Shake dem bones

The Imperial Assault league that I partake in, has been shut down for the holidays. This has allowed me to work on some other miniatures (it's always nice to take a break from painting one genre of miniatures) that I hope to use in a fantasy skirmish game called Frostgrave. Frostgrave is a miniature neutral game. Meaning that you can use whatever miniatures you want to represent the miniatures in their game. AE Bounty (made by Blackball Games) produces a similar style of game but in a sci-fi setting. Anyways, I've decided to go with a skeleton army. Which, I admit, can be boring to look at. I wont bother showing off any normal skeletons. But I've selected a handful that look unique. I actually have quite a few unique skeletons to finish....six plus one very large skeleton.

Skeletons are one of my favorite fantasy creatures/monsters. Dating all the way back to Jason and the Argonauts with the scene lovingly crafted by Ray Harryhausen, that I saw as a child. Their haunting eye sockets, their hissing voice, their shambling walk...they are a reminder of what we will all become. Kind of. You know, with less shambling and hissing I imagine.

 

I've had these skeletons for the longest time. Probably about six or so years. They came in a set of three from Privateer Press's Warmachine line (they're pewter). The third skeleton I had painted ages ago. I think I waited on painting these guys because I thought they looked cool and that I should have some skills before painting them. It's a pretty silly thought. There are so many amazing miniatures out there, that one would never paint anything with that attitude. 

  

I think my favorite of these two would be the more fully clothed one on the right. I really like the sculpt and his bent over pose. As if he's just trying to get his feet back after laying in the earth for years.

 

These four skeletons are among the 20 or so Reaper Bones miniature skeletons that I possess. They are also the most exciting looking, and most fully clothed among them. I'm not 100% sold on the Bones line, but given that I've heavily backed two of their three kickstarters, I'll be painting Bones miniatures for quite some time. Although, the quality has improved quite a bit from the first kickstarter to the second. So I imagine that the third kickstarter would have the miniatures in an even better state.

There are a few mold lines that I either didn't notice, or didn't clean up as well as I could have. Also, the blue skeletons sword is pretty curved. No matter how many times I tried to set it, it just wouldn't stay. I'm not sure which of these guys I like the best. They each have a little something that I enjoy.

For the two on the left, I painted their clothes using washes. Just to try something different. I think they turned out well and will probably try using that technique again in the future. Any time I see a skeleton wearing purple, I think of Skeletor. Not the movie version, but the cartoon version. I probably didn't need to clarify, as I'm sure no one things about movie Skeletor.

I came across these three bad ass skeletons when I was looking for Dwarf mini's on Cool Mini or Not's website. While I was excited for the fleshy Dwarf minis (the sculpts are fantastic), I may have been more excited for these guys. They are resin cast and surprisingly had very little flash or mold lines to remove. The guy in the middle did suffer from a broken sword however. I love the detail that you can see from a resin sculpt, but they are much more dainty than pewter miniatures.

These guys were mostly painting using washes and I'm quite happy with how they all turned out. I think my favorite is the red bearded one in the middle. He looks as though he's letting out a hiss of a war cry, before he charges headlong into combat.

As I mentioned before, I have a handful of skeletons left to paint and I'm hoping to paint them before my Imperial Assault miniatures arrive. Despite the ones remaining having great scluplts, I'm feeling a little skeletoned out. I may have to paint a few snow troopers (and a Wampa!) before finishing off the remains of my skeleton army.

To anyone who is reading this: Have a happy New Year!