Undead in Mordheim never really caught my attention back in the day. The first run models didn't appeal, and as a kid I didn't enjoy their particular style of play when compared to Skaven or Mercs. Even when I came back to the game and setting a while back and began planning out all the projects I wanted to try, your garden-variety rotters weren't on the agenda - Tomb Kings and Strigany, sure, but I still didn't really like the look of any of the models I could find.
The other week there, however, I spotted someone using the Corpse Cart zombies to make something far more appealing than the ancient plastic kit and I got one of those rolling sequence of inspiration thingies. A couple of wee bits orders and the customary hobby-knife offering to Khorne later and I have an Undead warband, evidently, hah.
First up is Lady Magdalena herself;
An enjoyable but irritating conversion. Shortening the length of her train turned out to be a lot more labour-intensive than I'd initially planned for, and she also needed to be reduced in height at the waist and feet to have more human(as opposed to Eldar) proportions. Still, she's perhaps my favourite model that I myself made in the group.
Next up is the first of my Dregs, and my favourite model that I'm just using(almost, I smoothed out his damaged shield) stock; "Young" Heinrich, Swain.
I love the Freelancer on-foot model, perhaps more than any other from the Mordheim range, but I've never fielded that particular hired sword and don't have any plans to, so using him here lets me (eventually) paint him up and use him on the table. The haggard, decaying nobility of him also perfectly suits the idea of a man like Heinrich - made a swain by the Lady when still a young man, his decades of enforced adoration have taken their toll.
Next are the other two Dregs, a pair of gravediggers named Dimme and Groat who serve the warband's Necromancer. Dimme hefts his crude shovel with enough force to split skulls like an axe, while Groat has affixed a rusty old speartip to the top of his lantern pole. Both haul sacks filled with the unspeakable fruits of their labours:
Then we have their master; Herr Zoeler. A fairly simple conversion since the base model is great, but getting the hanging skulls looking right was a pain in the arse.
For the henchmen, I'm using some old metal Ghouls from '98 as I much prefer them to the newer plastic ones, and for my Dire Wolves the usual Fenrisian Wolves:
Lastly, my own version of the aforementioned Corpse Cart zombies, with the addition of a lucky eBay score of the Sister of Sigmar zombie that I think came in with the Fanatic refresh of the warband:
And for now, that's the lot. I'd actually very much like to add the other Mordheim-specific zombies just to have them, and to have the option to run a very "wet" warband comp, but hoo-lordy they're pricey so for the moment I'm experimenting with making my own non-human zombies and we'll see how that goes.
As for the Morky bonus - I've been working on various greenskin warbands for a while now, and the moment I saw it I knew I wanted the new Ironjawz Shaman model for my Orcs & Goblins. Once I had it in hand, however, it just didn't seem quite right - too big, too gangly, the clothing too animated and a bit fragile for my taste - so I set it aside. While working on these guys though I needed something to put "waste" putty into(I always mix too much) and I remembered a piece of concept art for Total War: Warhammer featuring a robed and cowled Shaman. I decided to try and preserve the elements of the Ironjawz model I liked - the face, the staff, the overall pose - while pushing it towards a more traditional Orc look and shrinking it somewhat with cuts at the ankles, thighs, shoulders, and wrists allowing him to fit on a 30mm base and be less gigantic compared to my Big'uns and Boss:
Not sure what I'll be working on next, but I'm hoping the next update won't be months away :)
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