I have missed out on so much stuff! I have always loved the Criid crew, and in Malifaux terms it is one of the cheapest out there and one of the few with single piece (Witchling Stalkers) plastics. Great job on them...think I need more Guild.
Your marines look like a sizeable force already, some nice conversions in there too.
As for the SW stuff you are making them look great for what they are, Boba Fett is suitably bad ass
Lucius? Not yet although it is a very nice crew. I think the Missus has some Neverborn ready for my birthday next week though and she got me Bete Noire for Christmas. I have seen a lot of the SW stuff about, I think you are right about the RRP though just a bit too much for what it is.
Time for some pics. This time, more LotR, in form of the White Council. These are actually the old minis, but painted as they appear in The Battle of the Five Armies (in which their scene is surely a contender for the best in all 6 films).
First off, Saruman The Wise, probably my favourite character in the books and films.
Next, Elrond of Rivendell.
Galadriel, Lady of Light, and claimant of the single most awesome moment in BotFA
GD: What is it you don't like about the sculpt? I find the head is a bit large and not as good a likeness as some of the others (compared to Saruman and Gandalf especially).
I don't like the face as much, the sword looks like it's halfway between a cleaver and a katana (they don't look like that on purpose do they?) and he seems a bit short of the leg.
It's not bad, certainly no worse than some of the stuff reaper puts out, but doesn't seem as good as the other sculpts you've painted alongside him.
I see what you mean. The sword is a bit odd from a real-world perspective but is 'true' to the elven weapon design in LotR, which are katana-style but with thicker blades and longer handles. As for height, it may be a trick of the pose/angle, the as his waistline is a bit above the sword handle, but I can see what you're looking at.
Incidentally, he was one of the earliest LotR minis sculpted, I think.
Warning: The post below contains minor spoilers from the 3rd Hobbit film. Nothing that isn't in the trailers, though.
Firstly, some Spectral Nazgul, in the form they take to fight The White Council at Dol Guldur. Now, GW aren't likely to do these as models, but it turns out they already have, sort of... Digging through a box of pre-Warhammer Citadel metals, I came across a bunch of minis that do the job admirably. The paintjob is simple, just a black base and green-blue drybrush, but it works.
Rather an eclecting bunch, but the Wraiths as they appear in the film are quite varied as well, so I'm not overly bothered. For a bunch of minis that took only an hour to paint up, I'm happy.
Next are the rest of my first pledge for the January challlenge, the second rank of Easterlings, pikemen with a banner.
The lighting has messed up the golds on these, they're not that bad in real life, but I think I may need to hit them with another wash, especailly on the shields. Still, they pass the 3-foot test.
And finally, another repurposed old mini. Dain Ironfoot, the angriest Dwarf in Middle Earth, coming to Thorin's aid with 500 armed Dwarves and Moderate Bad Language. GW haven't made a mini for him, and doubtless this one is cheaper anyway (it cost 2 pence, for the base )
Oh, I do like Elrond myself despite the flaws, in terms of detailing he's a very nice model (and he was, I believe, the first model I attempted highlighting on many years ago, before the repaint). It's just his huge head I fine a little offputting, but in truth a hell of a lot of the early LotR metals were more towards the 'heroic' end of the spectrum compared to the plastics and later ones.
Saruman looks great, and yeah that fight scene was pretty cool with the 4 of them. I inda wish they would have shown something with Saruman going after Sauron. I guess thats when he turned.
40kFSU wrote: Saruman looks great, and yeah that fight scene was pretty cool with the 4 of them. I inda wish they would have shown something with Saruman going after Sauron. I guess thats when he turned.
It will probably be in the extended cut release to be honest. From the stuff I've read, Saruman sought to dissuade The White Council from attacking Dol Guldur in an effort to claim the One Ring for himself. Supposedly, this was when Gandalf's suspicions about Saruman started.
Yeah, Saruman was pretty keen on not attacking Sauron directly until he knew as much as he could about the Ring, that obsession was later what led to him seeking Sauron in the Palantir. The Palantir itself may well be in the extended cut, as one of the art books I have features a few pages on a vision Gandalf supposedly sees in it, of Smaug leading an army of Orcs and Trolls. The painting is pretty damn awesome, actually.
Anyway, ELVES!
First off, the bane of my early LotR-playing days, High Elf archers. One guy I used to play with would spam the hell out of these guys, and getting close to that was painful to say the least
Compared to the Easterlings, I'm much happier with how these golds came out. The secret? purple wash! I always figured that one was a bit of a myth, but no, it really does make gold metallics pop.
Next up, Arwen on horseback, carrying a wounded Frodo:
And Glorfindel. It's a shame the guy that defines the 'Badass Elf' genre in the books has a model that is actually pretty poor (in comparison). After the film-based models stopped the designs did seem to slip a bit, although there is a pretty awesome alternate sculpt I intend to get at some point. Anyway, here he is, in all his slightly-too-heroic-scaled glory:
And lastly, because I can't be accused of bias towards the point-ears, a Man of Gondor, standing in for Cirion of Amon Barad. This was actually an experiment in painting an 'Army of the Dead' mini to look, well, not dead, and I think it worked ok.
That's all for today, next will be some more Elves and maybe some Dwarves.
40kFSU wrote: man, I really need to branch out. I am a hopeless 40k addict. Your starting to inspire me to try something else. Your stuff looks great as always.
Hah, nothing wrong with sticking to one system, it means you actually get projects/armies finished! But I do advise branching out if you see something that takes your fancy, the more variety the better I find. Painting a true-scale High Elf is completely different from a Heroic Scale Terminator, which is again different from 32mm Malifaux stuff. Of course, if you want any pointers on starting off in any of the systems I've dabbled in here then I'm sure I can help out.
More stuff Hit mini Number 50 yesterday, which isn't bad. Part of me wants to go for 100 by the end of the month now, but we shall see what we shall see. Anyway, pics!
First off, the Iron Hills pikemen from Hobbit 3, converted from the plastic Hobbit 1 axemen. All weapons and shields are scratch built.
Quite happy with how this lot came out, they certainly look alright thrown in with everything else on the tabletop.
Next, the rest of the High Elf Warband I showed half of last time. 3 Swords, 3 Spears, one of the shields having been made with a press mould as I lost the original:
And finally, some Dwarf characters.
Thorin:
Balin:
Dwalin:
And Kili:
Of these, only the last is new, the other three were already painted and just got based (so don't count towards the total).
Next up will be some Gondor troops or Uruk-Hai, depending on the mood that strikes me. Thanks for looking!
I like Dwalin the most out of Thorin's Company. Think they captured Graham McTavish's facial features very well with that sculpt. Balin is pretty nicely done too
The Palantir Saruman has, was actually from Minas Morgul originally. Saruman found it in Dol Guldur. Still, not sure what he expected to happen when he picked it up lol
A lot more serious face than typical orcs. Did you free hand the hand/paw/claw prints or is there some kind of spiffy transfer? Either way it looks good.
Yeah, those are all freehanded. I've tried to vary them in terms of style and positioning, as if they've been daubed on by orcs who want to get out before the Uruks pull their heads off!
I love me an Uruk or two Para, you are giving me the bug to go and get some. The sombre, realistic tones and free hand are great work. A century of models up in the next few days then?
Certainly going to try and hit the big 100 in the next few days! If I'm happy with the Rohirrim I've painted tonight once the bases are done, that'll put me on 85, so that's one more Warband and a character or three and I'm there.
nice timing on the Uruks...
i'm about at the siege of Helm's Deep in the Two Towers movie...
i love these guys...
probably the only LotR Orcs that i like...
they are not only cool looking, but the biggest badasses, too...
your guys look suitably brutal with this scheme, Paradigm...
well done, especially considering the speed you paint at...
Nothing new to show today, the lighting wasn't at all kind to my Rohan paintjobs (which aren't that great to start with Made me remember why I like plate amour; simplicity). Working on some Cavalry now, which will take a while and be a bit of a slog to get through as I am not a fan of painting horses.
I find horsies kind of like scifi motorcycles.. may be cool in the game, may look neat if you're into it... but when it comes to painting it's like double or more the model to paint =/
Plus horsies don't have any convenient to paint fur sculpted on them!
Some progress has been made. 4 Horses and 6 Riders of Rohan (already had 2 horses done from Gondor Knights) completed, which is all the ones I can do without fixing anything, for which I need to get a new knife and have a root through the bits box.
Of course, the Rule of Gimli (That Still Only Counts As One!) is invoked, so that's only 6 minis total. Puts me on 91, tomorrow might be the day I hit triple digits...
