Silver Bayonet - Serzhant Ursov's Bearform

On this most appropriate evening, I present Serzant Ursov's cadaverous were-form, the undead Russian bear. Amazing what niche rabbit holes you end of going down in this hobby.

The stinky giant is from Diehard Miniatures. He's a great sculpt, and has been lounging about morosely on my painting desk for months. He's big enough too, sitting on a 50mm base. I resolved to get him finished for Halloween, and lo, here he is.

Ursov's fur is drybrushing and thinned contrast paints, which is a very pleasant way to paint. Ratling Grime contrast makes for a great recess wash for mid-browns. Lots of red, purple and green washes on the flesh over a Rakharth Flesh basecoat, a Rakharth Flesh highlight, and the soggy bear flesh was done. The old exposed muscle was Khorne Red with purple, dark brown and red washes, highlighted with Khorne Red and a little Corax White. The usual bone recipe, some maggots and claws, and that was about it.

This fellow wraps up my my minimum required minis for my Russian Silver Bayonet squad. Huzzah! I have one more character I want to add for now though, and she'll be along presently.

Silver Bayonet - Serzhant Ursov

Good day to you all, I trust you're well? This day I have a strange fellow for you. Serzhant Ursov, undead shapechanger and hard-nosed (it's made of bone) sergeant. 

Ursov is a were-bear, and as soon as I read about this entry in the Silver Bayonet Russian list, I knew this was my guy. Technically an undead dogman from Flintloque's 666th foot box, he's just the ticket for my particularly eccentric unit. 

Trudging up the snow-laden hillside, the jerky, ungainly infantry were having a hard time of it. Though indefatigable, they were making slow progress as they stumbled and occasionally fell, vanishing into the white drifts with undignified puffs of snow.

Morozov would have been hugely entertained if it wasn't costing them so much time. They'd never make it to the forest by dawn at this rate. 

Near the base of the rise, Ursov sighed heavily as he righted a groaning private and barked orders at the flailing soldiers nearby. It was taking too long. Far too long. Desperate measures were called for. Handing his rifle and sword to his ensign, a sudden ripping sound exclaimed his drastic solution. 

Morozov's eyebrows raised slightly as he beheld the huge cadaverous bear bounding up the hillside, several zombified line infantry gripping it's flanks or simply riding on its back. A novel solution to be sure, but one that would see them make the cover of the forest eaves with time to spare. As the huge Ursa thundered past, Morozov was certain he heard one of the privates make a 'Wooo!' noise. 

Just the wind, he reassured himself.

The sculpt is surprisingly detailed, so took me EVEN LONGER than normal to paint. It does suffer from Bob Olley syndrome (and I love Olley sculpts) of wondering, is that bit a fold of cloth, or flesh, or billowing smoke. Or all three? I acquired a new love for the Contrast paint Garaghak's Sewer painting Ursov. Duly thinned with medium it makes for a fine weathering wash.

Finishing Ursov gives me, finally, a full unit. Almost. I still need the bear form for Ursov. 'Where will you get an undead bear, eh Dave?' Hah I would say to you. HAH. In this age of miniature abundance, undead bears are no challenge. It is on the painting desk as we speak. But, here is the final unit for your interwebby judgement.

Do svidaniya!

Silver Bayonet - Gunner Three

Another member of the unit rises from the cold Russian soil. Gunner three, my artillerist.

Three is another Flintloque miniature, this time from the Corpseov line artillery set. The set has quite a few crew, bit this guy, with his ramrod, (which doubles as a handy two-handed weapon) looked like the very fellow for the job.

Gunner Three had no memory of his former life, he was named for his function once raised to undeath, that of servicing the mighty cannon to which he and his companions were bound. To say he performed this function dutifully would be to give him too much credit. It was no more dutiful than a mill wheel turning. He had little awareness of the tasks he performed, and no sense of  the passage of time.

This was all to change one bitter morning as their line was raked by enemy fire. The baleful metal monster he and his fellows were slaved to took a direct hit, and as it was blasted to spinning shrapnel the grim hold it had exerted over its crew simply ceased. Along with many of the crew, it must be said.

Gunner Three was released from his fugue, his senses and thoughts boiling back up to fill his mind in a wave of renewed self-awareness. Skills long forgotten crept back into his remembrance, there to augment his now expert knowledge of artillery and explosives. Such a useful soldier was not left idle long, and soon he was sequestered to Morozov's retinue.

He never could remember his name though.

Once again, I dove into the historical internet ocean for info on the correct uniform for a Napoleonic artilleryman, and applied… elements of it to the artillerist’s ragged gear. 

For painting, I continue to work contrast into my style, especially on the skin. I’ve recently taken more to dry-brushing again, after listening to Byron from Atris Opus on The Painting Phase podcast. I really need some better dry brushes. Mine are a disgrace.

This guy brings me up to almost unit strength. One more character and they are good to go, though they have already seen action in reduced unit co-op games, which were excellent.

So, next up, the Russian were-bear!

