Get Him to the [Village] Green: the Road to An Atrous Myre pt2

To recap: I was previously leaning towards - and had prepared - a mixture of blood and/or bone models to fill my undead ranks. So far we had two very bony skeletons, plus a skull-faced fish demon and a cheeky little graveyard guardian, both of whom could probably double up as either blood or bone models. This was about a week and a half before I was scheduled to fly out, so I had a couple days to build any remaining models, then a couple days to paint them (I was still actively painting the horse revenant to lead my force shown off in part 1).

I was elbow deep in my bitz box making Ratking models out of AoS Gutrippaz sent to me by Terry at Hive Scum and figured I could hack up a cool ghoul-looking blood guy out of one of the duplicates. Obviously, he would need a skull head to a) make him less orcish and b) blend him in with the other models I'd committed to thus far. I found a few skulls that fit well enough, but later stumbled on a PERFECT head from a used glaivewraith stalker. I had acquired said stalker in a bitz box, given it to my buddy Mike for a project to get him his hobby mojo back, but snipped off the skull for my own uses first under the pretense of forcing him to do some cool kitbash work with it (but truthfully because hooded horse skulls are metal as fuck). That tangent to say, the cloth elements on the base Kruleboy and the Glaivewraith skull lined up almost perfectly. There was even a little sculpted seam run down the hood of the orc and the skull in the same position. I had to shave away some of the shield to give the illusion of cloths draped overtop of it, then with a couple rounds of sprue goo it was perfect.

The bone and cloth were easily rendered in colors I had already used across the warband. For the skin, I started layering up some sickly greenish tones using mixes of these colors (namely, Abyssal Blue and Bleached Bone) with Nurgling Green added for the midtone. Unintentionally, I think I channeled a bit of my buddy Matt Cantor's (@squared_paints) ghoul skin tones...which had the added effect of making me try really, really hard to paint and blend the skin smoothly. It's certainly not going to beat Matt out for a Golden Demon any time soon, but I think it too the most of my painting time out of this project and I am commensurately proud with the results.

After priming but before painting, I also added some spikes I copied using oyumaru/blue stuff molds of a beastman shield and some milliput. Helped smooth out the texture of filing down the Orc details.

Speaking of time spent on this project, let's ignore the skull-headed, serpentine elephant in the room and INSTEAD talk about:

With less than one week to my flight abroad, I figured it was the perfect time to procrastinate building and painting the warband with another extraneous element: a display box. I know the New England War Council rocks up to all their narrative events with these bad boys and, while I'm not on the council, again I wanted to give it my all for traveling so far for this shindig abroad. I picked up a cheap box at Michaels and drew up some concept sketches for my plan of attack.

At this point the event details were public knowledge, with our gatherings descending into once-flooded ruins in search of treasure, glory, or evil knowledge. I wanted my display to depict models at the edge of once such submerged opening, descending in catabasis into the tunnels and tombs below. I mocked up a sketch of some steps leading below as well as an abandoned aquaduct or loch for my fish to be traversing, almost a vanguard for the force. As Martin McCoy's art was a big draw for me into this game, I wanted to feature one of his art pieces from the rules in the background, as though we were looking at a zoomed-in vignette of the Endless City sprawling into the background.

I deliberately cut my foam shapes on an angle to make the most of it's surface area on different tiers for stacking models with different base sizes, so wider and narrower bases could stand side-by-side without wasting space.

I added some arches to house models, mocked up some stairs (which didn't make the final cut) and added layers of foamcore stone brickwork.

You can see here how, much like an ancient builder, I got carried away at multiple stages and either had to rebuild areas where I ignored the old "measure twice, cut once" adage or added additional facades of stonework over the XPS foundation.

As I had based the fishy undead as though it were slithering onto half-sunken stonework from a receding waterway, I needed one area of the box to have a similar floorplan. I broke away chunks of stone from the surrounding archway to give the impression of a wall burst through from the other side. I carefully milled off layers of the floor to make room for a pool where I would later add UV resin for a water effect to match the base.

