Using two figures from the Mantic undead sprue and some bits from the Mantic elves sprues I started working on a new project. At first I wanted to do the skeleton alone, but then I thought it was cool to add the undead dog and the dead elf from the


Everything is mounted on a plastic cup, which will be primed and painted black. I used some cork to make a surface for the base, then used some plaster to create the broken tiles and used some sand to fill everything up. Easy, but looks good. I might do a little picture tutorial on the plaster tiles later... I've taken some pictures of the progress.

Regular readers of my blog will know I got some exclusive preview sprues of the Mantic Games Elves last summer. Well, a while ago the guys at Mantic were so friendly to send me some undead sprues to check out.

And again they did a great job. Not everyone liked the design of the Elves, but I think these skeletons will appeal to a wider public. The figures are filled with bits of armor, chainmail, weaponry and shields. And again the sprues are filled with a huge amount of extra bits and options. Again the casting quality is very good.

There's no real reason not to buy these if you're looking for a cheap or better looking alternative for your favorite wargame's undead troops.

Personally I think I will take one skeleton from the sprue, add some bits to a base and paint it up. They look very tempting to paint :)

Time to reveal the first mystery package! It is actually a figure I ordered from Kabuki Models a while ago.

The order on the site was smoothly, and I was kept up to date when the order was processed. I expected the package to arrive a bit quicker, but it was still under two weeks shipping time. The website tells me the company is based in Italy, but I got e-mails from a Polish guy and in the end the package appeared to be shipped from the UK.

The figure itself is contained in a small cardboard box with a simple sticker on it:

The model itself consists of three parts: the body, head and the axe. There's a great sculpted base provided with the figure, featuring a pile of skulls, nice!

The overall quality of this figure is very high. There are some minor mould lines on the model, but nothing serious that can't be removed with a file or knife.

Here's official studio paintjob:

It's been about two months since I touched a paintbrush for the last time, as well as writing on this blog. I planned to take a short pause, something like two weeks, after finishing my Deathwing Terminators. But the pause turned into a two month hiatus because of some private things I had to take care of. First of all I bought a new house; we don't have the keys yet, but there's a lot of things to take care of. The plan is to move in this summer. And yes, there will be a dedicated painting room :) On top of that my kids have been ill most of the time. Nothing serious, just some seasonal colds, but it really soaks up your energy. Because of this I was having some problems getting into the painting mood again.

But the last week I have been gathering some inspiration and motivation again and decided I will soon return to the painting desk. As usual the Massive Voodo blog was a great source for inspiration. Remember the ball-painting competition I mentioned some time ago? Well both the entries and winners have been announced last week. Some great stuff there, very creative.

I also returned to my usual second home on the web: the Chest of Colors forums. I didn't really have time to catch up with all the recent posts, but one thing that drew my attention was Scibor's Dwarf king painted by YellowOne. This is one epic piece of painting and probably one of my favorite pieces so far.

This is what my desk looks like at the moment... empty, except for those two packages. I'll reveal what's in them very soon. They're most likely going to be my next projects.