Silver Bayonet - Rasputrid

Continuing on my Silver Bayonet buzz for the moment, I've finished another member of the squad. Morozov's second, the liche Rasputrid. I’m using him as a champion of faith in the game. 

Rasputrid is ostensibly under Morozov’s command, but in reality they are more partners serving a common cause. His knowledge of the esoteric is profound, and his great red book contains the accumulated knowledge of generations of masters of the arcane arts. He can call back undead soldiers that have suffered the most grievous damage, bone and sinew re-knitting as he extorts them to heroic feats in service to the Tzar. 

Rasputrid’s necromantic powers take the form of rousing oratory. Such is his fiery conviction that it can invigorate the dead and still the hearts of his enemies. Little wonder that Morozov places such worth in his counsel. 

For his part, Rasputrid sees great potential in the vampire, if he can reconcile his past and learn to tame his demons. 

Rasputrid is another Flintloque miniature, from the Deadloque set. (God damn I love that set.) Despite being mostly greatcoat, I’m very fond of this guy, and it was a treat to finally paint him.  

This brings the squad to six. I have two more to paint, the were-bear and the artillerist to bring the squad up to full strength. I do plan on adding a couple more though. Maybe a mounted Cossack or the Baba Yaga herself.  

Silver Bayonet - Oleg the Enduring

I've circled back around to my Silver Bayonet unit for this latest instalment. My Russians need a few more members before I can call them ready for action. So here we have a former Cossack ready to serve his undying master.

Oleg is another Flintloque sculpt from Alternative Armies. He's a charming wee fella, with his giant cuddly moustache. I looked over a few ideas for Cossack colour schemes for wee Oleg. Boy, they sure liked those vivid outfits. So, I gave him some fairly once-fancy colours, not least of all to contrast with his rather dour looking comrades. 

Oleg will probably be run as an irregular or light cavalryman in the game.

Oleg has served Morozov for some years, long before his current woeful condition befell him. Often sent of errands to far off locales to glean some scrap of information or token carried to him by other agents of the vampire, Oleg is an indefatigable horsemen, who, conveniently enough, rides an equally indefatigable horse. The long leagues he travels mean nothing to the undead Cossack, on the contrary, they still manage to generate a spark of joy and memory in his withered old soul as the wind whips through his still-magnificent moustache.

Stargrave - Loot Tokens

A small addition today. Some wee loot tokens I recently finished for Stargrave. Three physical, three data. These were used at the recent Stargrave weekend when my buddies and I pew-pewed our way across three days of sci-fi action. 

The Necromunda control panels are ideal data tokens, and I used one of Duncan's old GW videos for some tips on painting up the displays. I think it worked out pretty nicely.

The physical loot are a shrine, also from Necromunda, and two bits box builds of machinery doohickeys. Some drybrushing, washes, contrast paints, weathering, a green glaze for the physical, a red for the data, and that's them done!

Dress a Willy Sculpting Challenge

Something a little more unusual today. Back in March I came across the 'Dress a Willy' sculpting challenge on TheStillTower on instagram. Aside from the fact I was in a GorkaMorka adjacent mood, the idea of a naked, scrawny wee human toting gear taken from a dead grot made me chuckle something fierce. I contacted Pablo at TheStillTower and pleaded for a copy of wee Willy to convert and paint up. Pablo was very amiable and sent me on a copy right away.

One thing I liked when the mini arrived was that the resin support block he was attached to was sculpted as orky ruins and glyphs. Solid idea.

First off, one thing I was NOT doing was giving him any pants. It was far too hilarious leaving him flying free. Under the terms of the competition though, he had to be converted. even slightly. Here is the pile of Willie's ready to be posted. Ahem.

So, as you can see from the image at the top of the post, I added some orky shoulder pads and a shin guard. Some other folks went a lot further, such as the master convertor Axiom from Magpie and Old Lead. If you've not checked out Axiom's blog, do yourself a favour and wander on over.

For painting, I wanted wee Willy (giggle) to be a test model for an upcoming Digga mob for GorkaMorka. It's mostly natural materials, but the armour gets a little more zap with some dirty orange. I'm thinking of calling them the Sad Moons, as they want to be like the Bad Moons but can't paint yellow and have no cash.

I bet you weren't ready for that.

Sooo... in case you are a young whipper snapper, the joke is that Willy gets his gear from this guy:

Taken from the magnificent Leadplague, painted by Asslessman. Take a look at his gloriousness at the Leadplague blog. Bring snacks.

But didn't see fit to take his pants. Then again, I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to try on some grot underwear either. Some doors must stay shut.

Incidentally, TheStillTower also make absolutely sublime linocut prints, I have several in my basket. The ork sprue vinyl sticker is very fun. I wish I'd spotted this one in time:

Patriarch linocut print from TheStillTower

So what's next for Willy? I hear from Pablo a new mold is in the works and he's added more hands, another weapon, a squig and the body of a cetain looted grot. Take a look at the pics below. 

So, the story IS, our wee dead grot was playing his gameboy (gameboyz?) instead of watching out for humies and got a rock in the back of the head. 

I love it.