Still in denial at this point about what my list would look like (or maybe wanting to show off my wholly original sculpts and kitbashes) I started mocking up a second set of foam ruins to go on the shallower, lefthand side of the box's lid where I could store my other gathering of Blood models. Whereas the righthand side would show the force descending from the outside into the subterranean Myre, I hoped the lefthand side would be a sort of cross-section into those dank, twisting tunnels.

Here's how the lefthand side of the box turned out; I still intend to go back and resolve my far grander vision of an undergrand temple with arches and more levels...but done is better than perfect and time was of the essence. While I didn't end up bringing a backup warband in the case, I did bring these Ratking models (part two coming soon!) as a test run which worked out fairly well with the less developed layout.

You can see in earlier shots how I was tempted to go for sort of a blood red sky filter over the black and white book art. Based on the highlights and cold undershading on the minis I had already completed however, I decided to go with a dark blue filter instead. I carefully cut the backdrop into place, then used a glue stick underneath and some matte mod podge overtop to affix it. The mod podge seemed to white wash the piece quite a bit unfortunately, losing some of the more wispy buildings and monuments looming out in the distant background.

I debated painting the interior walls black, but wanted to restore some of the faded art and extend it onto the side instead. Using a lot of stippling and trial-and-error mixing dollar craft paints, I added some looming spires and wizardly towers to the left and right panels to match the vibe.

The finished tower on the righthand panel. I manually painted back in the towering necropolis on the back piece of art, as well as meticulously adding a big skull shaped monolith in the corner. It came out passable I think.

For the section of broken wall where the snake would be emerging from, I hand painted a background to give the illusion of depth like there were tunnels paved over leading to some deeper, darker ruin. With the foam facade over top of it, it looks really convincing.

The finished box interior! But doesn't one of these models look a little less...finished?

The joy of completing the box and getting some clear coat on it with only a few hours before my departure soon evaporated, replaced by the realization I still had to paint snake-skull-fish. The mini I was most inspired to bring in the beginning was now staring at me, waiting for my attention with nothing else to procrastinate on. With minimal bone and cloth to tie it in to the rest of my gathering, it felt intimidating figuring out how to incorporate colors into its scales, fins, and underbelly while looking cohesive with the other models.

First I tried carrying the pale bone colors onto the belly with the pale green from the Kruleboy skin on the fin tips, which just didn't look right to me. I tried a dark sea blue tint in the scales, also wasn't impressed. Reddish cloth was vibrant but too different from the rest of the gloomy warband, so I switched to black to contrast the bone. 

In retrospect, the light blue tint on the fins actually looks fine and I could have saved a lot of stress by going with that. Probably just needed to push it out of the ugly phase to match my more intentionally highlighted/blended models.

After lots of waffling about, I added some black washes and contrast to the scales to go for a glossy, eel-like look (England approved) and figured I'd finalize the details along my trip.

Stay tuned for the final installment where I recap my trip across the pond with some quick batreps and shots of the warband in action.

Get Him to the [Village] Green: the Road to An Atrous Myre pt1

In early 2024, Necropolis28 stole my heart with its ominous aesthetic, beautiful art by Martin McCoy, and rewarding "every action succeeds, to varying degrees" play style. I heard incredible things from Gage over at Hive Scum about the Argent Host event he attended earlier this year in January at a historic church in the English countryside, and later had the privilege of meeting fellow attendees and grimdark legends John (@brothers_of_rotburg_st), Sam (@cupboard_of_shame) and Harry (@oldworldpaintedblood) at Under the Dice 2025. They were all incredible chaps and fostered a desire in me to experience the grimdark Necropolis scene firsthand in the UK if the chance should arise.

About a month after Under the Dice 2025, tickets for Peter's next Necropolis28 event, the Atrous Myre, went up on discord. I was still riding high on grimdark gathering mania, looking to get more games in where I could. Although the event was held in the UK (about one ocean away from my residence in the US Northeast) the event was scheduled for the weekend before my 30th birthday, something deserving of as big an affair as some international travel. No hesitation, I bought the event ticket then and worried about how I'd make it across the pond (and explain my scheme to my supportive partner) later.