AoV: Thanks for that, I can't download it from my tablet at the moment, but it might come in handy for the next batch.
Man, those elves are solid, I am using a glaze for gold but, I might use purple wash to see how that goes. I might also have to pick a single Archer up from the swap shop to try out.
Really good as always, don't know why you are so hard on the gold.
Finally had lighting enough to take some pictures yesterday. While it's nothing really special, here are the minis that took me part the big 1-0-0!
Firstly, a Warband of Warriors of Rohan, 6 swords/axes and 6 Throwing Spears:
Spoiler:
Next, 11 Rider of Rohan:
Spoiler:
And what is an army without Heroes? From top to bottom, a converted Grimbold, Gamling (banner still needs freehand), Eomer foot and mounted:
Spoiler:
And lastly, some Reaper Bones minis that I picked up to stand in for Thranduil and Tauriel for some Hobbit scenarios. Very happy with the quality of the minis, I'll be grabbing some more just to paint soon.
Spoiler:
And that's about everything up to date (apart from one Dwarf who will feature tomorrow) I think. Currently I have some Deadzone Enforcers on deck, and after that I may go back to LotR, or might do something else entirely. Thanks for looking, any comments welcome!
Yeah, it was helpful. I don't know if you can see the effects on the minis themselves, but hopefullly none of them look too unnatural, which is all I was going for!
Paradigm wrote: Thanks! That first elf was listed as 'Elladan, Elf Ranger', he originally held a dagger in his left hand.
Hang about- which Bones KS is that Elladan guy from Bones I or II? Backed Bones II and not heard a peep since they got their container of dollies a few weeks ago.
There's another possibility, I'm pretty sure they've converted some stuff to bones outside of the kickstarter. I could be wrong, but I thought I remembered that being a thing.
Here we go, then, a fully converted Deadzone Enforcer Strike Force. I'll write up some backstory for this lot when I'm in the right frame of mind, but for now, pictures! On a side note, there are 7 references in the names of these guys, mostly to well-known pop culture, and a couple of more obscure ones. Internet Bonus Points by the bucketload for the first person to get all 7! (Hint: Some are closely linked to the colour schemes, others to conversions, some are just names)
First up, Enforcer Sergeant John Sierra, armed with a pistol and combat blade and with a sculpted full-mask helmet.
Next, Sniper Clint Lawton, with a modified Rifle featuring full scope and silencer, and an alternate backpack (taken from a Corporation Ranger)
Pathfinder Rex Cody, converted from a Ranger:
Pathfinder Loke, converted from Corpration Ranger, Trooper and Heavy Weapon parts and a stolen SM Auspex:
Enforcer Defender Stephane Rogers, with a home made energy shield and stolen SM Shotgun. The head is from a DE Wyche:
Assault Pathfinder Burnes, kitbashed from Ranger and Enforcer parts:
Gunnery Officer Rhodes, with firepower made of all kinds of gubbinz:
And Councilman Renton-Thornes, one of the Council of 7 and attached to this Enforcer unit for te duration of Operation: Wolfhound. He could souble as an Inquisitor, but I figure is suitably ostentatious for a Corporation CEO of the Manticverse:
Group Shots:
And I also repainted some Plague last night, so here they are in all their gribbly glory:
Yes, Sir, we are reading life signs..."
That's it for today! As ever, thanks to reading and do let me know what you think!
Unlike some of the last lot, these are all fairly obvious, and the names only help. At some point last night, my line of thought changed from 'that Enforcer looks like X' to 'How can I make that Enforcer look like X', at which point the following blatantly obvious ripoffs emerged.
Wilson Slades, otherwise known as 'Miracle Wilson':
And, of course, sniper Oliver Green:
And Grayson Wing, Pathfinder, on a scratch-built mono-bike:
And Team Delta-Cobra:
And as I run short of inspiration but not parts, I'll throw this out there: Who do you want to see built as an Enforcer? It can be DC, Marvel, Halo, Star Wars, anything sci-fi really.
@Grim: Yeah, I'm quite happy with how that came out. It doesn't stand up to much close scrutiny, but on the tabletop is fills the requirements of being the right size and being recognisable, so I figure that's a win.
@Stormwall: Oddly enough, this whole thing was inspired by the Spartan team in Reach with all each guy having different armour/weapons, and at least one of the next round of conversions going back to the roots of that. John Sierra 2, you might say, and as any fan knows, that means Dual Wielding!
@EyeamRai: I could do some X-men, I've seen some other DZ conversions based on them so it is certainly possible.
@Squall: Quantity over quality! But I am quite pleased with how these guys are coming out, compared to me earlier DZ efforts from this time last year (might get some before and after pics tomorrow, actually)
Tomorrow will be (probably) the last of the Enforcers for a while, and then it's on to the Rebs. Fish-people! Mouse-People! Bird-people! Starlord!
With a single to-be-painted exception, this is the last of the Enforcers for now.
John Sierra II: He was good. He was the best, so the Council wasted no time in using their new time-travel technology to jump 10 years into his past and extract a second version.(This one has improved graphics and dual wield! )
Agent: Patriot
The Hunter:
Defender Frank Fort:
Recon N-32:
And what does this leave me with?
Spoiler:
16 Enforcers
4 Riflemen:
4 Assaults:
3 Pathfinders:
2 Defenders
2 Snipers
And a heavily armed partridge in a pear tree:
Up next, REBEL SCUM! Including alien werewolves, fedora-wearing parrots and a mouseman with a machine gun... And I'm pretty sure no one has ever said that before...
Sculpting the helmet was quite easy, actually. I took a Scout head, sliced off the face at about a 45 degree angle, and then put a blob of putty on and rolled over it with a paintbrush handle until it was even and smooth.
As mentioned above, The Hunter is a homage to Boba Fett (as in 'bounty hunter'). Hence the enlarged jetpack, and the flamethrower and missile on his wrists.
I've done something similar with guardsman heads in an ill-fated attempt to make a Cobra army well back in the day. Making passable visors is, indeed, not as hard as I would have originally thought.
Wow, you've certainly been prolific this year. I like what you've done with the individualised Enforcers, but I really enjoyed looking over the LotR stuff. The Uruks look especially great, and I really liked the Spectral Nazgul - both in terms of how you got the models, the choices of them and the end effect. Great work!
HOW? HOW DO YOU PAINT THIS MUCH? Ugh. You make me feel ashamed of how little I've done. Also, really like the Sci Fi names on the Enforcers, though I'll readily admit I did not get all of them
Right, I've comipled enough semi-decent stuff for an update while running out of primer, so here goes with something of an eclectic mishmash of minis.
First off, some DZ Rebs conversions. If I'm being honest, I'm not half as happy with them as I am with the Enforcers, and I may go back to just using Rebs minis, but these guys were at least fun to build. Aesthetically, I've gone for something between Star Wars, Firefly and Necromunda, so a sort of sci-fi-western cyberpunk type look. Lots of pistols, hats and long coats.
Starlord. Who? C'mon, guys, Starlord.. Legendary Outlaw? Ah, forget it
Next, a counts-as Trooper, just a DV cultist with an arm swap and a stetson stolen from Malifaux:
And now onto the more overt conversions, a Skaven with a resculpted face and edited gun, to stand in for a Soarak (or however you spell it)
A fish-person. DV cultist with GSed scales anda WGF head. Will stand in for a Grogan with Onslaught Cannon (his Desolator brother will be largely the same)
Now onto some more LotR. Firstly, a Boromir I build from a spare Warrior of Minas Tirith. He has a face that was press-moulded from the original, and has held enough detail to be recognisable. The banner is from a mounted Banner Bearer, the tabard is sculpted. Like I say, not the best, but servicable. (and I have just noticed the bits I missed on the banner, they will be corrected)
Next, Gothmog, no conversion done here and I'm rather happy with how he's come out.
Shagrat, converted to hold a shield so I can use his much better pre-WotR profile:
And lastly, a pair of Gandalfs. I do have to say, though, the lighting is not that kind to the whites here, they are a lot less grainy in real life. I'll see about taking some better shots when I next set up some photography.
And that's a wrap! As ever, ta for reading and let me know what you think!
Really digging the variety on your DZ Enforcers and Rebs, rather than the cookie cutter factions you get in the box these guys look like they have been stuck in a Deadzone for months and are barely holding onto their sanity.
As good as ever on the LOTR stuff too, I always feel sorry for Gothmog and his melty face.
