Citadel Undead Diorama Remake - Completed

  Well, after the best part of a year, with a four month break during the summer, my diorama remake is finally complete. 

 I have to admit, the last month was a bit of a slog and I can't see myself painting anymore zombies anytime soon! There were one or two zombie new additions this time and one or two that missed out, mainly due to the smaller base size and I ran out of room.

 Another new feature is the tree which is a 3D print from the excellent Critical Terrain. Its presence against the skyline gives the whole piece an extra dynamic. It's the first time I've actually ever painted a tree and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 

 Ultimately, I'm so glad I went for this, after a long time seeing the old version in the cabinet and feeling it wasn't up to scratch.

 So, I've spent the last few days wondering what will be next. I think the upcoming weeks will be spent working on single miniatures and keeping it simple, rather than any specific projects. 

Citadel Undead Diorama Remake - Phase Four

 

 This phase took an absolute age to complete, mainly due to a massive work schedule. Anyway, it's done now. This phase features the diorama's prime antagonist, The Liche King.

 A classic undead cavalry model, he is the ideal general for any undead army. The only downside with him is he doesn't seem to fit any steed properly, which huge gaps either side so I had to sculpt a cloak extension to deal with this issue.

 As before, he is accompanied by a small retinue made up of one of each of the Nightmare Legion troopers and a skeleton horseman (from the Lord of the Rings Dead Men of Dunharrow set).

 As a feature on the base, I added a small puddle made from Vallejo Still Water liquid resin. This took about six days to create, as I needed three layers of the stuff as it takes a couple of days for each layer to set, plus it tends to shrink back a fair bit each time. 

 The next phase will be a fairly significant background section which will involve giving the diorama some much needed height that features the shrine atop a small hill and the remaining adventurers.

Citadel Undead Diorama Remake - Phase Three

 

 So I now have the latest phase completed and on schedule. This is the most gruesome part of the diorama where we see that a tomb has been desecrated, in the search of a treasured and possible all important artifact.

 A poor unfortunate from one of the nearby villages, acting as a guide for the adventuring party, had probably fancied his chances of getting in on the glory until his untimely, gruesome demise.

 The corpse is that of a Citadel Dogs of War Fighter casualty, whose head I removed. The half-buried sarcophagus is, like the gravestones for this piece, part of the Arcane Architecture range - the lid from a two part set.

 With virtually all of the foreground complete, the next phase will be the diorama's prime antagonist, which I hope to have ready by the end of the week. 

 Meanwhile, here is a shot of all three phases completed so far.

Citadel Undead Diorama Remake - Phase Two

 

 So I've managed to wrap up Phase Two of the diorama, which is pretty much the entire front area now. This part features more reanimated skeletons plus another one of the adventuring party, a dwarf slayer.

 As before, the slayer model is Kimril Giantslayer from the classic Dwarf Lords of Legend box set, who cuts an ideal pose for what I'm after. 

 As I've gone for a smaller base, as well as a different shape this time, there was less area to play around with on a circular base so it was a bit of a task to fit everything in. I had to juggle a bit and swap the skeletons around, also making sure nothing was too bunched up or blocked from view. 

 Trying to accommodate models in a slightly reduced area is going to be an ongoing challenge with future phases in this project but I think this one was probably the most awkward. 

Phases One and Two Combined

 I've already made a start on Phase Three which has some slight alterations from before with a small extra feature or two. I'm hoping to have this ready to show in a couple of weeks.

 

Citadel Undead Diorama Remake - Phase One

 

 Way back in 2016, I spent several months working on what was my largest project to date, a diorama featuring predominantly undead models encountering a small adventuring party. At the time, I was extremely pleased with the result, especially as I'd originally hatched the idea way back in 2001 and had finally taken it from a sketch on a piece of paper to a finished article.

The diorama in its original incarnation 

 In recent times, however, it had been niggling me, it sat in one of my cabinets surround by other models with superior paint jobs. I thought "If it was a smaller, less significant piece, I would have boxed it up by now and given the cabinet space to something more deserving." This played on my mind more and more until late last year I made a brave and potentially foolhardy decision to dismantle it and remake it. 

 I have to admit there was a sense of regret for like a split second as I took a hammer and chisel to each model to painstakingly remove them from the base, thankfully with minimal damage. I decided to repaint the corpse and gallows first, just because it was the easiest part to remove really.