After a quick Google of what to expect from the words "Atrous" (black and murky) and Myre (miasmic and swampy), I started planning what I thought (foreshadowing) would become my gathering. On a trip to one of my FLGS, I picked up a few nautical themed D&D minis from the Wizkids line that could be good fodder for kitbashing some aquatic undead. Out of all these models, the one I ended up using for this project was a Wastrilith: basically a fish-headed snake demon with hook hands that hit a lot of notes for Necropolis28 with its slithering gait, weird fleshy skin molding into scales, and crudely mounted weapon appendages. To really cement the game it would be for, I removed the fish head and added a setting appropriate skull in its place, using some thin greenstuff strips to add a sort of head wrap to hide the join. Nolzur's flexible material doesn't always have the crispest detail so I preferred this over trying to hand sculpt delicate fish scales and blend them into the skull.

Readable miniature photography is my passion.

At this point I anticipated bringing a blood gathering to the event - zombies, mummies, ghouls and other such undead - as I already had some cracking models for it and a lot of experience playing it (read: exclusively playing it). Namely, a big flesh-golem (also with a flayed skull for a head) made using a dirt-cheap Magic the Gathering board game model and a big crawling hand coffin snail dude I sculpted by hand. I still didn't fully have a gathering roster prepared at this time, so I was banking on having models to inspire my list with WYSIWYG.

A lovely hand-sculpted...no that's the whole thing (ba dum tis), but not what made the final cut...

Anyone familiar with me and my neurodivergences knows that given about 3 months to prepare for a deadline, I'll spend as many as 2.5 months doing shit-all up until then. So it was with Myre. As well as less important things like airfare, lodging, etc. I put off the most important trip element - my gathering of undead - til the eleventh hour. Despite bashing up the skull-snake-fish (SSF) and wanting to carry that momentum forward, a number of other projects starting chewing away at my time like maggots on an aging corpse; a birthday gift for my girlfriend to tide over the "I spontaneously booked a trip to the UK" situation, a Trench Crusade warband to join a local campaign, etc. etc. So we come to the beginning of September, having spent July and August lurking in an undisturbed stasis of my own creation. This was about the time the post-procrastination anxiety started to motivate me, and I had to look long and hard at what models I could and should bring to the event. While I liked my existing Blood gathering, I knew I could up the ante for myself given Necropolis28 places emphasis on making the coolest boards and models possible. If I was paying an exorbitant sum to play in the UK circuit with the creator and co., by God I was gonna do so in style...

I dug through my collection and found a conveniently half-painted model that matched the aesthetic of SSF with, its flesh-and-blood body with a skull head: this delightful little Reaper minis figure I snagged at Under the Dice fest for a couple bucks. I bought him also with the intent of using him for Necropolis, thinking the cheeky gravedigger would make an excellent familiar to gather the mana tokens necessary for spellcasting. I had painted him surprisingly fast in my frenzy immediately after UtD and really liked the look I achieved on both the skull and the cloth; this would become the basis of the rest of my gathering in turn. If it ain't broke... 

By this point in the process of my gathering I just had to add was some highlights and pick out details, like the clasp strings on his robe and his feet.

Here is where decision paralysis set in. I had some absolutely incredible sculpts of models already partway painted in my collection. Unfortunately, they were pretty visible all bone and no blood, which put a dent in my previous plans of an a Blood warband. While it's possible to run a "mixed bag" gathering in the form of the Wretched Undead, I wanted to have as much overlapping visual language as possible to sell the models of different makes and eras as part of the same dread lich or revenant's demesne. I grabbed the coolest models I knew I could paint to a reasonable standard before the deadline, hoping whatever I finished would inform my list-building later on. Better to prep and paint too much than too little, at this point. Throwing severed body parts at the wall to see what sticks, in a sense.