@Grim: Steal the skaven idea away. I like to think of him as the mouse cousin to the Veer-myn's rat, less violent, and in context, more refined/intellegent.
@ToT: Thanks. I have to say I do like the standard DZ models for the most part, especially the Plague and some of the Rebs stuff. I think the Enforcers are great models too, and look just fine stock, but at the same time they are very fun to convert. I look forward to experimenting with the plastics in a few months.
Nice work on the DZ stuff, but again it's the LotR stuff that really makes it for me. That's some impressive work building your own Banner Bearer/Boromir with White Banner.
For me, Gandalf on Shadowfax is looking particularly badass! Don't suppose you have a Ringwraith on Winged Beast for him to fry with his Istarii staff?
Your dedication to LotRs is really motivating, I love that system, I just find it hard to justify buying anything when all the new stuff is so expensive there isn't even a second hand market of them. I am really going to have to get in there and finish off my Elven armies before they are phased out though. Great work, and I really like the Mounted Gandalf and second the call for some skittish Nazgul
@Grim: I can confirm DE parts work with Skaven, I did a few for some Inq28 a year or so back. I can take pics if you want?
@AoV: Sadly not. It's one of the most amazing models in the range, but at the moment I just can't justify the price. If I ever see one cheap on Ebay, I'll take it in a heartbeat, but at full retail it's just too much for a single figure.
@Akhilleus: I'm lucky in that I got most of my LotR stuff years back when it was still very cheap, I agree the new stuff is massively overpriced. You can certainly find a lot on Ebay over here, I don't know if the same is true of Australia.
Another day, another update! All LotR, all the time today!
First off, the 5 original metal Nazgul. Such great poses, these guys, you wouldn't know they were over 10 years old!
The Witch King:
And the other 4:
And some Morannon Orc WIPs. I am taking a bit more time than usual as they will be my entry into the One Ring February painting contest. I have no chance of winning (there are some great LotR painters over there), but want to give the best showing I can:
And apologies, GD, I forgot the skaven pics you wanted. I can confirm though that DE arms work fine on Skaven, especially the bare ones, so you should have no fear in mixing them.
You know I dig your LoTR stuff but I gotta say, I would like to see you experiment with different bases. Some different colors may make you models pop a little more. Just a thought.
40kFSU wrote: You know I dig your LoTR stuff but I gotta say, I would like to see you experiment with different bases. Some different colors may make you models pop a little more. Just a thought.
Yeah, I probably should vary that a little more. At the moment, though, basing is still my least favourite part of the whole process, and it's enough of a chore just to do the grey sand. It's taken me years to find a way of basing that looks decent on the tabletop and doesn't upstage the minis, so while it's a tad sloppy in places, and probably boring, I guess I just need to find the confidence to try something else.
I also want all my LotR stuff to share the same basing method, once I get back to 40k I will probably experiment a little more. My RG have red dirt bases, andI have yet to decide what I am going to do with the BA in that regard.
At this rate you HAVE to buy a ton of minis or you'll run out!!
Hah, you haven't seen my backlog. Still LotR minis by the dozen and plenty of Space Marines (various flavours available), SH Genestealers, maybe even Guardsmen that need a redo at some point...
Not that that going to stop me; those new Harliquins are shiiiiny!
True, true. But I don't have any terrain worth showing through them, and I'm not sure I could get used to painting on nails rather than bases (cavalry are annoying enough in that regard ). It's a good suggestion, but at the moment, simple sand+paint is about as good as I need it to be.
Yeah, I hear you, I did that for years. You can actually do metal models with slotta bases in their original bases, then just pop them out (often kills the slotta though) and use a saw or dremmel to remove the slot-tab.
I assume you could glue plastic models lightly to a base or piece of card as well.. but like you said what you're doing works so keep at it
40kFSU wrote: You know I dig your LoTR stuff but I gotta say, I would like to see you experiment with different bases. Some different colors may make you models pop a little more. Just a thought.
Yeah, I probably should vary that a little more. At the moment, though, basing is still my least favourite part of the whole process, and it's enough of a chore just to do the grey sand. It's taken me years to find a way of basing that looks decent on the tabletop and doesn't upstage the minis, so while it's a tad sloppy in places, and probably boring, I guess I just need to find the confidence to try something else.
I also want all my LotR stuff to share the same basing method, once I get back to 40k I will probably experiment a little more. My RG have red dirt bases, andI have yet to decide what I am going to do with the BA in that regard.
I initially had my LotR models on "brown dirt" bases (drybrushed sand) - basically the same as most of my bases, but without the static grass - to represent both the corruption and the desolate landscape. Sometime last year I added a bit of static grass to them in order to make the figures stand out from their bases a little more, as I had so many dark, dull-coloured figures on dark, dull-coloured bases.
As I may have mentioned elsewhere on the forums rather irately, the last week has been rather unproductive, thanks in part to a complete lack of primer (how can a store have all 3 Vallejo ranges and not a single matt black? )
But I have something to show nonetheless. Only one new model, but also finished versions of the WIPs from the last update. Here goes:
The finished Captain:
The finished banner bearer:
And another Captain, who I've converted a little to resemble Easterling styles and colours. Maybe it's my 40k side talking, but even in LotR I like Orcs having 'looted' stuff, so throughout my Mordor army are weapons and shields ect nicked from just about anyone else.
And some group shots:
That's it for today, thanks for looking. As ever, I'll take any comments, and please feel free to be harsh on these guys; they are a competition entry, so if there's anything I've missed then please do point it out!
Thanks. Yeah, they aren't averse to pinching shiny stuff, if you look closely at the ones in the films you can see all sorts of bits 'aquirred' from everyone elses' kit.
Yep - they look great and the looted, erm.. loot is very appropriate. if you've got any green stuff or similar, it's also very easy to make 1-part/single sided press-molds of things like Gondor or Rohirrim shields for your orcs. I've done it on some (unfinished) orc figures myself - and the best part is that due to orcs+spoils of war, it's fine and even better if the press-moulds are imprefect.
Yeah, I do have a few shield press-moulds around which come in handy for stuff like this. Typically I juse use it to mark out Captains (1 in full Gondor plate, 1 with a Gondor shield, 1 with the Easterling helmet), but there are also a few swapped swords, shields and spearheads in among the rank and file.
Yeah so I figured out why I like your LoTR stuff so much. I was watching the movies the other days and it hit me. Your ork's look just as weathered and filthy as the ones in the movies! Thats the one thing I dont like so much about 40k Ork armies, the bright colors. Orks should be gross.
Thanks! That very realistic and grounded look is what makes the LotR movies so good in my view, so if I'm capturing that then the mission is 100% accomplished!
Yeah, I do have a few shield press-moulds around which come in handy for stuff like this. Typically I juse use it to mark out Captains (1 in full Gondor plate, 1 with a Gondor shield, 1 with the Easterling helmet), but there are also a few swapped swords, shields and spearheads in among the rank and file.
Oh yeah! Looking closer at the last set of photos I now see the Gondor shield that I missed. It was the angle! Honest!
Durn dun dun dun-du-dun dun-du-dun! Arise, Lord Vader!
Please ignore the green on the base, I guess that must have happened while I was painting something else. I'm not hugely happy with how he's come out, especially magnified this large, but he's passable. I have another one to do in any case, so can take this one as 'practice'. I do hope I got the OSL for the sabre down, and that it's not too bright.
Say what you like about the Sith, they ride in style. This has to be one of the coolest ship designs ever:
Next up, everyone's favourite walking carpet, Chewbacca. 'Laugh it up, fuzzball!'
And his trusty sidekick, a scruffly-looking Nerf-herder and all-round scoundrel.
(this one wasn't great to paint, I think the face was sculpted by someone who has never seen a human being, but might have had one described to him once... )
And now some 'proper' minis, Mordor-style
Finished up my last Orc for the competition, a second banner. I'm thinking I may just enter the EasterOrc and this banner, but I'll see as and when I get around to final photos.
And back to the good ol' quick and dirty method for the bulk of the Warband, 5 sword and board and five... erm, spear and board?
And that's it for the day! As ever, thanks for looking, let me know what you think!
AoV: I was thinking the blade itself could be brighter, painting them is tricky as if you paint them as they appear in the films (red outline around a white 'core') they'll only look right from 1 angle. This is a compromise, a whiter blade with OSL to convey the colour. Not perfect, and I may well redden the blade on the next one.
GD: I really prefer the LotR-style Orcs over the GW-style huuuge ones. To me, largely thanks to LotR, Orcs have always been small, skulking and ragtag creatures, rather than the hulking brutes GW shows them as. I do like the odd 40k Greenskin or two, but for WFB I'm not a fan of their style.
