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I've had a blog here for a few years, but I want to consolidate it and try and keep this topic going to keep me motivated in 2022. 2021 sucked in so many ways, so I figure today is a good day for new beginnings. Rather than using the Blog posts for each project, I'll just consolidate it all here. I've loved Dark Elves forever, and have screwed around with a Cities of Sigmar all-Dark Elf army, and a Daughters of Khaine snek-force. That's the "Dark" half of the title. Last month I bought a second-hand undead army. That's the "Dead" half of the title. My goal is to finish at least one of the three armies in 2022. LOL. Even as I write that I know I'm full of s###, but let's see how far I get, eh? If you want to see my WIP dark elf stuff from the last three years, it's in the link below. When I update any of that stuff I'll just post in this topic. And here's my current project: Grave Guard based on the amazing new skeletons from the Cursed City set. Those models are what awakened my love of all things undead. I fought the desire to start a new massive project for almost a year, but then i saw someone in my city unloading a pile of CC characters, zombies and skeletons. I blame the pandemic, but I'd really run out of steam with my Daughters of Khaine and just wanted to start some new new and... well, "fresh" ain't the word, is it? I want the Garve Guard to be the cornerstone of my army; they need to be as big as the skeletons, as dynamic, but even more intimidating. So here's my first ten. I wanted some movement, but I wanted to retain the shambling quality to them. The arms are from Dark Elf executioners, because that's what I had in my bitz box. I think the chain mail and sleeves fit though. I removed the blades from the executioner swords and replaced them with blades from darkblades. The originals were a bit too ornate, I wanted more functional. I added shields to their backs to bulk up their silhouettes, and help me separate them from my regular skeletons. I need to build ten more, so that's next. I'm also working on building two dragons from a Stormdrake box. I've been waiting 35 years for Games Workshop to design a good dragon, and they FINALLY did it. All of their attempts had poor anatomy, dodgy proportions, goofy teeth or eyes... these finally look like living creatures. So, one's for my CoS army, and the other will be zombified. I desperately want to get them built; they are one of the nicest plastic kits I've ever seen. I have a specific idea for the zombie dragon's base though, and ordered it earlier this week. So, that's on hold for at least a week, and it's killing me waiting :). Anyways... here's to a productive 2022!

What self-respecting force of bloodsucking wolfkin is complete without a wizened old dame riding a spurned ex-lover to lead them? I generally hate painting fur (Nagash knows why I chose a wolfy faction for my army), so last knight I sat down with the intention of forcing myself to get the wolves on this model started. 7-8 hours later I found that I'd basically finished the model. It's such a good sculpt full of nice hidden details and I literally couldn't put my brush down. Like Radikar, I love the composition of this model so much and it was an absolute joy to paint - the crispness of the detail on the sculpt really helps.

So the horde is gathering nicely, and I thought I'd post a mini-army shot of the models I've finished so far. I'm now over halfway towards having a completed 1000 pt Vyrkos dynasty force to start playing some games with. This is the list I'm working towards as my first milestone: - Radukar the Beast - Belladamma Volga - 2 units of 10 dire wolves (+1 extra unit summoned by Radukar's command ability) - 5 Blood Knights This comes to 980 pts total. Of this, I now have 2 Blood Knights and 15 wolves still to complete.

I've finished the first tester model for my blood knights scheme. I went for a similar overall scheme to the studio army but with purple barding. I'm still not 100% sold on it so I'd be really grateful to hear some feedback before I commit and paint the other 4. I may go for a very dark red/brown colour for the barding instead.

The first battleline unit for my new force is now complete; a unit of 10 dire wolves. These little critters were a really quick paint, which is a relief as I have to do 30 of 'em for my 1000 pt starter force. To keep things simple, I followed the suggested recipe from the battletome painting section, with a couple of tweaks: Fur: Chaos Black undercoat, drybrushed with Skavenblight dinge and Stormvermin fur. A final very light drybrush n the manes and tails with Celestra Grey. Wounds: Wazdakka red, highlighted with Tuskgor Fur. The skin around the wounds was Knight Questor Flesh highlighted with Cadian Fleshtone, and the whole thing was finished off with plenty of Blood for the Blood God technical paint. Bone: Morghast bone, Skeleton Horde, Ushabti Bone, Screaming Skull.

I haven't done much hobby for a while now but the new(ish) sculpts for the Soulblight Gravelords have stoked my bloodpaintlust and encouraged me to brush the cobwebs from my hobby cupboard and give them a go. I've decided to document my progress with my new army project, so here's the first entry of what I hope will be a regularly updated painting and gaming log. As with any of my army projects, I've started with the model that's provided the muse for the whole undertaking; in this case Radukar the Beast. I love the pose and composition of this model so much; he looks so feral and menacing. It was an absolute joy to put together and paint. I wanted to keep the colours quite dark and desuturated for this army, with mainly browns, greys and slate blues contrasted with pale skin and blood effects. For the skin I followed something very close to the suggested recipe in the army book - Rakarth Flesh, a wash of Guilliman Flesh contrast paint and Lahmian Medium, and then layered up with several thinned glazes of Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh. I shaded the feet down with glazes of Snakebite Leather, Mechanicum Grey and Wildwood contrast paints. I've found contrast paints thinned with Lahmian medium (rather than contrast medium) to make excellent glazes for tinting flesh tones and creating decent blends quite quickly. The metal is Leadbelcher for the steel, and Liberator Gold for the gold parts with more contrast paints glazes (mainly Mechanicum Grey, Black Templar and Snakebite Leather). The wolf pelt was Grey Seer, with Apothecary White, and Mechanicum Grey glazes, Nuln oil on the darker parts, and then highlighted up with Dawnstone and Celestra Grey. The blue cloth was Dark Reaper, Nuln Oil, and highlights with Dark Reaper mixed with Thunderhawk Blue, and finally an all-over glaze of Terradon Turquoise for a bit more saturation. I followed a similar recipe for the blue gauntlets, but mixed a bit of Waaagh Flesh into the Dark Reaper and left off the final glaze to give a green-grey tone. The facial markings and scars are Screamer Pink washed with Barak Nar Burgundy and lots of Lahmian Medium, and the streak markings on the forehead where highlighted with Mephiston Red. Any comments and critiques are welcome - I'm always open to suggestions to improve my painting, so please let me know what you think.