One undead mini I was chomping at the bit to paint was the skeleton warrior from Jeremy of Black Magic Craft. I've been a huge fan of Jeremy's for years so when I met him at Adepticon 2025, I made sure to buy one of his physical bespoke models without eating the Canadian shipping costs. Also, I see a skeleton, I think of Necropolis28, I buy. The model was really nicely rendered and without having to get too weird with the color theory, a dark cloak over pale bone seemed a good choice. I threw Army Painter Grim Black speed paint over the cloak, highlighting up some, using a progression from AK Burnt Umber to Vampiric Flesh to Ivory on his bone and skulls, glazing some darker tones back in, then filling in details like pants, shoes, belts. It was fun spending a ton of time on the bone and breezing through everything else, only taking a couple hours to get this really cool model above tabletop standard.

Another one of my favorite, most unique miniature purchases from the year was a very cool barrow knight looking skeleton, from a Cool Mini or Not Kickstarter called Trudvang. I didn't support or even know about this Kickstarter; while in Los Angeles last Christmas and checking out hobby shops recommended by Tyler from billiondollarclownfarm, I found a bunch of these soft plastic models in a clearance bin. I snagged goblins, boars, and a troll shaman for Cauldron which I was playing practically every week at that point, but also saw this mounted menace and knew the perfect game for him. I had gotten some moody shaded bone on this guy and started blocking in his armor, but ultimately dropped the project when non-necropolis games grabbed my eye later that year. Seeing the groundwork already there and having some color ideas taken from the familiar in progress, I picked up the model again, put in the reps, and got him looking to a pretty classy standard I must say. Compared to most of the "white primer, bone contrast" skeletons and horses I've painted previously, this was a pretty proud moment for me.

The soft plastic on this guy made mold line cleanup unpleasant, but still a pretty great sculpt for the $5 it cost me. I trimmed off the derpy looking axe it came with and delicately pinned on a spare blade from a Cursed City skeleton for that ancient decay vibe. It also frames the silhouette much better imo.

Chronologically, I was still struggling about which models to bring and how to paint them, but I've split this post up into two chunks for length and coherency. Stay tuned for part 2!

Take a shot every time he says "Rat": a Ratking review or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the Grot

At my very first Adepticon this year, I hovered around the Grimdark alley a lot to check out as many small indie games as I could quietly watch and/or demo. Among the few games I didn't get to try out for myself, the one that left me most curious was a game where groups of 2, 3, or even more players tried to race around an industrial complex killing each other with ratmen while fleeing the jaws of one very big ratman, a matted mess of teeth.

This killer board created by Doom and Apathy Adam for Flames of Orion, if memory serves.

I would come to learn about Ratking, the beautiful brainchild of Robin aka Maude Bogbody aka the Queen of Rats by my standards. Unsurprisingly, she had sold out of her hard copies of the zine rules by the time I remembered to ask for a copy, but I promised to check it out at Under the Dice in a couple months, still curious about the rat-fuled commotion I had seen but not yet truly grasped.

Fast forward to Under the Dice fest, once again the last day of the event. I was moments away from playing in a star-studded game with Miscast Trent, "Witty" Wittle Goblin, and Paige @PMCIllustration (and maybe others??), all on the epic Mordheim board made by BlerzCraft and painted by Durzin. At the moment of setup however, my number was called to go get a rat of my own tattooed on my flesh skin for eternity and had to miss out. I was able to buy a copy for myself at least and frantically started pouring over its volumes, like a starved pack of vermin devouring the contents of a torn Hefty bag.

If you aren't familiar with Ratking, the gist is scavenging bands of rat-kin fighting over the collapsed remnants of your classic fantasy "larger than the lands above" empire of rats in the under-corners of the world. It has a great, playing card based set of mechanics and in addition to 2+ players competing for dosh and glory, the malign influence of the rat's long-dead general (betrayed by his subjects, as all powerful rats inevitably are) comes into being and starts absorbing your models into its mass--literally. The world building and lore reasons behind the game are a treat and I encourage you to check it out for yourself, I have hardly done it justice here despite my penchant for little ratling things.

