Sunday, June 25, 2017

Reaper Vampire, Matthias the Twisted


I bought this figure with some other Reaper figures with intent to sell them, over a decade ago when I first started selling my painted figures and taking commissions. I did two or three others first and by that time had generated enough interest to keep the commissions coming in, and quickly found people were willing to pay something more reasonable for exactly the figure they wanted painted. I actually bought two of this same sculpt, though, one for me as I liked it so much. I started this one to sell and was off to a good start, but never got back to it. Now that I finally finished it it can be the one I keep for myself.



This is Reaper Dark Heaven 02867: Matthias the Twisted. My hat off to Bobby Jackson on this one, it's one of my favorites from him. That scary, hideous face is awesome as are his knock-kneed gait and his little rat friends. A classic vampire of the nosferatu ilk, or "necrarch," in Warhammer Vampire Counts lore.

I really took my time with this figure back then and it's up to my "competition standard." When coming back to finish it off I mainly had to just decide not to do a few bells and whistles I had originally intended like freehand on the red fringe, and do the metals, which were originally going to be NMM. I've always like metallic better for my own figures, but it only took painting a few figures for competitions and for cash to have the preference for NMM (at the time) show clearly. I take pleasure in the distressed ragged bottom of the cloak, the little green gem, the eyes, and the shading of his fingernails.

He is the leader of a Mordheim undead warband, BTW, and his minions are coming up soon. Three ghouls and two giant black dogs are already done and awaiting varnishing.

16 comments:

  1. Yeah, he's a proper Vampire for sure. Great paint job Ryder :)

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  2. Love it! The earthy tones help guide your eyes to his face yet bear close scrutiny in and of themselves. I like the green sword hilt and his sunken eyes - little details that help contribute to the coherence of the figure.

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  3. It's definitely necro-badass!
    Your paintjob pulled out the best sculpt had to offer.

    Are your other Mordheimers also from Reaper?

    -Demi-

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    1. Thanks! I love the original Mordheim figures and most of my collection are those. But for the undead warband in particular there are a few more reaper figures. Human Reaper figures tower over GW figures but the Vampire and a grave digger I have work well as really tall characters. The others are non-human so scale isn't an issue. I have some Reaper hellhounds painted as black dogs, some ghouls, and a (ghoulish) monkey with scythe.

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    2. Waiting to see them alltogether then,

      Once day I finally have to give Reaper's stuff a chance :)

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  4. Yikes! That's a scary face! Very nice work on this fellow.

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  5. Cracking paintjob on a lovely figure! Well done.

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  6. Whoa! Both the sculpt and your paint job are terrifyingly incredible! There's no romance or glamour about this vampire, he's just a hideous, ageless predator :O I love his cloak: obviously once a luxurious garment but crumbling with the uncounted years of his awful existence.

    (via Leadplague)

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  7. Looks great! I really like what you did with this one.

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  8. Great! I think that Reaper is a good source for Mordheim figures. I forgot to ask if you are on the Oldhammer in The New World Facebook group. This picture would be a good illustration of using proxies for Mordheim.

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  9. This is one is probably my favorite model you've done. Excellent work
    -Tyler

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  10. Yikes! That's a scary face! Very nice work on this fellow.
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  11. I like it a lot, especially the face. Scary!

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