Out of the cold North he rides, at the head of a haggard host. Kuld, Witch King of the Long Lost Kingdom of the Northern realm. Long centuries ago, Kuld overthrew the King of that land and plunged it into everlasting darkness. Now this foul lord rules over a dead land. Often in the Autumn of a year he leads his armies south to raid and ravage the remaining Kingdoms of men.
This is Tom Meier's Witch King on Flying Charger which Tom sculpted for Ral Partha in the very late 70s or very early 80s. The curse of scale creep means that this old 'true25' mm scale model does not play well with the sculpts of later years, but I love Tom's work so much, I don't care. MY collection of his fantasy work from this era continues to grow.
Yar! Have at you!
The Witch King leads his skeleton regiment into battle.
Once strong and valiant fighting men of a fair realm, now these former warriors of the north are but automatons who work the will of the Master who slew them and despoiled thier home. Again, these are all Ral Partha sculpts from the late 70s and early 80s...
...except for the spearman on the right here, who I thought was a figure by Broadsword miniatures, but now I'm not sure.
I have two more skeleton regiments in the lead mountain, ready to join their bony brothers at some point in the future.
I have admired Tom Meier's wonderful Ral Partha Undead Dragon for a long, long time. I thought he'd be a perfect centerpiece for an undead army, but it took me a while to get up the nerve to paint him, I was so sure I would screw him up.
I think he came out okay, though.
The dread beast's baleful gaze...
The army's last unit, (for now) is this troop of Wraiths, powerful undead who work the will of their dread master through magic and fear...
That's a complete Warband ready to fight the Servants of the Yellow Tower. I do have my D&D zombies and Mummies to plus the Warband up if I need to, and I have two more Skeleton Regiments and a squadron of flying Wraith cavalry I need to paint up to really get the army complete. I think I'll do a battle report when I put these fellows up against the servants of Kobel Yar.
What a terrific post. Your text and pics really took me back to the good old days of Ral Partha - especially with the dragon. What a corking centre-piece he looks. I've not played Dragon Rampant yet, although I own both the book & painted some forces. But you've definitely given me a nudge to do so.
ReplyDeleteAhoy, blaxkleric! Thanks much, I'm glad you like them! I am working on some more d&d adventurers and monsters from this Era, hopefully I van get them finished soon. Dragon rampant is fun. Definitely worth giving it a go!
DeleteIt all looks great, but that Dragon eye is killer. I really dig the stories included with the art.
ReplyDeleteThanks, man! Let's try to get these 2 little armies on the table when you come up!
DeleteGreat post, amazing models and amazing paint job
ReplyDelete