Restoring the Skeleton Army (Part The First)

 

And on a penny, life spins you in a different direction. It stops you in your tracks and makes you rethink a part of your life. Today was just such a day for me. Chris sent me a package and it contained the battered remains of the classic 'Skeleton Army' box from 1989 as well as another stash of old school Citadel Colour paints. 

To say I was amazed was an understatement. If truth be told, I received the package when I was out of class and supposed to be doing something completely different with my time. But I must confess spending a good ten minutes just pouring over the treasures Chris had sent me.

Chris, I am so, so grateful for this and it will seriously change the direction of this blog and my hobby time. For now, I have an actual army in embryo. Something to work with to get myself back on the table after beginning from nothing six months past. 

Chris.... I salute you and I'll salute you again!

This collage shows most of the contents of the Chris' package. The top half shows off the additions to my old school paint range with several unopened pots of Blood Red, a fairly standard paint that gets a lot of use from me. There are also more obscure tones such as Night World Blue which I confess I have never heard of before. Classic pots of ink were also found inside with some brown, red, purple and blue now in my possession. The inks are an essential ingredient in getting the 'look' of an '80s style model and I'm looking forwards to using them and matching them to other inks on the market. A real bonus was an unopened pot of Bolt-Gun Metal that hadn't turned into a solid mass of gunge. I've been matching many of the old school colours I have to the enormous amount of paints Ian sent me a while back and have some real success. 

The bottom half shows the extremely worse for wear Skeleton Army in all its glory. There are enough pieces to make at least nine skeletal horses and there are at least thirty-four useable skeleton infantry. I have seventy-five percent of the plastic chariot too, with Chris writing to me to say that the missing wheel may still be discovered in his stash. When you add cavalry bases and over twenty Citadel shields there is a lot to take in. I have numerous broken bits of skellies too and about twenty hand weapons of various types. Four skeletons are mint and can be painted up pretty much immediately.

You can appreciate why my jaw hit the floor of the staffroom. A young lady teacher walked past me bemused at my joy. I tried to explain but '80s era Warhammer is like 'Nam. 

You had to be there.

This collage shows the collection in more detail. None of the sprues are complete but there is more than enough remaining to produce a decent mounted unit and nearly all of the armour pieces are present. Thankfully, most of the long lance arms are in very good condition. The actual skeletons themselves are in a sorry state with only four of them being complete. The remaining twenty-odd figures look to have had their weapons snipped or whole arms removed. Presumably for some long ago conversion project but I think I have enough loose weapon arms here to restore the lot. 

The keened eye will notice some green based skellies which look to me to have been an earlier set. Most likely original Horde figures by their paintjobs and round shields. Still, they are better finished than the first set of these models I completed back in the 1980s. They appear to have the remnants of Arcane Armorials on the front of them. Some of which may be salvageable. 

There is a single metal model here too. A C34 Wraith Rider - complete with old Citadel flying base. Chris wrote to say he was looking forwards to seeing what I did with the model. I have to say, I agree with him whole heartedly - for I can't wait to see what I do with it either!!

As I said at the beginning of this post, sometimes plans get thrown up in the air and you head off into an previously unexpected direction. Today is such a day. With Chris' generosity still lifting this grognard's soul, I have decided to fully restore this set and bring this Skeleton Army back from the dead (see what I did there?) over the next months. I'm giving myself the time limit of New Year's Day 2026 for these models, and my Horde figures (who are all mint pieces needing no restoration) to be fully painted and ready to field. That's a little over six months. With my time commitments often tugging me elsewhere that is going to be some doing but fate as decreed that in less than a year after returning I would have a small undead army from nothing is frankly unbelievable. 

I had another project I was just about to commence with too, which you will also see soon. It's another great love of mine from '80s Warhammer that I've written about many times before. And of course, you will continue to see metal figures from my small stash being painted up when I need a break. 

So I'll end with another massive thank you to Chris for sending these treasures to me. Some might see them as just a pile of plastic tat to but to me these old crumbling plastics and are precious link to an era I love and a crucial escape from the relentless challenge of doing up a rundown house.

'Stage One' of this project will be to rebuild the infantry and repair much of the damage these bone-boys have suffered over the years and get them undercoated once more. I could do with some advice on basecoat sprays... anyone using a decent white for batch spraying? Please let me know if you have any recommendations. 

I really can't wait to start!