Yeah I always imagined D&D orcs somewhere inbetween. Definitely brutes but still in the 5-6 foot range, just muscular. Bit shaggier than goblins and a lot more mass. And not green. Why god are they green!
I like the OSL on the lightsaber. Very often when people try to add a glow, you end up with a bad case of "airbrush gone wild” and it drowns out the rest of the piece. Subtle, as is often the case, is better.
It’s hard to call grimy orks “nice” but a good brutal looking crew you’ve got there.
Cheers chaps! My secret for the OSL, such as it is, is that I don't use paint, I use ground up chalks just brushed on. Gives a nice tint without obscuring the detail or colour underneath. Same works for weathering too.
Now, it's been a while since I've done any 40k, but as you lot all know I'm very easily distracted by new shiny things, and these new Eldar Harlequins floating about are just that! Soon enough, I'll be buying a Troupe box (along with some more LotR and Malifaux, just waiting to have some spare cash), but in the mean time, I've repurposed an old High Elf Mage into a Shadowseer.
Pretty happy with the conversion and paintwork to be honest. The attempted chequered pattern became more 'crazy paving stained glass' mashup, but I think it works well enough with the enigmatic nature of the Harlequins (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! ). The rest of the scheme works around contrast, which again suits them without being overly complicated to do.
That's it for today, I did do some more LotR but they need a bit more work before I'm happy with them. I'm also considering going back to my Imperial Fists some time soon, so they might turn up in here as well. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!
EDIT: 15 pages! Thanks to everyone who has helped get it this far!
Nevelon wrote: “Crazy paving stained glass mashup" is what happens to the crisp diamond patterns after he hits you with the hallucination grenades.
Yeah, we'll go with that! Going by the leaked rules, he'll have the opponent questioning their sanity anyway, so I'll just say they are perfectly straight lines and it's just the stress getting to them!
I don't have huge plans for the Harlies, just one of each character (converted) and a Troupe or two, just as a plug-in set of allies. Should be fun, though!
And now for something not completely different, but different enough for comments to be made about my complete inability to focus on one thing at a time!
"The Emperor commands us. Dorn guides us. Honour shields us.
Fear our name, for it is vengeance."
Rhetoricus of the Imperial Fists, VII Legion
Veteran Sergeant Leonidas, Imperial Fists First Company:
So I guess this marks the start of the revival of my long-shelved Imperial Fist project. Initially, I had intended to use them as a Horus Heresy force, but the chances of getting a game of that around here are minimal, it became purely a modelling project, which then died because of the whole 'yellow is hard to paint' thing and the fact that Anvil Industry (who all of this was bought from) discontinued some of the parts I had planned to use to expand the force.
And so they languished, and they waited, and now, they return...
It finally occurred to me how I could get them on the field: with the advent of Unbound armies, it's now possible to run a mostly-Veteran SM list without worrying about Troop tax, so enter the First Company. It works with the weapon setups I have, makes sense of the older armour marks and should be fun to play as well. And I have enough minis to make a worthwhile force as an Allied plug-in or small game solo army, so while I may eventually buy some proper Forge World stuff (they kind of need a Contemptor Dread, one day...), I have all I need now. So expect more yellow, more weathering (I'm quite happy with the sponge weathering effect on this guy) and more 40/30k over the next weeks. Anyway, enough rambling.
As ever, thanks for looking, and any comments are welcome!
Looks good I've gotta stay away from the 30k stuff, seems like a dangerous rabbit hole. I like the reduced size backpack, still sticks out pretty far but it's not quite as huge. And the yellow looks good all weathered up like that.
@Grim: I guess I avoided that particular rabbit hole by a) getting into it before Forge World really got going with it, and b) not having the cash to spend on it if I wanted. But at the time, Anvil were cheap enough and did the job just fine!
@Nev: The best bit? I don't have a clue what's next either! My to-paint queue has stuff from about a dozen armies and a fair few different makers/games in it, it's a bit of a lucky dip whenever I pick up a brush!
Elf mage being repurposed is a good idea. If I played Eldar I would shamelessly steal it.
I've never gotten into 30k, but like the aestetic of it. Your Imperial Fist there fits right in. I like the bulkiness and rivets of the older style marine armor. Good stuff.
Hmmm, VII Legion , eh? Consider me subbed. Wait, I already am. Consider me a higher level of subbed. I love heresy stuff, looking forward to your take on it.
I'm happy with them, I think. They aren't the neatest, but they were never meant to be, and they look pretty good I think. The basing too is a little more adventurous, if I'm not careful the bases are going to just get bigger and bigger until the last few models have bases bigger than themselves Ok, maybe not, but it is actually quite fun, and does a lot for the minis.
Oh, yeah, there's at least one more that will be knocked out today, and I have about 40 of the blighters to get through. My very rough list (Unbound) is as follows:
Kantor (counts-as IF CM) for ObSec Sternguard
2x 10 Sternguard, Pods, 2 Meltas
5 Sternguard, 2 Plasma, Pod (may end up being swapped for a Command Squad with Apothecary and more Plasma/Melta)
5 TH/SS Termies (actually these guys on 40mm bases, it was that or Axe/Shield Vanguard, which are a bit too useless even for my casual tastes)
5 Scouts for backfield sitting and making up points
5 HBDevs for Fire Support
Possibly some kind of Dread.
Not hugely effecient or competative, but it gets the job done (the job being fun) if I ever get to play, and I have everything but the Dread.
Paradigm wrote: Oh, yeah, there's at least one more that will be knocked out today, and I have about 40 of the blighters to get through. My very rough list (Unbound) is as follows:
Kantor (counts-as IF CM) for ObSec Sternguard
2x 10 Sternguard, Pods, 2 Meltas
5 Sternguard, 2 Plasma, Pod (may end up being swapped for a Command Squad with Apothecary and more Plasma/Melta)
5 TH/SS Termies (actually these guys on 40mm bases, it was that or Axe/Shield Vanguard, which are a bit too useless even for my casual tastes)
5 Scouts for backfield sitting and making up points
5 HBDevs for Fire Support
Possibly some kind of Dread.
Not hugely effecient or competative, but it gets the job done (the job being fun) if I ever get to play, and I have everything but the Dread.
Could arguably use Pedro as Alexis Pollox if you really wanted since he's the 1st Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists.
Aaand the rest of Squad Leonidas is done, and ready to bring the pain. Commence pictoral carpet bombing:
Not the best angle, and he's somehow got a bit of fluff attached to his gun, but MkVI helmet works rather nicely on these minis, I think. I'll definitely be putting a couple more beakies in the next squad if I have any left.
The ol' cold steel. They don't like it up 'em! I like the sense of motion in this one.
Second melta dude:
Knife dude. I love SM Combat Knives, they are just brutally awesome.
Boring Bolter guy:
Boring Bolter Guy... with a bloody chainsaw bayonet!:
The whole lot:
Rather happy with these guys, but I'll be taking a break from yellow before doing another squad. Might do up the counts-as Kantor soon enough, but there's some more LotR that I need to do (Corsairs) and I may end up ordering some Eldar Harlies sooner rather than later.
@Zambro: It was actually a combination of your new IF project and Elnibbus's sponge weathering tutorial from a while back that kicked me into gear with these guys! And I'm glad you can tell those are steps, I wasn't sure if that worked or not.
@Moonpie: steal away! Everything on it is from the plastic mage kit apart from the hood (GS), the Shuri-pistol (Dire Avenger) and the mask (Dire Avenger). The staff is from the IoB mage, but any would do.
The OSL on Vader looks pretty good, though I'd also go a little brighter on the lightsaber itself. The extra orcs are looking good - which figures are they?
@Thraxas: The yellow starts with a base of Iyanden Darksun (not sure what the current version is, I stocked up before it went OOP), which is then blended with Vallejo Ivory/Sand until the final highlight, a 1:1 mix of the yellow and ivory. I then hit that with good old Agrax Earthshade wash, and lightly dab at the places where the light would fall to allow the highlight to show through. It's a bit labour-intensive compared to my usual schemes, but for such nice minis I think it's worth it.
@Az: those are the Morannon Orc kit, which has a much more uniform and heavy look compared to the original Mordor Orc kit.Personally, I prefer them to the general Orc set, they are a bit larger and broader than them, which befits the elite of Mordor.
I might have to have a look into seeing if I can find some, especially now that we're in the twilight of the LotR range, and it's really time to get stuff before it's discontinued.
