Dungeon Saga Evil Dead - Ghosties and Ghoulies (and Zombies)

Now the heroes are painted for this dungeon bash, it's time to give them something to bash!

The Fellowship of the Ring has seen better days.

Rise up, deadies!

As with the dungeon heroes, this started off with a bit of tinkering, and ended up painting the whole set. I'll take back my 'only average' grade at the unboxing - they're great plastic minis, and I hope the expansion sets hold up as well.

Watch out, Jason.

The only tricky part I found with the skeletons was when to lay off the drybrushing (I worked up from Chaos Black undercoat > Mournfang Brown > Ushabi Bone). I wanted to be sure I was picking out all the bones, but didn't want to look like I'd laid on the final highlight too thick, In the end, I gave it another wash of Agrax Earthshade to bring it back down.

A good archer has a keen eye (socket).

This archer probably works least well in the set - he's very flat, and when you point him in the direction he's facing, there's almost nothing to see. It didn't help that I painted him in very muted colours, which practically blend with his bones - but I've got a couple more attempts to get it right.

Do skeletons have much use for agricultural tools?

The classic 'skeleton reaper' - glad they included this one, and not just because it was a doddle to paint.

Even the undead have better abs than me.

Your standard zombie - I think these are the first undead miniatures I've painted (aside from murdering my HeroQuest set years ago).

I had a great time with them, not least because I got to take on several different models at once (quite a change when I usually find myself working on uniform Warhammer regiments in groups of 20-30).

This one seems more a ghoul than a zombie: note the use of tools and lack of trousers.

I went with the tradition rotting green flesh for the zombies: a base of Snotling Green, Drakenhof Nightshade wash and Ushabi Bone highlights.

I dotted around the torn flesh with Blood for the Blood God, then swiped it across some likely areas. I didn't want to drown them in gore, but zombies are zombies.

A Faulty Basilean

Here's a nice change: a zombie who was wearing something more than tattered clothing when he turned. I copied the Basilean uniform from the rulebook, since I like the idea that these paragons can also be turned with a bit of voodoo.

The beard is always last to decompose.

And here's something you can't get enough of: undead from races other than men. There's not a lot of skeleton on view for the Dwarf Revenant (and fair enough, since a dwarf without the paraphernalia is just a short human skeleton) , but it strikes a nice balance.

The painting challenge was trying to ensure that everything - beard, bones, armour - didn't just blend in with each other. After trying a few colours, I went with a very ginger beard, a very bronze breastplate, rusty iron armour and dirty red + muddy brown robes. I think it manages to keep everything matching, while still making it clear what is what.

"Now that the Nazgul and Dementor work has dried up, I just do Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come at panto."

This ghost was nothing but drybrushing. I didn't want the black robes shown in the artwork, as I wanted a more 'spooky bedsheet' type. I worked up from Chaos Black > Space Wolf Grey > Skull White, with a touch of Caledor Sky in between, to add a blue hue.

"Mr Rock will see you now!"

Finally the big bruiser of the set: a zombie troll. Another race to add to the melting pot, but it does pose questions: can they still regenerate? vomit? are the still stupid? And if not, what makes them different from, say, a zombie ogre?

Anyway, I went with a greener starting point than for the zombie humans: Elysian Green, Drakenhof Nightshade wash, Snotling Green highlights, Ushabi Bone highlights. After than, some Blood for the Blood God to fill in his guts and he was all done.

Night creatures call and the dead start to walk in their masquerade.

All in all, It was a fun set (enough to make me cast an eye over other deadies - maybe a wee Age of Sigmar warband, or Frostgrave Necromancer's retinue).  I'm looking forward to painting up the second batch, maybe in tandem with the leaders this time. Maybe the third set (assuming it gets here) will be given over to conversions.

But that's enough of painting: the next Dungeon Saga update will involve some dice being rolled!