Orlygg

PS: If you've got a spare plastic skeleton wheel to spare please do let me know (;

C17 Reaper skeleton: Does Undeath have a colour scheme? And some more goodies...

Has it been another week already? Work has begun on our archaic home after so long. MFM and I have been stripping decades old wallpaper, pulling down dusty curtains that are probably older than us and clearing out the hideous bathroom to make way for tradesmen to begin work. Without boring you too much, we are having new French style doors, a new bathroom and the old fireplace ripped out and replaced with a more economical and environmentally friendly woodstove. Later on, we will need to replaster and lay flooring but it is all hands to the pumps. On top of all that, we just had SATs week in school and it is the last day on term on Friday.

As you will no doubt imagine, there hasn't been a huge amount of time for hobby. We did the garden today, and I got to play with some of the new tools we have had to purchase (though the lawnmower finally packed in) but there were a few hours spare this afternoon to get the paints out a crack on with a figure.

That super-gent extraordinaire (Sleepysod), who if you recall we met quite randomly at Salute a few months back, had a few spare skellies kicking about and he sent them my way. Opening any package is always fun but I was dumbfounded to see one of my all time favourite models in my hand. The Reaper skeleton from the C17 range. I've always admired this figure since seeing it the the WHFB Third edition rule book in one of the battle scenes. He never ever seemed to end up in my collection despite years of looking and so it was wonderful to finally have one of those 'never did get your hands on 'em figures'. 

Huge thanks to Sleepysod for being so generous AGAIN and I will have to salute him once more. Sleepysod.... I salute you for really brightening up this old grognard's life with a tiny, scraggly, skinny piece of lead.

I approached the figure in much the same way I would something from the skeleton Horde. Orc Brown base, Chestnut Ink wash and then highlight with Orc Brown and Bleached Bone. I'm still debating about adding a super-highlight of Skull White at some point on the skulls and hands of my boneyard brothers (especially now I can actually paint half-decently again) but the jury is very much out on that at the moment. 

I've got some pretty grotty metallics to work with here. It is well known that the old '80s silver and gold paints condense into a solid mass of gunk. Even so, I have a few survivors. Even so, I have to bite the bullet and get my hands on something more reliable. I've even heard some good things about the modern Citadel range!!! If any readers have any recommendations for silver and gold replacements please do let me know. 

Despite the challenging state of some of my paints, I dry-brushed over the tatty chainmail in Bolt-Gun Metal and washed with Chestnut Ink and them some Hobgoblin Orange for rust. It didn't really take to the chainmail itself though it worked well for the blade of the scythe. You may remember that metal work on my skellies is something I was keen to work on? 

Originally, I went for blue rags. But it just didn't look right. The shade was just too bright and happy, at least to my eye. This got me thinking... does undeath actually have a colour scheme? For me, black, bone, white, brown and orange seem to work and reflect the tattered remains of long dead corpses rising from their graves. I know others go for a more brightly coloured approach... and bizarre as it sounds, I am fine with bright, almost garish colours on a shield or banner. But never actually on an undead figure.

Surely I cannot be alone in my fastidious ways? 

Here are the rest of the figures that Sleepysod sent me. All now sleeping in the Dettol bath. I'm sure that the second figure from the left is a Marauder skeleton. I adore the musician model as well, with the multi-skulled drum set. He's most likely going to see paint before the end of the week as I'm rather excited about painting him up. Only problem is those drums... a bone finish or gold? Decisions.. decisions eh?

I also have to salute Stuart this week as he sent me a package of bits and bobs. Mostly modern castings of some Asgard classics. More about them in the future. But, Stuart... I salute you too. I'm intrigued by these early figures as I know very little about the range. I'll do a little research when time is more available and perhaps try and older old school paint approach with these... right back to the early '80s! 

One final note, Stuart let me know about the '80s Wood Elf beastmaster re-release over at the GW website. We spent Saturday morning messaging each other waiting for them to go online. If you haven't seen it yet, all the old animal keepers of old have been cast back up with their new Wood Elf Old World range. I must admit to having taken the plunge and bought the set. I'm optimistic about their quality. While I was on the site, I noticed a few other '80s classics were hanging about. Bugman's Cart among other things.

Ooh, I haven't checked to see if there is anything decent in the undead section! 

