The Zombie Horde grows

Vampire Counts October has another success, I have finished up the last batch of Zombies for my Warhammer fantasy battle Vampire Counts Army. I already had a group of  sixty Zombies I built way back in 2004. I wanted to be able to field a magic number of three block of thirty zombies or with the changes in eighth edition two blocks of forty five, so I built another twenty four zombies and three sets of zombie standards and musicians. The last time I really fielded my Vampire Counts was a couple editions back. Zombies couldn't have command models but you were able to summon more of them when you cast Invocation of Nehek. So I fielded skeletons and black knights and never a unit of zombies. I always brought my box o' Zombies with me and used them when I summoned models with Nehek. 

 The original horde. built quickly and painted quicker. No close ups of these, they look best from arms length away. I believe my painting process was prime bleached bone, dry brush rotting flesh, add a couple detail colors per model and then a wash. Done. I originally flocked the bases with regular green flock but later went back and added a medium sized model railroad ballast with a brown wash. This was during my "need them painted by next Thursday" period.

The latest batch of Zombies. I glued the medium ballast to the zombie bases and them primed them black. I base coated them all with burnt umber. Then a rotting flesh dry brush. I went back with a selection of different colors to give them a hodgepodge of clothing. After I finished blocking in all the colors I gave them all a chestnut ink/ future wash. I then went back over dry brushing to take some of the gloss off of them.  Some still have a few glossy spots but they are fine for the table.

 A close up of the musician and the flesh drum face. The face was first painted tanned flesh, then an elf flesh dry brush and a final highlight of my dwindling supply of pallid flesh.

 One of my favorite Zombies, with bug eyes and bloody mouth, pure Zombie win.

Another favorite, bloody guts and a sickle knife.

The Zombie Horde fully assembled. I went over the bases of the older zombies with a wash and a drybrush to match the newer ones but the difference in priming some black and the others bleached bone can really be seen here. I actually entertained the idea of stripping the paint off of the old zombies and bringing them up to a better painting standard but it passed. The old Zombies will probably get me dinged on a painting score if take then to a tournament. If I decide ,for some reason, I must field my Vampire Counts in a tournament, I will just buy more zombies to paint.

ColKG