Very nice, kinda funny since I am starting a Dusk Raiders heresy army myself within the month lol. I would totally do IF if I didn't hate painting yellow.
@Az: I belive you can still get them (albeit in boxes of 12) from GW. Worth getting, they are very nice minis to paint up, and while there are one or two very odd poses they are fixable if you can be bothered.
How did I miss a full page of Heresy-Era Imperial Fists? ...actually, I think I know. Browser cache. Anyway, they look great - and really the main way that Imperial Fists' bright yellow armour can look good to me is with heavy weathering like what you've done there. Great work!
Paradigm wrote: @Thraxas: The yellow starts with a base of Iyanden Darksun
Iyanden Darksun is now Averland Sunset (basecoat yellow)
Ah, thanks, I may need to get some more.
I really don't like the consistency of the current GW Base paints though, so I may have to look elsewhere and just try and match it to a Vallejo or Revell one.
Oh man... I didn't realise that the IF CM was killed in the fluff.... And 5th company's captain becomes CM... Who's the new 5th Company Captain? Seeing as I am painting 5th company, I probably should know...
Zambro wrote: Oh man... I didn't realise that the IF CM was killed in the fluff.... And 5th company's captain becomes CM... Who's the new 5th Company Captain? Seeing as I am painting 5th company, I probably should know...
Ha! Can't actually find anything on who replaced
Hagen online, it might be in SoT though. And as it seems to be rather recent, you could just sod it and use Hagen as Company Captain and say it was before Pugh's death.
Ok, another update, bit of a mish-mash of what I've knocked out over the last few days.
The first Imperial Fist of the second Sternguard squad. This squad is only 5 men, so I should get through them fast enough. The armour is also different, closer to MkVI than MkIII like the others are. His pose has obscured the lower half of the model a bit, and the light wasn't kind on the yellow today, so I'll take some better pics when I can (can't get to the camera until Monday now).
And some LotR, nothing fancy but just adding a bit to each of my main armies.
For Gondor, it's these OSgiliath Veterans, converted with the odd sash/rag and some hand-me-down weapons:
From Harad, these Corsairs of Umbar
And these Archers (apologies for the blurry pics, I'll retake when I have the next lot done)
From Rohan, these Outriders
And from Mordor, Orcs. More Morannons:
And the final, absolutely final, honestly, hand on heart last pictures of their Command group (I think this is the third or fourth time I've posted them here, but they're done now!)
And just for the hel of it, I got out all my Orcs having finished that lot. Here they are, hording it up!
And that's it. I'll be back next week with more Space Marines!
40kFSU wrote: What gives dude? Almost a week and no models!?!?
At the rate he’s been cranking them out, he might be buried under a pile of finished minis. That or they’ve acquired critical mass, and Para can’t escape the event horizon.
Arrgh, yeah, it's been slow for a week or so. I have a Wolf Lord mostly done for the SM Painting Challenge, and a smattering of LotR stuff done, but nothing that merits getting out the camera ect. Still, I shall soldier on and try and produce something to update with!
Don't know what it is that is slowing me down/putting it off, just some kind of block. I look at stuff and doubt the quality, or just can't sit down and paint. I've also been spending a bit of time playtesting Mantic's Kings of War rules for LotR, so that has taken up a chunk of hobby time.
However, I have a decent size supply drop that should be coming in the next week or so (Deadzone: Contagion and a box of the new Harlies), that should kick me back into gear. Expect an update Soon (tm)!
Back in action! Finally managed to scrape together enough stuff as to be update-worthy!
First off, a few WIPs of my entry in the March Painting Challenge, a Wolf Lord converted from an AoBR Captain:
Still a fair bit to do, but he's coming along quite nicely. I also rather like the superglue icicles on the base.
Next up, the Dain Ironfoot, World's Angriest Dwarf 2! This mini was sculpted and sold by a user over on the One Ring forum, but frankly, it's just as good if not better than any of the GW Hobbit character sculpts. Without a doubt, this guy fits better than the proxy Dain I was using before (on the right of the scale shot below). All told, it's a pretty awesome mini to have!
And now for something completely different. I mentioned a few days back that I was working on a setting and rules for a small-scale skirmish game, a Mordheim-type affair but with a slightly more mythical and Eastern-themed setting (largely dictated by the minis I have to hand, old pre-WH Citadels and others). While I haven't made much progress on the rules, I do at least have some minis painted for the first faction, the Alfei-Naqa (Sea Elves, in a made-up language!). Spoiler contains brief fluff for them, pics are below for those not interested in that. They are themed somewhere between traditional Tolkien-esque elves, Marvel's Atlaneans and Fey/Fairie stlye creatures. Quite sinister, very dangerous, and more than a little blue:
First off, the Fighters of the Warband. A Captain with a mace, 3 sword-and-board and 1 spear. Mostly old-school Citadel elves, with a few WFB weapons here and there:
And a couple that are not 100% done, but close enough, a Mage and an Archer:
FLuff:
Spoiler:
The Sea Elves:
Among the greatest mysteries of Turag is the presence of the Alfei-Naqa, the Sea Elves. With no body of water larger than an oasis for a hundred miles in any direction, scholars and thinking men have pointed out that the mysterious race have neither reason for nor claim to their presence in the City, and yet as long as bands have gone in search of the treasures there, the Sea Elves have been there to greet them and fight them off. None know why or how they came to take residence in the haunted ruins, but the fierceness with which they defend it from any interloper has prompted speculation that, in some obscure way, they had a part in beginning the Rampant Age so as to take the city for themselves. Any attempts to reason or deal with the Sea Elves has been met with glacial silence, and even a thousand years since their coming, none know their true purpose in coming to Turag.
The other factions planned for the game, based on the minis I have available, are The New Turagish (Eastern-themed humans), the Northmen (norse-themed humans, very shaman-based), the White Orcs (nomadic, desert-dwelling Orcs), Undead, and 2 more 'out there' factions, a Little Folk race (will be using 20mm Samurai for them) and a Rogue Magic faction, the remnants of magical constructs that have stuck around since the wizards of Turag blew up the city (there will be all sorts here, from ghosts and stuff to animated weapons, lasting spells, whatever crazy stuff I can come up with).
Rules-wise, I'm not sure where to go; the simple, D8-Success-based Deadzone/Mars Attacks route or the more complex but detailed Infinity/D20-style. At the moment I'm leaning towards D8, but any input is welcome.
Haha, maybe! But considering all of that last post was done in just a couple of days of actual painting in the last 2 weeks, it does 'feel' like I've been non-productive. Still, should be picking up the pace a bit now.
Nice work on the seas elves - it's certainly a unique palette, but it works well, as you'd expect less Iron and more Bronze for that sort of setting. Space Wolf looks great - worthy of an update all on his own, really - and I do like the dwarves. Is that the Hobbit boxes set version of Thorin? And which model is his armoured dwarf offsider?
@Az: I'm glad you picked up on the metals, as a general rule there is going to be hardly any steel/iron weapons or armour, the odd bit here and there but mostly it'll be bronze. I also went with an almost pearlescent look to the Elf weapons/shields, but I'm not sure it works!
As for the Dwarves, from left to right it's a plastic 'Grimhammer' dwarf from the Hobbit range, Dain, plastic Thorin and and old WFB Dwarf.
Anyway, new stuff! The start of the second Warband for the game, the New Turagish. These are the guys that lived in the aforementioned Cursed City before it went to hell, and so are now very anti-magic. Somewhat unintentionally, they seem to have ended up with a lot of 2-handed weapons, so I guess that's their thing as a faction; light armour, high Damage potential.
PICS (again, these are all old minis, some citadel and some unknown)
Swordsman: Might swap out his sword for a new one, the seam on the blade is a lot more noticable than I thought.
Another couple of 2-handers:
Axe-wielder:
A rare sword-and-boarder:
and some groupshot:
Still to come on this faction are another axeman, a sword-and-board guy and a giant (every faction is getting 1 'big guy'. Elves get a Lion Rider, these guys get a Giant, the Undead get a large Black Knight type chappie, the Orcs will get some kind of Ogre, not sure on the rest yet).
Also, I've decided to take the D8 route mechanically, and for combat, it's going to go roughly like this:
Spoiler:
Declare Charge, move into B2B
To 'hit', D8+Attack vs D8+Defence, if Attack wins strike damage (toying with the idea of Natural 8s exploding here to allow 2 strikes)
Damage will be on a D8 'chart' with +/- mods depending on weapon.
