The Necromantic Road to NAF (Now with NAF summary report)

[axiom]

Introduction
So last weekend I sent off my payment for the NAF Championship. Myself and a mate are going to attend and after discussing we agreed we would both use the Championship as an excuse to make a totally new team. I already have Elves/Wood Elves, Skaven, Humans as well as various WIP Ogre, Chaos Dwarf and various other teams, but we agreed this team would be totally new!

My criteria for the team were:
1. Must be fun to play
2. Must be wholly new (i.e. no converting / painting started)
3. Must have converting opportunities

I also have my own mental sub-criteria that the team should be metal (I don't like playing with or converting plastic) and must be retro (I generally prefer models of the late 1980s and early 1990s)

After mulling this all over, I dug out of my boxes the start of a Necromantic team - couple of 1st/2nd ed zombies, Frank N Stein and a pair of Wilhelm Chaneys. Unfortunately due to the GW model only rule for the NAF Championship, my Heresy Deathball Wights and Ghouls can't be used, but necessity is the mother of invention and that means I need to come up with some interesting alternatives.

So I have until May 19th to complete the team. 4 months to build, base and paint 11 models plus re-roll counters and sideline figures - more than feasible I reckon!

[axiom]

Zombies

I plan to have 4 Zombies in my Necromantic team. I'll say it now that I really dislike the mid-1990s Champions of Undeath Zombies - they look too happy and full of vitality for my taste. On the other hand, the 1st/2nd ed Zombie is cool, but there's only one of him and I hate duplicate models in my teams.

What I do like though is the way Blood Bowl positionals are often defined by stance - linemen have the same pose, but different details, so I took my 4 Zombies and a bunch of bits from other Blood Bowl figures:


Left: the original unmodified Zombie. He'll stay like that as a reference point for the others
Right: Minor modifications here - he's had a face guard added to his helmet, a few helmet spikes removed and gains a boot from a 2nd ed human thrower


Left: this guy got a slight arm reposition and a new helmet from that same 2nd ed human thrower. It's not hugely clear, but I snipped out the lower part of the face and resculpted an open mouth
Right: my personal favourite! He got a sallet helmet from one of the 2nd ed human blockers plus a new boot I think from one of the human linemen.

4 players ready for painting, just 7 more to go! Next up will be the ghouls

[chappers]

looking very good so far i like the subtle conversions you have done i cant wait to see your progess

[GreyKnight]

I love the new, old, zombies. Awesome, but simple, conversions.

[el Superbeasto]

Love'em!!! Excellent job!

I myself have snipped the weapons from some of these ones:
http://www.solegends.com/citcat912/c20312zombies.htm
http://www.solegends.com/citcat912/c20313zombies.htm

-and I'm planning to green stuff some shoulder pads, but I almost like your idea better... It would hurt my heart too much to "desecrate" a 1st ed mini, though, so I would have to recast an original and work on the copies.

[TalonBay]

I'm a fan of the originals too, these are great

[axiom]

Glad you like them - a promising start. That said, a conversation over lunch reminded me that I need to make at least one more just in case I get any favourable rolls after a death to the opposition!

Love'em!!! Excellent job!

I myself have snipped the weapons from some of these ones:
http://www.solegends.com/citcat912/c20312zombies.htm
http://www.solegends.com/citcat912/c20313zombies.htm

-and I'm planning to green stuff some shoulder pads, but I almost like your idea better... It would hurt my heart too much to "desecrate" a 1st ed mini, though, so I would have to recast an original and work on the copies.

I too spent a long time looking at the old fantasy zombies, but in the end decided the look wasn't what I wanted to go for; they're almost too shambling! As for desecrating old minis, I always figure its better than not using them, and I try to make any adjustments with the utmost integrity

[axiom]

Ghouls

Ghouls you ask? What about ghouls? Well, actually no-one did, but I'm going to show you anyway as I've just finished making these two:



These came about when I realised I couldn't use my Heresy Deathball ghouls. I've always liked Paul Muller's sculpts, and his late 1990s ghouls are great. On the other hand, the Gary Morley BB Ghouls are a bit...well...fat. I initially was looking at just adding pads to the ghoul figures, but wanted a more BB feel. It just so happened I had a spare 2nd ed elf catcher and TalonBay was good enough to help me out with a second (as well as one of the zombies in the first post - thanks TB!). Half an hours work with a razor saw and 15 minutes of greenstuffing gave me these two chaps!

Tomorrow I should have some werewolves, and then it's onto painting while I wait for the bits for the rest of the team to arrive

[TalonBay]

I've never been convinced by ghoul models out there, even the ones I ended up for my own egyptian themed undead team, but these look like they could work!

[el Superbeasto]

I too spent a long time looking at the old fantasy zombies, but in the end decided the look wasn't what I wanted to go for; they're almost too shambling! As for desecrating old minis, I always figure its better than not using them, and I try to make any adjustments with the utmost integrity

I totally agree and I don't blame people for doing it. Just can't bring myself to it for some strange reason.

[axiom]

Werewolves
I spent a fair few hours yesterday late afternoon, evening and night working on what will be the centrepiece model for the team - one of the werewolves. I currently intend to keep one werewolf as the stock Wilhlem Chaney as I like the model very much indeed. The converted werewolf however has been make in homage to Karl Kopinski's lovely artwork for the Blood Bowl PC game.

The converted figure


Comparison with Wilhelm Chaney


Next to the inspiration


This was probably the single most complicated conversion I've ever attempted. The base model is another Wilhelm Chaney who I removed the arms from, cut in half at the waist both above and below the belt, cut the legs off at the hips and at the knees. I then totally repostioned and reassembled all the pieces, with two pieces of wire joining the shoulders to the gloves. He's got a sculpted helmet, knee and shoulder pads, shorts and of course a new pair of arms. I finished it all off with some spikes stolen from various other minis, plus a micro-strip face guard. I deliberately left off the jaw guard as there wasn't enough room and I'm not sure of the purpose of a guard which only is useful when the werewolf's jaws are wide open!

I'm pretty happy with the overall look, although I realise the arms are a bit long, mainly because I couldn't execute a low enough crouch - but I figure what the heck, its a werewolf - that one in Harry Potter was even more stretched and gangly

Hope you like him

[robsoma]

Lovely work mate, look forward to seeing them with some paint added!

[SunDevil]

These are great, just topnotch work all around. It really shows you are taking your time and deciding what you want before you just start hacking and gluing. Well done, sir!

I LOVE those old Zombies! So simple, not overdone with gear and bells and whistles. Man, I wish I had about 4 or 5 of those!

[axiom]

Lovely work mate, look forward to seeing them with some paint added!

Thanks! The zombies are mid-paint currently (although I probably wont get much time to paint until the w/e). I'm trying out a wholly new technique for the skin using white undercoat (I usually use black) and lots of layered washes...let's hope it works!

These are great, just topnotch work all around. It really shows you are taking your time and deciding what you want before you just start hacking and gluing. Well done, sir!

Can't beat a bit of good old fashioned planning

[Norse]

LOVE the werewolf conversion.. I love what you do with old bits of metal Axiom.. makes me hanker for the late 80s all over again..

well that, great glam rock and all the extra hair I had back then..