Skeleton Warriors batch painting and AoS literature plan

Finished painting my first unit of Skeleton Warriors. They’re part of my new goal to complete a decent and varied selection of units for my Death army, before taking a bit of a break from painting this force. I’ve enjoyed painting everything so far, and want to come back fresh to the likes of Nefarata and the Terrorgheist.

In this post I will talk briefly about my Skeleton Warriors, what I’ve got left to paint, and then also about some reading I intend to do around the release of Legions of Nagash.

Skeleton Warriors:

I started painting these as a batch of 20, doing quick all over washes of Reikland Fleshshade and Agrax Earthshade, before drybrushing Ushabti Bone and Pallid Wych Flesh. Taking less care with group drybrushing, I went too heavy on the white tones, so brought it all back down with a more careful application of Agrax Earthshade.

After finishing the bone, I reduced the batch to a more manageable 10 models and completed all of the cloth, armour, weapons and other small embellishments before tidying them up a bit. I don’t mind them being rough given they’re skeletal line units likely to be built up to 20 or 30 in size.

The models have a great sense of character about them – picked out a couple of my favourite skeletons above, as well as the unit command below.

Painting update

I’ve painted 24 models for Death this year. I’d like to complete 14 more in February/March. This gives me a decent painted collection.

To paint: Black Knights (5), Skeleton Warriors (9 with spears)

Painted so far: Mannfred von Carstein, Wight King, Necromancer, Cairn Wraith, Vampire Lord, Morghast Archai (2), Grave Guard (10), Skeleton Warriors (10 with swords), Skeleton Warrior (1 with spear)

To prime: Neferata, Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon/Terrorgheist (magnetised), Sepulchral Guard (7), Arkhan the Black, Skeleton Warriors (10 with swords), Skeleton Warriors (10 with spears), Ghoul King

Note on Neferata – Unfortunately her nose is essentially missing, broken, somehow. Games Workshop will usually replace things like that, but it was a while before I built her and I’d since lost the receipt. I tried a little green stuff to give it a tad more definition, but I think it may hopefully look like a more rotten or damaged form of her when painted.

In the box: Nagash

As I’ll probably want to paint him in sub-assembly, I haven’t started on this yet because I want a period of time where I can give this total focus.

Age of Sigmar Death Literature:

I’m aiming to read the available Age of Sigmar texts that have a strong focus on Death. As I’ve already read Lord of Undeath (RGW Book 10), I’m going to acquire the following novels/short stories alongside the new Battletome to flesh out my understanding of this faction.

1. Mortach of Night (Realmgate Wars Book 9)
2. Nagash: The Undying King
3. Spear of Shadows
4. Auction of Blood 
5. The Dance of Skulls

6. Neferata: Mortarch of Blood (Limited Edition)

– Due to release in May with this cool cover (photo from Black Library, Games Workshop).

Cheers.