1-2: Miss- no damage
3-4: Minor Damage, 1HP
5-7: Good damage, 2HP
8+: Critical Damage, 3HP
Weapons will grant mods on this table, ranging from -1(unarmed, enemy has Shield) to +3 (Greataxes, Lances ect)
The damage system has worked well enough so far in the handful of tests I've done; tonight I should have the core mechanics sorted and posted in their own thread, so you'll be able to see how they interact with everything else if you are interested. To lend some context, though, it works based on Wargear and armour pretty well by shifting the degree of damage around.
For example, Longsword (+1) vs Light Armour (-1) is just a straight roll, with the most likely result being Good Damage, leaving most things injured but still just about standing as your average sword strike would. On the other hand, that same sword against Heavy Armour and Shield can't ever one-hit-kill without rolling a Natural 8 and getting another attempt (Critical HIt), and has a 50% chance of just bouncing off. But then you bring in a Battleaxe and you're back to Good being the most probable. But then Battleaxe against Light Armour means even a 1 gets you minor damage, as it should.
Sorry, that's a bit rambling! Still, I'll look at putting up some test mini-batreps at some point, at which point it'll hopefully get clearer.
Yep sounds pretty cool. The main thing with the damage is it can be as fast and brutal or slow as you want.. it comes down to the pacing you want for your game.
Look at MA and deadzone. MA gets very close to 40k-style removing fistfuls of models from the table because most shots are going to kill. Deadzone, however, is all about comboing advantages until you can roll enough dice to oneshot, otherwise it has a *lot* more back and forth ineffectual fire.
Another way to manage pacing is a time limit. Pulp Alley games are always pretty tense because you just don't have all that many rounds to claim the objectives before game over.
I think the missions are going to be the limiting factor in this one; the way I'll set it up, some missions will need you to kill and kill quickly (taking a position, hit-and-run attacks ect), some could in theory be won without rolling a single dice (land/loot grabs, lnfiltration ect) but obviously you'll probably need to kill at least one or two models to beat a competent enemy.
The speed of damage itself is a good point, this I think finds a nice compromise where some weapons and a bit of luck will take your head off in one(hitting a lightly-armoured Archer with a Warhammer should pit him down hard), but at the same time, to take out dedicated 'tanks' you will need to consolidate resources or whittle them down. Fights ending in a single Charge is an outlier that can happen with the right circumstances, but in most cases there will be a couple of rounds of back-and-forth to settle things.
Well, this is more like it. Cool stuff all the way around, you actually managed to make the AoBR captian look good. I like all the non GW miniatures too. One day I may break out of GW jail and expand my horizons with something new.
@FSU: You don't like the AOBR Captain normally? Personally, I love it. This is my 3rd conversion of that guy, and I still never get bored of panting them! I should have bought a couple more when they were cheap/not OOP!
@Squall: The axe is the part that needs the most work, actually, I just haven't decided on the effect yet. It's meant to be The Black Death relic, so needs to be black, but I don't know whether I want to go for a metallic black, a not-NMM high-contrast scheme, or even try and emulate a Black Ice look. Any thoughts?
Time for some more Fantasy randoms. First up, the last 2 members (for now) of the Human Warband, a Giant and another Axeman:
The giant was originally a 60mm Roman mini, and is a fairly hefty lump of metal to say the least, but he fits nicely enough.
He's a big fella!
Now onto the next Warband, the Undead. Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary here, just your typical mix of Skellies and ghosts. I did have a look for something to make Zombies with, but came up empty-handed.
There are a couple more of these to come, they just need basing.
Now 3 Spiwits.
"what, sir?"
"Spiwit! Bwavado! A touch of Dewwing-do!"
/obscure Monty Python reference.
Ahem, Spirits
These are repurposed LotR Army Of The Dead. I actually went surprisingly 'mainstream' with these, just a simple, classic, sheet-over-the-head white. I think that is a little more sinister than the glowy colours or OSL-stuff I was tempted to try. If I do more, I may try out adding just a touch of colour like the ones from the Harry Potter films have (Oh dear, taking Harry Potter as inspiration, what's become of me? )
And a group shot of the whole bunch so far. At the back is a Wight I forgot to photpgraph (the blue guy), and I'll be adding an actual necromancer to their ranks once I decide on the model to use.
And now it gets really crazy. The fourth faction here is called Rampant Magic, and stems from the idea that when the City of Turag was abandoned in the midst of a magical cataclysm, all this magic that was thrown around remains behind, seeping into the stones and air of the place. As such, when some blundering adventurer walks in and tries to look/conquer the place, the city itself fights back. This faction is pretty much all Constructs of one kind or another, and very simple model-wise.
Enter Sandman! You've all heard the one about covering a model in glue and rolling it in the bits box, but here is something very similar done on purpose! To create these golem-like sand-people, I litereally did just cover the mini in PVA, roll it in sand and paint it like a base. 1/10 for effort, but I think they look pretty cool and unique.
And some Animated Statues. These guys need verdigris adding, but other than that are super-simple, just WFB High Elves dinged up and painted Bronze:
For those keeping track of the colours for each faction, these guys are pretty easy to guess. 50 Shades of Brown! Far from a complete band, they need more statues, a Sorcerer or two and some Free Spells (literally just chaotic balls of magic whizzing round and getting in the way while shooting fireballs!).
And for anyone interested, the draft rules are now up in the misc minis forum, please free to take a look! I'd appreciate any feedback, no matter how simple, if you have a moment!
Thanks for reading what appears to be a quite rambling post! More soon!
Some very interesting factions you have going on here.
And you've really kept them coherent, between the color choices of a lot of bronze and darks... but it goes further. Are all of these guys from the same manufacturer? They just really blend in together even cross warband.
I like the spirits. Simple, but easy to tell what they are supposed to be.
My only issue with the sand people is that its hard to tell whats going on with them. I guess I feel like more definition would help. Though sand people wouldn't have a lot of hard features, so maybe I'm just being daft.
Honestly, I've no idea where most of these come from, they were all in a box of minis that my dad had in the 80s. Some are almost certainly early Citadel, there are a few designs that crop up in later WFB stuff (one of the Eastern guys has a pretty unmissable Chaos 8-point star on his shoulderpad), but most of them are just randomly selected. I have tried to group them somewhat coherently and build the factions around similar minis, and as noted each Warband is tied together with a faction spot-colour.
It could be that they are all of the same era; perhaps in those days there was less distinction between manufacturers. They're all older than me, at any rate
Automatically Appended Next Post: Re: The sand-people, the lack of definition is kind of the point! They are supposed to be a shifting, almost-human-shaped mass rather than an actual man made of stone (there will be some more defined ones, much like the Terracotta Army), and the idea is they can alter/warp their form however they want. The magic or spirits that hold them together only approximate a shape because they are familliar with it, not because it serves any real purpose.
More stuff. Still going much slower than I have been so far this year, but I did hit 250 minis for the year a few days back, so I can't really complain.
First we have a little more for the magic/construct faction, a Sorcerer and 3 Claymen (which are a bit more like what Squall was expecting with the sand-people, I imagine)
And a Necromancer for the Undead, quite a characterful little mini, I think.
The start of the Orcs, and not a drop of green paint in sight! The first two minis here have aged rather well, the others... less so.
And lastly, we're going right back to Page 1! Took a bit of time the other day to update my original Infinity Knights to my newer PanO scheme, they're still not amazing, but better than they were and certainly more cohesive with the rest than before.
Teutonic Knight:
Magister Knight:
Knight of the Holy Sepulchre:
And all the Knights (these 3 and the Father Knight from Icestorm)
That's all for now. Next up will be some LotR, possibly more more 40k (the IF are getting irate ) and perhaps some more Infinity cleanup (4 Orders Sergeants need doing). In other news, my order for a box of Harlequins and Deadzone: Contagion has finally shipped, so expect some of that soon-ish.
The panO stuff looks good, I think the hospitaler and santiago knights are my favorite, but your color schemes make me like the types you've done a bit better.
Crazy is probably the word. Suitable alternatives include 'easily distracted', 'scatterbrained' and 'has more spare time and piles of plastic than is good for him'
I do like the Santiago Knights (and, in fact, all of them really), these are just the ones that came in the starters (Father, Magister and Teutonic) and one I just had to have because the mini is beautiful (Holy). Now, even with the Sectorial list I can only ever have 2 types of Knight in a list, so these guys will all be proxied as my Knight of choice as and when I actually get a game of Infinity (probably the least likely of all the games I own, as it's too complicated to rope in non-gamer family/friends and at first can seem expensive per model when trying to introduce actual gamers)
Dare I say it, Infinity needs Unbound, so I can run an All-The-Knights list!