Speak soon,

Orlygg

Skeleton Horde: Simple Skull Shield Old-School Tutorial

Here is the simple skull shield design in question proudly affixed to my first Skeleton Horde spearman. He looks rather pleased with his flashy new shield doesn't he? Or her...

Afternoon all, and apologies for the quick snap of my latest Skeleton Horde recruit. It was rather bright when I managed to find a few moments to snap the final touch (though first picture) for this old school tutorial post. And I noticed I'd blobbed a bit of white on his right knee somewhere along the way. I'll have to fix that some time in the future. The Samsung camera on my new phone doesn't want to take decent photos of little plastic or metal men for some reasons. Probably my own ineptitude. 

Still, it serves as an example of what today's post is all about: an old school style tutorial. These days social media is awash with videos detailing 'paint like me' techniques. They leave me cold really and I can't get much from them, largely because the style of painting they promote is not the same classic style I want for this blog and my models. I much prefer the older way of doing things (this is a retro blog after all) and I expect a few of you readers will feel the same. 

Lord Caerluel inspired this post. We were discussing my first batch of proper skeleton figures and the hand painted shields I love doing and the suggestion of a guide to painting them arose. Well, what you are reading now is the sequel to that conversation. The audience of this guide is the novice old-school painter who has never tried anything like this before. I was once such a painter and used to look on in envy with those enthusiasts who seem to just knock out great hand-painted designs time and time again, seemingly without trying.

After pouring over many an old White Dwarf mag and a fair few false starts, I started with a John Blanche inspired face many moons ago and never looked back. Learning to paint again over the last few months, I found that freehanding designs for shields came back much faster than all of the figure based stuff such as drybrushing. Perhaps because I was working on a static flat area... who knows...?

So please do persevere if you really want to try this kind of painting out. It is a cliche I know, but if I can do it any one can. 

TIPS AND TRICKS

1) Work fast. I find that the key to painting shield designs is to keep all the brushwork fluid and fast. Don't hang about. A quick stroke looks more natural and 'artistic' than a wobbling bit of freehand. 

2) Use inks if you've got them for line work and water down your paint - this will help with the fluidity I just mentioned. Drying paint doesn't seem to move well on any surface but then I would expect you all to know that already being the grognards that we are. I don't want to teach you to suck eggs. 

From top left - stage 1 - 6

Stage 1: Clean up and undercoat your shield with the desired paint then apply your basecoat. I went for Skull White followed with Blood Red with this example. I fixed the shield to a 20mm base with Blu-Tak for easier handling. 

Stage 2: Dark ink wash over the top to add shade, dirt and age etc. I used Chestnut Ink for this but any shade will do. Use something that matches your base colour. 

Stage 3: Block out a rough shape of a skull using ink. I used Shadow Black but any suitable dark colour works. When creating a skull shape look for some reference material in the style you want. Painting an oval shape and then widening just above the halfway line is also effective. 

Stage 4: Basecoat for the skull, ensure you leave an edge. I used Orc Brown for this but any suitable tone will do. This colour will serve as your mid shade on the finished skull.

Stage 5: Black ink is used to roughly shape out the eye sockets, nose cavity and teeth of the skull. Don't worry if things look sloppy here as you will be painting over most of it later on. 

Stage 6: Bleached Bone highlights. Try and pick out the basic shape of the skull at this stage. Define the eye sockets, nasal area and the upper and lower jaw. Don't worry about the teeth. Leave some of the Orc Brown in a few places for shading. 

From top left - stage 7-12

Stage 7: 50:50 mix of Bleached Bone and Skull White to continue the shading of the skull. Focus on the same three areas as before. Then use a final highlight of pure Skull White around the brow, nasal area and the left hand side of the skull.

Stage 8: Black Ink clean up. Shape the eye sockets, nose and teeth to your liking. Once this is dry, use Skull White to sharpen up any further details. For instance, I added the nasal bone at this point.

Stage 9: Blood Red is used to work up the background to a more vibrant tone. Basecoat the shield edge with your preferred metallic colour (you can also use black, which looks effective -highlight this with Ghoul Grey or an equivalent). I used Mithril Silver here.

Stage 10: Wash over the metallic edge and create a little shading around the edge of the shield interior with Black or Brown Ink.

Stage 11: Highlight the edges of the shield rim with Mithril Silver and carefully dot the bolts around the edge. 

Stage 12: Highlight the edge of the shield in orange (or a lighter shade of your base colour) and blend the tone into your base but be careful not to obscure the shading around the rim edge. 

