Showcase: Soulblight Gravelords Skeleton Warrior (incl. paint recipes)

Fellow creatures of the night, I couldn’t resist the Soulblight curse and feel the urge to expand my Nighthaunt collection with a battalion of scrambling skeletal warriors. I started painting a test model to find the perfect shade of bone that’s also fast and easy to paint. If you want to know more, check out this post.

I’m still pretty fond of the “old” Skeleton Warriors. Granted, the casts aren’t as sharp as modern digitally designed models (and the mould lines are also rather prominent due to the age of this set), but the kit is so unbelievably multi-part, it’s such a blast to assemble. 10 different pairs of legs, over 10 upper bodies, over 20 heads, separate shields in multiple designs, ball-and-socket joints for the arms, cross-compatible with the Grave Guard kit. It’s a shame GW doesn’t do kits like this anymore.

Actually, I wanted to start a Vampire Counts army back in the day when these Skeleton Warriors were released, as the models blew me away back then, but I never got around to it. Now, in the Age of Sigmar, the stars have finally aligned. I’m thinking of an allied contingent of Skeleton Warriors, Grave Guard, and a Wight King, marching along my Nighthaunt procession. Maybe I’m also going to paint a few Vampires to go along with them (looking at the female Vampire from the Crimson Court warband especially).

Here you can see how the Skeleton Warrior looks next to a Spirit Host from my Nighthaunt collection. I painted the tattered rags on the Skeleton in the same colours as the spectral bodies of my Nighthaunt to unify both forces. My Skeletons will be of Neferata’s Legion of Blood, as purple is one of Neferata’s favoured colours, and I also like her reliance on Skeleton Warriors, as I don’t plan to paint any Zombies.

Here are the paint recipes:

Primer: Wraithbone

Bone
Wash: Wyldwood / Contrast Medium 1:10
Layer: Wraithbone with a little bit of P3 Beast Hide (only where needed to remove pooling)
Highlight: Pallid Wych Flesh

Purple rags
Basecoat: Corax White
Wash: Naggaroth Night / Contrast Medium 1:6
Drybrush/Layer: Corax White
Highlight: VMC White

Purple shield
Basecoat: Phoenician Purple
Wash: Shyish Purple / Lahmian Medium 1:1
Highlight: Xereus Purple
Highlight: Dechala Lilac
Sponge Weathering: VMC Black, VMeC Dark Steel, VMeC Light Steel

Bronze
Basecoat: Balthasar Gold
Wash: TAP Strong Tone Ink
Recess wash verdigris: Coelia Greenshade
Recess wash verdigris: TAP Wizards Orb / Contrast Medium 1:1
Highlight: GSW Gladius Bronze

Rusty Steel
Basecoat: VMeC Light Steel
2x Wash: TAP Dark Tone Ink / Contrast Medium 1:1
Wash: Reikland Fleshshade Gloss
Recess shade: Gore-grunta Fur

Abbreviations: OOP = old Citadel paint range (out of production), VGC = Vallejo Game Color, VMC = Vallejo Model Color, VMechaC = Vallejo Mecha Color, P3 = Privateer Press Formula P3, TAP = The Army Painter Warpaints, RMS = Reaper Master Series, GSW = Greenstuff World, S75 = Scale 75 Scale Color

Hope you enjoy my take on the classic Skeleton Warrior models. Let me know in the comments section if you prefer these or the new ones, and leave a reaction if you like my paint job.