The Military Orders sectorial has a limit on the types of knights you can field? Huh Army 4 said nothing, glad I never seriously considered doing that!
GrimDork wrote: The Military Orders sectorial has a limit on the types of knights you can field? Huh Army 4 said nothing, glad I never seriously considered doing that!
In a normal PanO list, you can have up to your AVA of any single type of Knight (usually 2), but no more. In the Sectorial, you get 1 'Knight of Order' and 1 'Confrere (Brother) Knight', so you can never run more than 2 types of Knight in an army. While you could throw down a lot of Knights (say, 4 Magisters and a Father Knight), they can only ever be from 2 Orders max.
I'm thinking that as and when I get back into Infinity, I'll grab the NCA starter, and then I'll be able to build a vanilla PanO list with a little of everything. Fusiliers and Bolts as the core, Order Sgt specialists, then a Knight or two and the Swiss/Aquila Guard for some real punch.
Swiss and Aquila are just ridiculous. That's kind of a bother about the knight orders thing... where does it say this, in their Paradisio or human sphere book? I guess you can't rely on the army builder for *all* of your game knowledge.
I believe it's in Paradisio, where it lists the units for each Sectorial. Which army builder do you use? I use the Infinity Army app (I believe it's the official one) and it gets angry with me (red text and everything!) whenever I try and add more than 2 types of Knight.
I do like the look of the Swiss/Aquila Guard, and I hear the Swiss is basically a Not-TAG in terms of firepower/cost, which is cool (as currently the TAGs are just a little to expensive for me, and the prospect of large metal models isn't too appealing either!)
Some of the knight figures are pretty cool. I really like the Santiago guys, too. I'd picked up the Military Orders starter back during Black Friday and am just now starting on it. I suspect that like you, I probably won't actually get to use these guys in a proper game of Infinity, but, I figure they'd work great as high tech monster hunters in Fear and Faith.
@Thraxas: That is quite simply a mix of VMA Flesh, Dark Earth and Ivory until I got the right shade, then a wash of Agrax Earthshade. That's literally all there is to it!
You're an absolute machine, Paradigm! That's a hell of a lot of models in a pretty short space of time and to a very decent standard, too. Would that I was so quick and consistent.
Here we go on another tanget! This time, it's a little bit of heresy with the Eldar Harlequins. This kit is a stunning one, such crisp details and awesome parts (including a dozen beautiful swords that I didn't use here, but that will see use if I have to buy another kit to do it! ).
Pics:
Firstly, the Solitaire, built from the Troupe kit with one or two changes. Still WIP, but most of the way there.
Next, the Troupe Master, who naturally has the nicest sword, coolest coat and biggest hat!
And the remainder of the Troupe. One of these was built on a set of spare legs so I could get an extra guy, points to the first person to guess which!
And a Death Jester, again built from spares. Ignore the paint, it'll be redone:
And all 8 together, not bad from a 6-model set!
More as soon as I get some of these painted! Thanks for looking!
Possibly a little smaller than the 'proper' one, but still larger than a Dire Avenger shuricatapult, and once painted it'll be obvious enough what he is. Between that and the fact there are no other actual Shuricannons being run with these guys, I think it's ok.
With the painting being done, I think it will be a proper Jester.
My only other concern would be that he is flat on the floor, and not really standing out to the rest of the squad, who are in a dynamic gymnastic position .
Just my 2 cents.
@Squall: yep, that's the idea with the cape. The rest of the troupe will be in high-contrast Black and White for the most part, with the purple and orange pattern used as a spot colour, but this guy had to have a purple jacket, as no Harlequin force is complete without a Joker reference!
Hah, I'll be taking my time with these guys! They aren't likely to see a gaming table any time soon, so are all getting the display model treatment. I may get 1 more done tonight, now the Rugby is over.
@Az: Yeah, that's the idea. I don't mind him being more static as it fits the 'Who runs when you have a massive gun?' look. I imagine he'll often be run solo from the Troupe anyway, so he needn't fit in too much.
@ckig: I am pretty happy with the face, it's one of the few times I've tried to directly replicate a GW look on a part and actually pulled it off decently!
How the feth have I misssed this blog before ?!!!!! Some lovely work here Para. You've actually made a start on your Harlies - my are all still sitting boxed in the cabinet :( must.stop.hoarding......óh - AdMech models out next week?!!!! - Dammit!!!!
Great work here there though P
Started the Harlies, but am hardly any closer to finishing them thanks to a lot of distractions over the last week and parts of the Troupe Master proving to be a right pain to paint. Still, I should have him done soon enough.
The new AdMech are certainly on my list now; I'll wait until we have the full rules (and I have spare cash ) before taking the plunge, but whether it's a small allied detachment for my IG/SM/Inq like the Harlies or a whole new army (don't tempt me!), there shall be some Cog-heads in here at some point. Plenty of kitbash potential there as well.
know that feeling!! I'm ass-deep with wedding planning stuff (read paying for) at the mo and have a ton of stuff still waiting to get painted as it is. Still gonna pick up of those there hooting tooting Syyyyyydonian dragoon fellas next weekend though (i have no idea where that faux-cowboy thing just came from o.O! - been up since 6am working on the final termie and a slot in backdrop for them I guess). Next week making a start on the Harlie Skyweavers though........hopefully.....
Well, like I said it's been a slow week, but I have a couple of minis to show for it.
First, we have the Harlequin Troupe Master. To be honest, I've developedareal block with this guy, and I'm still not convinced I've done the mini justice. The starscape pattern on the jacket was initially just an attempt to cover up a slip of white without re-blending the whole surface, but it's ended up one of the few parts of the mini I'm happy with. Still haven't got the hang of the motley/chequerboard pattern, but on here I think it's a tad better than the Solitaire. Anyway, pics, and if it's as poor as I worry it might be then please say!
Next we've got my entry into the March Painting Contest. Certainly nothing on some of the stunning entries we've had so far, but I'm pretty happy with it. Bad lighting has messed up the pics a little, but other than waiting on a sunny day we may or may not get in time for the deadlne, there's not a huge amount I can do about that.
That's all mini-wise. On a hobby-related note, though, I did get exceptionally lucky in the local charity shop today. 7 near-new Horus Heresy paperbacks for a grand total of
£3.50. Thank you, whichever person of Norfolk just cleared out a HH collection!
I also nabbed a box of Grey Knight Terminators in the newsagent's GW clearance sale for £15, which is hard to argue with, so GK may well benext on the "army redux" list.
March has been my slowest month of the year so far, but hopefully I can pick up the pace a little next month!
"A Dalliance with Harlequins." You have quite a way with words. That Wolf Lord is based on the AoBR captain right? Dude, by far the coolest conversion of that model Ive seen. Also, good haul on the HH books. I think A Thousand Sons is pretty interesting as is Prospero Burns. The wolves arent quite as barbaric as they let on. Or intentionally let on......Last Heretic is the best by far. Just an opinion.
@ckig: Yep, I noticed the mess on the back after taking the pics. It'll get neatened up when I next pick up a brush.
@40kFSU: Yep, based on the AOBR guy indeed. I reckon that guy makes a great base for natural conversion, as you can swap out the arms while the pose and awesome cape stay looking good. I have 3 converted ones now (this guy, a Sicarius and the IF Chapter Master from a few pages back) and I'm always tempted to hunt down another and do some more.
Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns have been on my want-list for ages, as has First Heretic, and I've heard good things about Mechanicum, Legion. Fulgrim and BFTA I wasn't too fussed about, but for less that the cost of a chocolate bar I can't really argue.
Battle For The Abyss, as far as I know, is about a force of loyalists trying to stop the Word Bearers reaching Calth and the Ultramarines, basically a running space battle (hence the name). By all accounts it's one of those that's heavy on action and light on plot, but should still be fun enough.
The Harlequin... It's great! The pattern didn't quite come out well on the back of the coat as it did on the front. But good effort, it still looks pretty solid! The starscape looks excelent, too!
I like your SM lord! Another great mini for the competition.
And those books... great find. Have you read them before? I had/have 9-10 of them, which I read years and years ago. They're probably under a mountain of dust in the loft somewhere...
Cant wait to get at the Harlies. Poor buggers are just sitting boxed in my cabinet at the mo. Next contest for sure. You've done a cracking job on yours Para
The space wolf is cool, that's a really versatile model, I had him pulling shifts as both a not-Pedro, and a lightning claw thunderhammer captain/chapter master with magnets. I think I cannibalized the bits though since then.
