The dead rise again!

The Headless Horseman!

28mm scale

In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen, black, and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveller.

The ghostly Hessian rides through Sleepy Hollow again, seeking a replacement for his head, shot off in battle!

This was painted as a gift for a horror- and Halloween-loving friend.  I don't do mounted figures very often, but this was a pleasure.  The dark, glossy black coat of the horse came together surprisingly easily, and it's just such a dramatic figure overall.  Dark undercoating did a lot of work towards the mood here too.  

I have no idea where the figure itself is from, I received it in an exchange many years ago.

Skeleton Warband

28mm

 Do this rattling squad of undead freebooters obey the foul will of some evil overlord?  Or do they roam of their own accord, seeking to pillage and kill?  They may be "lowly skeletons" but don't ever underestimate their menace...

A fun assortment of Reaper figures, led by Rictus the Undying.  The three mooks were modified for character with the addition of various items, and a weapon swap.  I especially like the axeman with the afro, he's inspired by "Brook" from the anime One Piece 😁

Rural horrors

Karl Greever was in town a while back, talking about some meteor that fell out on his property. Said he bet it was full of gold an' diamonds and he was going to get rich.  We laughed, 'cause he was always full of big ideas that went nowhere.  Nobody saw him around for a while then, so Pastor sent his boy up there with some food.  He ran back saying old Greever looked green an' half-rotten, an' attacked him with a shovel!  Even left his bicycle, but nobody wanted to go fetch it...

Heaven only knows what Cindy Jane got herself into.  Maybe she touched somethin' unsavory out in the back woods, and got 'fected.  Or maybe she got to readin' one of her great-grandpa's queer old books up in the attic.  Whatever it was, she just ain't herself lately. Used to be such a chatterbox, an' now all she seems to do is gurgle.  An' that arm of hers - never seen anything like it.  Hope I never do again.

Both of these ghastly individuals are 28 mm "Mansions of Madness" figures.

Spooktober-Orctober

I had fun painting up a few Halloween themed minis this year!  I kept them fun and quick, and I think they turned out pretty well!  All of these are from my stash of old minis, and several had made it as far as being cleaned up and glued to a base before my attention... wandered.

Skeleton and Wolfman
28mm

A bone-chilling pair!  The classic Wolfman is a Reaper figure, the gangly skeleton is Confrontation.

Man-Bat
28mm

This one is an old Wizkids HeroClix miniature of Batman's beastly counterpart "Man-Bat".

And this Orctober Orc soldier, which is a very deep dive into the lead pile indeed...

Who knows where this guy is from, though a good guess might be pre-slotta Citadel...  I love his hangdog attitude and crude appearance, he's really the most expendable tier of greenskin grunts.

Evil Elephant

Chaugnar Faughn

(sort of) 28mm scale

"Originally from a dimension very different from our own, Chaugnar Faugn travelled to Earth in its far distant past.  Chaugnar Faugn appears as a 'statue' made from an unidentifiable element of a disgusting humanoid hybrid creature which combines the very worst aspects of the octopus, elephant, and human being. His proboscoid trunk sports a horrible lamprey-like mouth at the tip, which Chaugnar uses to drain his prey of their essence. This process also causes the victim to slowly transform into the likeness of The Elephant God himself." - Monster Wiki

This monstrosity is a Cthulhu Wars plastic figure.  It was my first paint job done using underpainting, so I painted the whole thing black, dry brushed it in light gray and white, and then glazed over it with thin colors.  I made the gore stretching from its proboscis to its claws using hot glue.

The Maiden's Embrace

Iron Maiden
28mm scale

Yo, I'll hug a girl like it don't mean nothin'
Then turn around and start huggin' her cousin
I don't love 'em, end of the f***in' discussion
Got 'em tucked between my wings like thanksgiving stuffing

Forced into the chamber, the hapless victim screams in terror as the doors are slammed closed, impaling them on countless iron spikes.  A horrific fate for usurper, rebel, or heretic...

Despite the Iron Maiden's central place in everyone's imagination of what a medieval torture chamber would look like... there's no actual evidence that any such device was constructed or used prior to the modern era. The most well-known example, the Maiden of Nuremberg, is a replica of a 19th century construction.  Nevertheless, any "torture museum" tourist trap worth its salt can be expected to have one on display.

This particular example is from WizKids Deep Cuts, with the skeletal victim added by me.

In the catacombs beneath his new home,
Howard makes a gruesome discovery...

Slave to the Power of Death

Tomb of the Screaming Pharaoh
15mm scale

Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don't wanna die, I'm a god
Why can't I live on?

 

 

It was said that the pharaoh Ser-Akh-Aten, seeking to escape not only bodily putrefaction but mortal death itself, entered a pact with forces far older and darker than the gods of his people.  He expired, shrieking in an incomprehensible tongue, his body grotesque and contorted, and was hastily mummified and interred under the Elder Sign by his priests, in the hopes his madness would be buried and forgotten.

It was not forgotten, and did not long stay buried...

 

He knew the Black Pharaoh
Servant to the Faceless Sphinx God
He gave me the book of the dead

 

These figures were a kind gift from CP Models.  I made the tomb from Fimo (the face) and insulation foam (the wall).

