The Old World Army Challenge: Iannick's Skeleton Regiment (221 points)

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Iannick's Skeleton Regiment (221 points)

Once, a long time ago, a major battle was fought on this plain between two power hungry Elector Counts. The grass has all but erased any traces of the blood and guts spilled over that land. But Nathum Crane knows all too well what lies beneath. He can smell the ivory of the bones, the blood gorged earth, the rust of the metal. He can feel the damnation of the souls left wandering the battlefield without a proper burial.

The Liche raises it's staff over it's head, and softly calls upon his buried legions : "rise my brothers, rise". For a moment, only the soft wind can be heard, and one might be tempted to believe the spell fizzled. But then the earth starts to move on the plain, and a bony hand can be seen digging his way out of the soil. Hundreds follow suit, as skulls and arms and then entire skeletal bodies, clutching rusted weapons, rise from the ground. The dead move, slowly, finding their long gone comrades and assembling into remarkably precise regiments.

On the once empty plain now stands thousands of dead, soulless soldiers, who gaze into the distance with a cold, empy stare. As Nathum Crane moves so does the mass of bones, shambling forward to conquer the land they once called home.

February is never an easy month, it's a shitty one in fact here in Québec, but it's also a very difficult one in the OWAC. Those two or three days less usually means one less week-end to paint, and I do a lot of my painting on the week-ends. But nevertheless, after a quiet January my plan was to paint one of my skeletons regiment, 16 strong, during that month. And I can say, success (at the last second, as is tradition)!

So this regiment was built using mostly plastic figures from the great Skeleton Horde boxset of the last 80s. They are, still today, my favourite plastic skeletons, possibly my favourite rank and file skeletons period. I got lucky enough to score one on Ebay for a very reasonable price.

It's a fantastic set that allows lots of customization, and I really like the choices of weapons offered. I'm also a big fan of the realistic proportions of the weapons. Something GW did not carry over for their later 6th edition plastic skeletons (which are still great but). There could be a bit more details on the heads, and maybe another head variation or two, but those are minor details. I enjoyed every minute of assembling these guys, and went back in time for an afternoon, as I hadn't assembled these guys since the very early 90s.

The command is a set of metal figures from the 80s range, classic figures which haven't aged one bit in over 30 years. The hero I used is actually a mundane armoured skeleton, but I'm still waiting for a undead hero from the UK post so had to improvise! In the end I'm super happy, and the figure works very well with the unit.

It's a Challenge of first for me; first time I paint ghosts, first time I paint skeletons since the 80s! I did a few tests and I'm happy with my bone recipe, although I might try to dirty it up just a little next time. I've always preferred ivory/beige skeletons to white ones, just a matter of taste. It was also my first time trying to go with a very rusted look for the weapons as well as the hero armour. I'll certainly refine a bit my technique with experience, but once again I'm mostly satisfied. Lots of new techniques to try, painting undead is fun!

My first try at really rusty weapons

I went with a very classic dark red and grey for the colour scheme, one that I intend to repeat throughout the army. I thought about going with a more vibrant heraldry, to represent the forces of their previous master, but I really wanted to go "classic 80s skeletons".