And voila, you have a shield. It is now just a case of waiting for it to dry and attaching it to your figure of choice. Once you have mastered the basic skull shape (have a few other goes at doing this basic design) you should feel confident enough to experiment. Try painting a skull without the lower jaw, or with vampire teeth or even my personal favourite: a residual eyeball in one of the sockets!

I hope this little tutorial inspires someone somewhere to have a go at freehand painting. Nothing sets a miniature firmly back in our era that a good anarchic hand painted shield design in my opinion. 

So what is stopping you?

Orlygg

ME82 Hobbit Personalities: Gollum, a fistful of lead, a proper mag and a new painting set up!

 

Hello again. It has been an odd few weeks for me, and very busy. I've been supporting my mother after my Nana passed away and mistakes have been made with the funeral arrangements which mum found distressing. Quite a bit of the last few weeks and most of this past bank holiday was taken up with dealing with it all.

Still, I found time today to get some miniatures painted and was eager to get Gollum completed and alongside his adventurous fellows. I've got a proper set up now (thanks to the ongoing house renovations) which should be fairly permanent for a year or more. Gollum was the first figure I worked on in this new space. I've taken to standing up to paint, which is largely due to necessity - my work station space is quite high and we own no stools as of yet. But I've not found it hard to adjust to a new way of doing things and my back is much the better for it.

Gollum was great fun to paint. He gave me the opportunity to work on my flesh painting skills - something I used to take pride in. For his flesh I mixed Skull White, Electric Blue and Bronzed Flesh together to create a base which I highlighted with Bleached Bone and a little Skull White. I was aiming for a suitably pale finish and Peter Jackson's take on the character was very much in my mind. I wanted him too look almost wraithlike after all those centuries under the mountains being warped by the power of the Ring. I mixed in a little Brown Ink with my initial basecoat to create the depth shading. 

His loincloth was my new favourite shade; Snakebite Leather with Bleached Bone highlights. Again, this was shaded with Brown Ink. His lip saw a little Worm Purple glaze while his eyes are Sunburst Yellow with a little Bleached Bone on the top. I debated with myself whether to paint pupils on him... the jury being still out but I tried to base this paintjob on my image of the character. Since Mrs. Baker first read me the story when I was 10 years old, Gollum has always had luminous eyes. Hence my decision.

The fish was picked out in Ork Flesh and then just highlighted with Bleached Bone. With hindsight, I should have gone for blue as the tone of the fish is now lost alongside the completed base. But it is a minor issue. I feel with this figure the general trend of improvement has continued, which isn't bad considering it has only been five months since I started painting again.

What do you guys think?

David Cammack and Andrew MacTaggart both sent me some bits and pieces over the Easter/Bank Holiday period and I need to thank them both here for their generosity. Sadly, David's things are lost in the postal system somewhere with me being on the receiving end of a dreaded Red Ticket and the post office having no idea where the package has gone. Still, David.... I salute you for being so kind and here's hoping those little treasures make there way back to you eventually. 

Andrew MacTaggart sent me the bunch of random Citadel you can see above. Some lovely clanrats, some Chaos thugs and an Oriental Hero... I've never had one of those before and I look forwards to investigating that range in the future. Those Advanced Heroquest models really quite excite me in a reclaiming your boyhood kind of way. I recall enjoying painting these up when one of my step-brothers got the boxed game way back in the 1990s so they will be on my new painting table alongside my skellies. 

Andrew... thank you so much... I salute you too! 

GregG emailed me a while back saying he had a surprise for me and he wasn't wrong. Knowing that issue 108 of White Dwarf was the signature issue in my Citadel journey and finding he had a spare, he sent me the duplicate last week. It is fantastic to have this issue back and flicking through the venerable magazine was wonderful. Every word held a memory and there is so much inspiration for old Orlygg within the pages. 

GregG I salute you as well! Thank you!

Finally, my new retro set up was completed this Bank Holiday Weekend. I have combined my love of '80s Citadel with '80s and early '90s computing. My C64, Speccy and A500 mini now spend much more time actually being used rather than collecting dust under the bead. To celebrate a workspace all of my own, I had a good run through the FUN levels of the original Lemmings. I really enjoyed listening to the tunes while I was working on Mr. Gollum, though they were perhaps too happy and zany for the former Mr. Smeagol to approve. 

More skellies next time I hope.

Orlygg