I, for one, welcome our new undead overlords!

The Ahmunites are coming!  The Ahmunites are coming!

But I thought this was the Empire of Dust?  Don't be confused - Ahmunites are the name of the people whose corpses make up the Empire of Dust (much like the various Kingdoms of Men).

The Empire of Dust has arrived. Well at least it is starting to come into the Mantic warehouse.  Boxes have been spotted, the painters are almost complete, and the army is off at the end of the week for photography.

boxes of empire of dust in the mantic warehouse

Mantic is gearing up for the release - their COO even changed the Kings of War Fanatics banner to help to get things pumping.

I should have recognized the beautiful, clean style of the paint job - as I've seen his stuff so many times before.  One of my favorite painters - Brandon Palmer of GMM Studios did the paint job and the display.  I found a picture from Mengel Miniatures of the entire army on display.

Brandon is known for his awesome armies - like the Monty Python Ogres and the Rhyme of the Marianburg Merchant.- check out his gallery of displays (and I was foolish enough to think I ever stood a chance competing against him, even with the gimmick of giving away free beer on tap on my display).  Not only that, but he paints up the charity raffle army given away every year at Adepticon. His displays are also fantastic - his cart for his Ogres was what gave me the idea for a cart to hold my beer keg.  I am really enthused that Brandon is working with Mantic.  I don't know many painters, but he is one that can really make a model look fantastic.

But honestly, that isn't what you want to see.  It is the minis in the flesh, well bones, that you want.

a shot of the army

The enslaved guardians look to be a huge hit with people - coming with variations to have 2 handed weapons or huge crossbows.  The pictures of the painted models make my mouth water - well it would if the desert weren't drying it out already.

with crossbows

and two handed weapons

The skeleton warriors are just as bad ass as the guardians.  In the past their hybrid (i.e. plastic and metal) have not been that exciting for most people, but these are just looking better and better.  Using the existing plastic legs, with new metal bodies and heads.

skeleton warriors

The archers look just as good as the warriors

skeleton archers

another unit of skeleton archers

The balefire catapults put some long range firepower.  This is an easy one - they simply changed the front piece of the catapult and one of the crew.

Of course to complete the ranged attacks, you need artillery

I'll be honest - I haven't been a big fan of Mantic's mummy sculpts - but Brandon makes me want some!  (And they are also and excellent unit stat wise - my son runs them in his undead army with great success).

mummies - much improved

You need revenants to give some punch to you battle line as well.

Two handed weapons or better armor - which do you choose?

Of course you need some heroes to support your troops

I can't do him justice - check out his Facebook page for the army yourself.

He tweeted some in-progress pictures of the display (if you are like me and want to see a bit of what goes on behind the curtain):

The start of the tomb before any painting

some basecoats

and the finished display

Because it is all fun and games . . .