In tandem with Ratking, I've also been reading a nonfiction treatise of rats by Robert Sullivan from a local free book pile. It discusses their history, their intersection with humans and our cities, and other fun tidbits.

There's a lot of good real world inspiration inside, which I devoured (see rat simile above) on my summer vacation before returning home and showing up to play Forbidden Psalm with my new friend Josh. Wouldn't you know it, Josh was also working on a killer warband of techno-lab rats for Ratking. High on inspiration and with someone to match wits and whiskers against, I was finally spurred to start bashing rats like Charlie Kelly.

I really like the Kruleboyz range of models from GW, their ragged, scarred, mostly-humanoid forms a great basis for grimdark kitbashery. I have a ton of secondhand Hobgrots sitting unused in a box, save for when I need a smaller, scrappier model to stand in for Cauldron or Forbidden Psalm. I found one with a snipped off head and gave it some quick-quick skull stitchery and had my first Sniffling (the smallest rat caste in Ratking) taking shape. I sculpted him a quick greenstuff tail with a thin wire armature and wrapping it around his sheathed knife for support; I'm a sucker for the trope of a prehensile-tailed humanoid with an extra knife gripped in it for fighting dirty. After putting the model on a basing scheme reused from my sewer/underground ruin themed Necropolis28 warband it was almost done.

I also cut and reattached the pommel and blade of his knife to be reversed. It helped the silhouette of the model better while also leaning into that dirty backstabbing rat vibe.

For skirmish games, I like to keep an internal consistency to my warbands aesthetically. I wanted to reuse deisign elements from the Kruleboyz for a Teether (the middlest rat) and grabbed some of their basic infantry kindly donated to me by Terry from Hive Scum. Another beheaded orc and a more impressive skaven noggin to suit his stature as my warband's petty tyrant, the giant rat who makes all of the rules. I thought about shaving down the Kruleboyz shield and sculpting some beaten copper or rotted wood, but wanted to try breaking up the source model in a more substantial way. I first tried a bloodletter arm and old Vampire Counts zombie hand, both of which were pretty spot on proportionally for the orc's intact spear arm, then covered the join with some rudimentary sculpting.

Jazz hand rat?

The more I looked at this model though, the less satisfied I became with it. The sizing of the new arm and hand were a great match, but the pose was both boring and confusing with just a limp hand in the air. As I was about to resign this model to the pile of shame yet again however, I found a bloodletter hand sporting a Beastmen(?) banner that I made for an unfinished Khorne Marine force over a decade ago. I really, really liked the way the banner looked with the raggedy rat model, and even the slight lean to the side of the model's pose seemed to compliment planting a standard well. Admittedly, a big horned flag is not the most elegant choice for a skirmish game that invites lots of cramped and vertical movement--but I think the juice is worth the squeeze in this case. I'd take a badass, hard-to-play-with mini over a boring, safe one any day.

Texture tips: Any sculpted GW plastic got a couple coats of stippled liquid greenstuff with some matt varnish to make it look more like old dirty cloth--a grimdark staple. I had some 28mm slipknots tied from baker's twine leftover from another project and liked the asymmetry it gave the banner, so I superglued it on after soaking it in wood glue to harden. On many of her models - rats or otherwise - Robin uses bits of real hair, fabric, and other materials as a combination gap-filler and texture, and I wanted to try this myself. I recently picked up some blue auto shop paper towels on a tip from Totally Not Panicking Matt for oil painting. In addition to not leaving little paper fibers all over oily models, they tear in a much more realistic looking way to emulate tattered fabric. I ripped up some teeny scraps from a used rag, then used extra thin superglue to adhere them while hardening them enough to preserve the edges. Caution: superglueing paper towel WILL cause toxic fumes \m/

I need at least a couple more rats to have a legal cellar band to play a game with and am already cooking up some more models in the background, albeit probably not built from Kruleboyz. Stay tuned, stay hungry, stay alive.