"Wargames Factory Skeleton Warriors" Topic

I got a box of Wargames Factory Skeleton Warriors on Saturday. Saturday night I started on them. I had Monday off work, and after some final touches last night (Tuesday), they are done.

I did a super fast job on these guys. No frills.

The box of minis was $22. USD Assembly was time consuming – the parts for each model:

* head
* body
* 2 separate arms
* legs
* feet
* weapon(s) / shield

That's 7 or 8 separate parts per model. Assembly took longer than painting. Once I got in the groove, it went faster.

I primed them white with The Army Painter white. Then I painted the weapons and shields. Then I used The Army Painter Quickshade dip. Then a matte spray, and some minimal basing.

I've never used "the dip" before. I usually use ink washes. I did not dip, I brushed it on. Well, I dipped one, and decided brushing on was easier. Thoughts on dip:

* The dip needs mineral spirits to clean up.
* When using ink wash, what it looks like dry is different than what it looks like wet. You have to kind of "over do it" with ink wash so that when it dries, it's present enough. Not so with dip. It dries exactly like it looks when wet.
* It smells.
* It dries shiny.

About Army Painter White primer: It should only be used in cases like this. It's so "slippery" that paint doesn't stick to it very well. I would not recommend it as a general purpose white primer. I use Army Painter color primers all the time, and none of them have this "slippery" issue like the white does.

On assembly:

* Model cement (aka plastic cement) is essential for these models.

When attaching the feet:

* Leave the bar attaching the 2 feet intact.
* Make sure they are right side up
* Different feet are pre-spaced by the connecting bar to specific legs
* Make sure you have the pelvis facing the right way
* AFTER the glue is totally dry, then snip the connecting bar off.

I have a lot of left over bits. Each sprue makes 6 skeletons, but has 10 heads, so I have plenty of skulls left over for base bits. Lots of left over weapons and shields, as well.

That's a good review – thank you!

Good timing, I was thinking of buying a pack or two for Frostgrave.

Thanks for this post. I bought a bunch of these to make a Dragon's Teeth HotT army to oppose the Greek Argonauts.

Best skeli's on the market in my opinion. You just need to have some patience with them.

You've done well by them – great job!

Nice job, and a great tip about the legs.

Those do look good.

Thanks for sharing.

Great report on some useful products. Odd bits for basing debris and conversions is always nice too. So six models to a sprue, how many sprues to the box? Or is it the thirty you have there for a full box content?

They give me the creeps – great job – I think you've done these really well.

Taking wargaming back to the bare bones! – Excellent!

Thanks everyone.

5 sprues in the box – 30 skeletons total. 6 skeletons per sprue, 6 spears, 6 swords (3 of each kind), 6 shields (3 of each kind), 3 bows and 3 quivers. I didn't make any bowmen. 10 heads, 6 bodies, 6 sets of legs (2 legs and the pelvis all as one piece) 6 sets of feet. A bunch of arms, more than you needs, so there's flexibility there.

Very Harryhausen

@blooddave

Did you wash the sprues in warm soapy water before priming them? I would have.

Try using the Army Painter Acrylic Washes, they are far superior (IMO) to their 'smelly' dips and are water soluble.

JimDuncanUK: I scrubbed each assembled mini with soapy water and a toothbrush. When I say "slippery" I mean the primer itself. The primer stuck to the plastic models just fine. It's the paint sticking to the primer that was more hit and miss.

I've had people tell me Army Painter primer was slippery before, but I've not encountered it myself until I used the white.

As far as wash, I do usually use Army Painter Ink washes. I've had this can of dip sitting around for a while and decided to give it a try.

I think the dip has it's advantages and disadvantages. I'll probably stick mostly to the ink washes.

@blooddave

I've never used Army Painter primers but I imagine it will be prone to typical spray paint problems. One of them might be that the spray can was not sufficiently shaken before use. It might be that the white pigment is a different consistency to the coloured pigments and needs extra agitation.

Or maybe the humidity was too high.

Maybe some others could comment on their experiences.

I picked up a box recently. I got through one skellie before I gave up. Handed them off to a friend, he got through 6 or so and he gave up. The rest will be bits for dungeon scenery. To fidgety to deal with.

Xin

Xintao: I totally understand. I found it best to have a few drinks first. :)

Thanks for the numbers! I can see many uses for these.

Those look nice!!

What's the diameter of the big round shields??
How long are the spears??

I ask as I want to do some conversions on my Bones Bugbears and they are really burly compared to humans so the shields need to be pretty large.

Thanks!

Does anyone else have these models that can answer my questions?

Thanks.

Sorry, I didn't see your Qs.

Thank You!!11!!
The shields would be a little smaller than I'd like, but better than nothing.
Both spears would be perfect.
And I could probably convert a few to be archers too.

Thanks Again !!