off on some of the hanging limbs. I would definitely recommend gluing the corpse pile on the wooden bottom of the cart prior gluing the poles that are sticking out. Necromancer and zombies left to do.

Corpse Cart WIP

I am currently working on the Corpse Cart for my Vampire Counts army. I really want to make it look gruesome and repulsive. Painting the corpse pile was real fun. :) I wanted to make them look decaying and putrid with all postmortem skin changes like livor mortis, vibices, etc. All in all, I'm happy how it turned out.

Moving on to the zombies pulling the cart...

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