(A bit of a "Zardoz" vibe now that I think of it)

Doctor Death

Plague Doctor
28 mm

Ah, the classic medieval plague doctor.  Robed and masked to prevent infection, he might show up at your bedside to poke your armpits with a long stick and inevitably deliver tragic news to your loved ones.  Or he might... roam around the muddy streets with a skull on a chain, just being generally creepy.  Since they hadn't invented golf yet.

 

I actually love this figure, despite its odd choice of accessories.  The original CP Models figure had a ball and chain, but I felt that was pretty non sequitur, so I sculpted a (somewhat lantern-jawed) skull over it to provide a visual focus on what I'd already planned to be a very dark-coloured character.

 

 

I mixed a very brownish black for his robes, and a straight black for his mask; a subtle difference that's supposed to indicate the difference between fabric and leather, but is of course completely invisible in these photos.  Oh well...

Of course it's raining... it's always raining...

Happy Spooktober!

Indigenous spirit of greed

Wendigo

28mm scale

Blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'...
But I'm goin' hungry

Even if this wendigo figure from Bears Head Miniatures has more in common with recent horror movie depictions than traditional Anishnaabe legends, it's still a terrifying beast. It lurches through the snow, ravenous mouth forever hungry, its distinctly human forelimbs betraying its origins as an utterly corrupted soul.

In addition to reinforcing taboos against cannibalism, it's not hard to understand why a society living on the land, who relied on each other's cooperation every day, would believe that greed and selfishness could literally make you a monster.  The wendigo can also be understood as a symbol for rapacious acquisitiveness that throws an individual out of harmony with their community and environment... probably a metaphor worth paying attention to in our time.

On a technical note, I based this figure on a craft plywood disc covered in Fimo.  It's metal so I was able to sculpt the stump and rocks, and bake it, figure and all, before adding the skull and a stick as a taller tree trunk.  I used Golden acrylic gel medium mixed with bluish-white paint, sprinkled with baking soda when still wet, as the snow. Hopefully this will avoid it yellowing in the future.

A more traditional depiction of the wendigo,

by Ojibwe artist Norval Morrisseau

Nec-romance on the Nile

Mummy Couple

28 mm

My boyfriend's back

and you're gonna be in trouble

I recently picked up this charming pair of mummies from Bears Head Miniatures' latest Kickstarter.  I've enjoyed painting mummies in the past; they're usually a quick job because it's hard to fuss over something that's basically a bundle of leathery skin and brittle rags.  That said, I really like these lurching, malevolent sculpts, so make them a bit special I gave them some hieroglyphic bases:

I'll admit, I don't think these say anything in particular, I just picked some symbols that weren't too hard to make. The one on the right does contain part of the cartouche of Thutmose III, so perhaps that's who the male here is (prior to his final rest in the Cairo Museum)...

Exploring a newly-unearthed tomb, Lord Smedley-Smythe
was sure the rustling he heard was just the wind...

Into the Spider-verse

Mother of Spiders
28 mm scale (~40 mm)

The subterranean world holds many mysteries and terrors... savage driders, huge cavern crawlers, slimes, myconids, and more.  The looming Mother of Spiders is one of the most cryptic.  Rumored to roam the caves, accompanied by a swarm of venomous arachnids, she has been said to lead explorers astray, attack them, or even strike bargains in exchange for tasks or items from the surface.

Added stalagmites and extra spidery goodness... 

The Mother of Spiders is a Bear's Head miniature.

Captain Esmeralda and her crew encounter a terrifying hag as they
search the seaside caverns for Butcher Sutcliff's treasure hoard.

Bump in the Night

HP Lovecraft, Paranormal Investigator
28mm

I opened the door and went out in the gallery toward the stairs to my study, ******-Man following at my heels. Before we had reached the stone steps, however, the cat darted ahead of me and vanished down the ancient flight. As I descended the stairs myself, I became suddenly aware of sounds in the great room below; sounds of a nature which could not be mistaken. The oak-panelled walls were alive with rats, scampering and milling, whilst ******-Man was racing about with the fury of a baffled hunter.  
- "The Rats in the Walls"

Another great Bears Head figure, of the (in)famous horror writer H.P. Lovecraft as an investigator in his own mythos. Accompanying him here is his brave cat of unspeakable name, ready to take on any paranormal threat to his master.

This is actually the second figure of Lovecraft I've painted.  It's perhaps less dramatic than the first, but I think I might actually like it even more.  The face is less gaunt and exaggerated and he has a lot of gaming potential for those who play mythos games.  The cat is an old Reaper familiar which I think really adds a lot to his character (as well as referencing the classic HPL story "The Rats in the Walls").

"He went that way!"

(Cultists courtesy of winnipegmichael!)

A bloodsucker born every minute

Cyberpunk Vampire
28 mm

Before the morning can break we retire
The searing heat of the sun we avoid
Await the dark, proud Walachian fighters
Armata strigoi

I have absolutely no idea where this amazing figure is from; I found it in a bitz bin at Nexus Games in Kingston ON a few years ago.  It's cast in delicate light blue resin with a fair amount of flash, so I don't think it was from a board game:

Anyway I was very excited to finally paint it, and it didn't disappoint!  What a cool character.  He's got a mix of high-tech and medieval style armor, and he's wearing an IV that constantly feeds him blood for that all-night vampire fix...

"You must be new in town!  No wonder you haven't met Mr. Pointy..."