Hi guys!

I decided to wait and roll my mini update into my first large update. As such here are the stages for a regiment (20 man level of KoW) of skeleton spearmen with command.

Stage 1 - black spray primer.



Stage 2 - looking bon-e-fid



Stage 3 - Army color - a dark green on shields and banner



Stage 4 Bronzed, skeletal, gods



Stage 5 army symbol on banner - ankh






In between stages 4 and 5 there was a fix up mistakes stage, but since that was just tidying I figured there was no real point to showing it. Once my bases arrive I will have a second half of this pic dump showing my basing strategy from start to finish.

Until then, small updates as I paint!

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History student. :P

It has begun!

Not sure if its the photography but the dark green looks like black though

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It is the lighting. My apologies.

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History student. :P

No need to apologize at all!

The golden weapons are a really nice touch! Looking forward to how they look on a finished base!

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Small update

Next twenty skeletons are cleaned and ready for priming.

There also happens to be some....construction at work in the fields outside the city....

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History student. :P

That army is going to look mighty fine on the tabletop!

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http://thorvirshobbydumpster.blogspot.com/

Tau Empire, Mymeara Eldar, Tallarn Desert Raiders

What it needs is a bulk deal on skeletal warriors of all variety's/

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History student. :P

Great start on these so far!

Ha, tell you what, what sort of infantry bundles would you find useful? I have been meaning to do some bulk infantry deals for a while, but was unsure what breakdown would be best.

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For all your Dark Realm, 6mm scifi and 6mm fantasy needs: http://www.microworldgames.com/

Thanks Despot.

To be honest, I've been thinking about that myself.

currently historical 6mm, the only stuff I think I can compare to, generally sells in packs of 90-100 for $10.

Granted, I have no idea what your operating costs or margin is on your product, but I would like to see even numbers. such as 80, 120, or above. This is because when I make armies I go infantry heavy because I think infantry are A) the most fun to paint, and B) the heart and soul of the army. Unless i'm building a themed army (such as a steppes mongol army, for example) I always try to edge my purchases into more infantry.

For the purposes of this army project, and the opposing forces I plan to eventually put together, I am using 10 figures to a base. Thus a standard microworld pack gives me 6 bases of infantry. For cavalry the plan is 5 models to a base, which would mean a standard pack gives me 4 bases.

This is also true for things like chariots. Right now the undead chariot you offer is 1 per pack. Generally what I have found is that when people want to include chariots in a smaller scale army they want large squadrons of them.

I'd also like to see a zombie and or mummy pack made available, and in truth I was hoping the development of this army would eventually put something like that on the release schedule.

Furthermore, I see great possibility for expansion of the undead line in general. right now it has a medieval/vampire counts look. I think with some careful development choices, and expansion of the range could net you more sales. Light skeletal cavalry, skeleton/wight infantry with different shield types, as previously stated mummies and zombies. Hell, some mounted characters to bring the command pack in line with your newer offerings. Further, no offense meant but the zombie dragon could use a resculpt, at least on the wings. It looks terrible if compared to say the new dark alliance dragon.

And for the gods sakes* please please please think about making mounted banner bearers for your bog standard cavalry units. It is the one command option that is lacking in most of your cavalry offerings and would really help to tie the army together as well as serve a practical purpose denoting the command base of each unit. Depending on how much it would take to get one sculpted I would personally fund such a banner bearer for the wight cavalry.

I hope my thoughts help. They are meant to be constructive, not critical.

* I'm polytheistic, no offense or religious slander meant by this statement.

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History student. :P

thanks for taking the time to reply Marcus! I don't want to derail your painting thread too much, but I'll try to offer some insight into the business.

Regarding the infantry pricing...I believe you are referencing either Baccus or Irregular. I can't speak to Irregular, but I know Baccus does their own moldmaking and casting, and thus, can charge FAR less than I can. To give you an idea on my margins, I recently hit the milestone of having my first "army" break even, and it actually was the undead. So, that is 4.5 years...to break even. Hardly a sound financial plan! As a business though, compared to when I first started, I am beyond excited about it. I went with pack sizes of 60 because I thought a pack of 120 for say, $18 would be sticker shock at this scale.

Zombies, ghouls, werebats - will be definitely coming next year. My main sculptor is really busy, so that slows things down a bit. Vanilla mummies...I didn't think they would be that compelling at this scale to be honest. I do want a full Egyptian-style undead army eventually, but not sure it would be out next year. I can give one of my other sculptors a go and see how some tests look, but I always worry about slight size variances, so I like to have the same sculptor across an army.

I would love to do cavalry standards, but to be honest, they are kind of like the command models in that they are tremendous losers for me. Cavalry in general are really hard to break even on, hence they tend to be monopose. The problem is they cost more to have sculpted, and yet people also buy less of them. I don't mind taking a loss on them, but I can only push it so far. Command models I also take a loss on, but I know they are a necessity for people.

I did want to get a necromancer on a zombie dragon created in line with the War Dragon for size and detail, but if anything it will be late next year. Those sort of units are super-expensive to get sculpted. The necro on the zombie dragon would probably cost me, from sculpting to molds, about $400. At my current margins, I would need to sell 40 to break even...which might happen over a 6 year period.

Anyway, sorry for the derail! Back to the painting!

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For all your Dark Realm, 6mm scifi and 6mm fantasy needs: http://www.microworldgames.com/

Not a derail, I happily welcome hobby conversation into my blog. but thanks for the info.

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History student. :P

On the cavalry standard bearers point, i've found them pretty easy to convert. A sharp pair of snips and a bit of brass rod to replace any bits of banner that have to go make for an easy conversion. I've not painted my undead cav yet, but for the dwarf army I assembled about a year ago from MWG minis it was easy to do full command for both bear and ram riders.

Great to see this army coming together Marcus, the undread range are great. Wish I had time for 6mm fantasy as present

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Don't have any brass rod, and I doubt a home improvement store would have the diameter needed. plus, when there is nothing to the hand, how are you supposed to drill a hole through it?

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History student. :P

I go through the hand at a slight angle and into the body if there is not enough hand to drill through. I have been replacing all the spears on my baccus goblins, as well as replacing or adding rod for standards. Its a lot more work, but feels worth it, as the baccus spears really don't stand up to much- the slightest breeze will bend them over!

The microworld spears are a lot tougher than baccus, but some of them will still need fixing.

Irregular have some that need replacing and some that don't, but I am still replacing most of the standards with rod as I like to go mad on my banners and have some really BIG ones!

Another trick to replacing them is to drill a half hole down the side of the mini where the pole will go, and completely through the hand. Continue drilling down in to the base of the figure as well- this will give you another point of fixture to make that rod really secure!

Then you can glue the rod in to the groove. You do need to resculpt the hand when doing this, but at 6mm this is as easy as adding a little ball of green stuff and then just smoothing into the arm. I have been doing this for the irregular ratmen, but having to resculpt the entire arm so I could add some really large weapons.

As for rod, I get my from the model railway store, though its fairly cheap and easy to order online. A 10 pack of rod will last you several armies. Though if you really cant find brass rod, you can use paperclips. Dead cheap, and only slightly thicker than the brass rod I use. You will find it slightly harder to cut and shape and you will need to make slightly larger holes.

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Thanks for the info!

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History student. :P