 I felt the first proper phase to take on should be the front central area where the heroic fighter Gladius is prepared to do battle with an armoured zombie warrior, stood over a wounded knight. I had painted Gladius a while back for an adventuring party so decided to give this one an identical colour scheme. Makes sense really. 

 The knight, who is from the old Citadel Rock Dragon set, was painted in a different scheme to before plus the zombie has had a more weathered and rusted look. 

 The base from the original diorama was something that had bothered me greatly in recent times and that played a key role in me deciding to completely redo it. 

  With Phase One complete, the next part will be another foreground area, featuring the Dwarf slayer and several skeletons rising from their graves, which I'm aiming to have finished off sometime next week. 

100th Post - 'Demonslayers' Citadel Diorama

 So what with it being my 100th post, I wanted to make a bit of an effort with it so here is, like my diorama from last year another idea that I'd initially devised many years ago. I've always been a massive fan of the Citadel Balrog from the BME3 Lord of the Rings set from 1987; I'd say it's personally my favourite Nick Bibby sculpt (preferred even to the spined dragon). I always thought its pose was perfect for some kind of aerial duel and was keen to find a suitable flying opponent to make this idea a reality.

 Now this idea has gone through more teething problems than I care to remember. Originally I'd intended for the balrog to be lanced by a knight mounted on pegasus in mid air but there had always been issues with weight. The intended figure's (the 90's version) arm - a separate piece would never bear it's own suspended weight. After trying a few unsuccessful mock up ideas and alternative figures, I had to admit defeat.

 Then a few months ago I was discussing the predicament with Rochie (and he gets shed loads of credit here) and he suggested an alternative approach with the possibility of some kind of lawful demon as an adversary. The penny dropped and I thought of the C34 Demons of Law.
 I've always thought "They're classic, they're lovely but I'll never paint them." but now they had a purpose.

 What's more, being considerably less weighty that a knight on pegasus, there shouldn't be any issues suspending them I mid air. The most challenging part would be drilling down through their respective spears and swords in order to substantiality pin them to the demon.

 The base itself required the right balance of not looking too barren or over crowded.

A fallen knight with panicked steed

Long dead unfortunates - former victims of the demon

 The base and rock pinnacle is made from a core of milliput and an outer layer of green stuff. The base texture is actually a mold press taken from the base of a 54mm napoleonic model. Here's a few WIP shots.

There is a stainless steel rod from the right knee travelling down through the pinnacle of rock to the wooden base

Early stages of the base with milliput core and green stuff top layer

Beginning to add the rocks

Temporarily fitting the top half of the balrog to the bottom for the first time

 So that's all my bucket list projects accounted for now. Time to start planning something else that I can produce in another 10 years or more.

Citadel Undead Diorama - A 15 year old dream that became reality

 We all have a long term project that someday we hope to fulfill; a magnum opus if you like. With Jodorowsky it was Dune, with Kubrick it was Napoleon but I've gone one better than those fellas and have actually completed what will probably be my largest ever project.

 Firstly, I have to cast my mind back 15 years to the beginning....

 The year was 2001. I'd been thinking of attempting something on a large scale for some time but hadn't come to any cast iron decisions, until I'd been studying John Blanche's epic undead diorama, that we all know and love, and decided to attempt something inspired by his work but on a considerably smaller scale. After finalising the scene content on paper it was time to pick what figures were going to be used, give mail order a call and wait for a parcel. After a brief and deeply disappointing phone call, I learned that all the old classic stuff was now out of production and had been for about a year. I'd had a year or so out from the hobby at that point so I had been none the wiser.
 So that was that; the idea was shelved before it even got further than a sheet of A4.
 Two years on and the flatlined project received a lifeline thanks to eBay. Several months down the line, I had been able to amass every figure I'd planned to be included in the diorama. Then, after painting two or three of them, the project stalled....and that's how it remained until last October.

 After deciding to properly go for it, I purchased a base and began with the foreground. After completing that and making a start on the middle section I felt I had to take a break from it for a bit. In fact, I only resumed it last month when I fully felt I had the free time and stamina.

 My main psychological challenge was the zombies. Great figs that they are, they do have a tendency to be a bit undistinguishable (what the fuck is flesh and what is bone etc) and painting a lot of them was going to be a test. Thankfully once I got my rhythm going they came thick and fast.

 I had never planned on any story background for this piece, more 'make of it what you will'.

So the project has finally come to a close. It'll be strange not to have it on my to do list after all this time. Now I'll have to turn my thoughts to something else. I ought to give myself a break for a fortnight or so but the momentum is still with me so onwards and upwards!