Thanks guys! I'll likely revisit the Troupe Master when I have a few more of the Troupe done, to see how he works with the squad.
Tangent time! Those GK I bought yesterday kind of jumped the queue (possibly due to my obsession with all things in TDA! ) and the Justicar is done! This could be what I need to pull me out of the painting doldrums, as I'm actually pretty damn pleased with how he's come out. Oddly, I think the 1.5-hour job on him looks better than the 3+ hour jobs on Wolf Lord and Troupe Master. Still, mustn't grumble!
And some WIPs of his squadmates:
More soon, I imagine!
In the mean time, thanks for reading, and any feedback is most welcome! I'm really trying to push myself at the moment, so feel free to point out a anywhere you think I can improve!
@Zambro: I've read the first 3 HH books, the Original Trilogy as it were, but all of these ones I've yet to read.
Thanks guys! I'm pretty happy with the sword; it was a shot in the dark as my previous GK all had blue blades, so I had no idea if it would work, but it's come out well enough, especially after I added the flames on the base.
Fair point! They are a distraction in that when I sit down to paint them, the Harlies give me all kinds of horrid looks!
You just need to learn to ignore the guys lurking at the back of the paintbench. If looks could kill, the death glares I routinely get from the guys on my bench would have reduced me to a withered husk years ago. I’ve been ignoring some of those guys for decades
Got 2 more of the Termies done last night, spurred on by how fun these guys are to paint and the results that I'm really pleased with. I think if I can keep up this standard across the army, I'll have the GK force that I wanted so desperately when the 5th Ed codex/kits came out, and before I decided that washing everything blue to look 'psychic' would be a good idea...
First, a Halberdier:
And the squad's gunner, toting a psycannon:
Obligatory group shots
As you might notice, I'm going for the same kind of urban basing on these as on IF, partly because it ties the armies together and partly because it looks better than my normal gravel+drybrush while still being simple enough.
And for any Eldar fanboys, I have started another Harlequin, he'll be done soon!
Any thoughts appreciated, as ever! Thanks for reading!
The grey knights look great, I particularly like the one with the staff, the skull above his head is a nice touch. The basing looks good too, I struggled to find a simple basing scheme which looked good. I ended up just using the gw technical stuff
Tried to replicate this scheme on a PAGK tonight, but it looks like my old stuff will need stripping rather than just painting over, the metallics just don't look right. Once again, it seems this will be a 1-squad project until I can get some stuff to clean up the old lot.
On another note, I'm delibarating over what to enter into this month's painting challenge. The obvious choice for the Veteran theme is another round of my IF Sternguard, but I'm not sure I can get them to look good as something else. I also some Wolf Guard to do, but that would be two lots of Wolves entered in a row, and I fancy something different. I'm tempted by an Ork Nob; I have a few lying around, and I think I do a good job on them. Any thoughts?
Great work on the GK. I can't get over how quickly you managed to buy figures and then paint them and have them done and finished... I haven't been able to do that since I was a teenager.
Great Knights paint up quicker than almost any other chapter. That being said, yours look great. I like the effect you have on the swords / halberds. The thunderhammer one is my favorite, though!
Finally got started on Harelquins. Got all the Solitaire's basecoats (never usually do all the diff basecoats together at the begining) all down. After painting those termies, the solitaire seems so lithe and delicate and scrawny lol
Azazelx wrote:Great work on the GK. I can't get over how quickly you managed to buy figures and then paint them and have them done and finished... I haven't been able to do that since I was a teenager.
That could be the trick, then! I'm still just about teenaged, and therefore have far too much time and energy! although to be fair, I if I don't get stuff done in a month or so after buying it, it can sit on the shelves for years!
squall018 wrote:Great Knights paint up quicker than almost any other chapter. That being said, yours look great. I like the effect you have on the swords / halberds. The thunderhammer one is my favorite, though!
Funny enough, these guys actually took longer per model than my other armies! but the scheme is a tad simpler compared to, say, the Space Hulk Termies.
I wasn't sure on the hammer, paint-wise, but I'm pretty happy with the pose (which came from splicing the 2-handed Halberd and a hammer head).
First time I have looked in. Very impressed with the choice of colours on the Grey Knights. The understated red, with the vibrant orange and lustrous silver works so well.
And now for something completely different! All this anti-Chaos with the GK and Harlies has caused a great imbalance in the Force, so for this month's painting challenge I've decided to indulge in a little bit of Heresy with some Veterans of the Long War. I've always had a love-hate relationship with the CSM line; the concept and the newer minis like the Raptors and DV are stunning, but the older kits are sadly less terrifying/chaotic and more, well, spikey.... But with this one-off selection, I've done my best to rectify that, and make a trio of badasses that would give any Guardsman nightmares.
First we have pure CC fighter, big sword and several rather nasty knives. Not much conversion work here, more of a kitbash really.
Next a HB carrier. I've up-armoured his shoulder pad, just plasticard there, and added extra ammo on his backpack. There's also a bit of chaos demon/armour fusion going on, which I may add more of before I paint him.
And lastly, an all-rounder, probably a Chaos Lord of some kind. I've actually used a spare Malifaux had on him, so it's tiny compared to normal CSM heads, but to me manages to get the look of true scale, without all the fuss of chopping and changing sizes/parts around. I don't know if anyone sells heads in this scale, but it would be a decent way of converting truescale Marines without too much bother. Somewhat ironically, this guy is on the same base as last month's entry!
Still a few mold lines and such to sort but I'm pretty pleased with these guys. Paintwise, I think I'll be going with Word Bearers, as I really like the look of them, but I could be persuaded to do World Eaters or Night Lords. I'm also considering adding a demonic portal as a fourth 'model', and doing some kind of display/diorama for them, which may or may not feature piles of dead loyalists!
Thraxas Of Turai wrote: Para, just how many armies have you got??? (I think the sad answer for all of us is not enough).
So, too many, probably! Is it bad that I want AdMech as well?
I appear to have missed the painting challenge thing altogether, how long has this been going on?
It's something I started up last month: basically, you paint 1-5 models based on a theme, everyone votes at the end of the month, hopefully people are inspired to push themselves and get motivated! It's quite fun, and this month's theme is very open, so if you were planning on painting anything remotely Veterany this month then you can sign up whenever. There's a thread in P&M for the challenge, see there for the full rules ect.
That's your lot for today, guys! As ever, thanks for reading, any thoughts welcome! Happy Easter!
Steal away! I stole the overall look (red swords, dark red/maroon accents, rather bright armour) from a few I saw in the gallery here anyway. Step 1 whenever I try a new scheme is always to hit the gallery and 'borrow' any ideas I like the look of!
So many times, I'm tempted to try and do a CSM army and make something better of the older kits, and it can be done, but the amount of work and skill needed on each model is always a bit beyond me. These guys should make some nice shelf-candy at any rate!
Paint happened! Very fun to paint up these chaps, and I think they've come out rather nicely.
First is the HB guy. While I don't plan to dedicate any of these guys to specific gods overtly, I did want to hint at the close ties between the Word Bearers and demons, so this guy has a few Nurgley touches, rust/grime on his armour ect.
And the Lord, who I think is one of my best to date. I painted the head separately, first time I've done that, and it really did make a difference! Faces were one of the things I wanted to improve, and I'm pretty pleased with this one.
Finally, a question on the pics themselves. I did a few on a white background, which look fine on the camera but less good my screen. Then I figured they look better when I put the brightness up, as I normally have it rather low. So the question: do you guys think these pics against the white look better (without fiddling with settings) than the ones above?
Spoiler:
As ever, thanks for reading, any thoughts welcome!
I think the pictures with the darker background look better.
Also, said it already, but I'll say it again now that its painted. Love the lord. His banner is awesome, and you used enough blood to look good but not overdone on his cloth and the base.
Looking good. The lord especially. Banner, head, blood-splatters, down the line awesome. To the point where I think the bolter and axe get a little lost. But overall I love it.
The HB is good, and I can’t find any fault with it. But nothing about him really catches the eye. One problem with grim and grungy is that it doesn’t “pop”. I’m sure he’ll fit in nicely with a squad, but as a display piece he’s a little shy.
Very fair point about the HB gunner; while I got the look I was going for, the layers/highlights did get lost under the grime. Any ideas on how to add some pop back in? I was thinking some very, very subtle OSL from the gun (and I could try and sculpt a muzzle flash)? But I agree, it does need something else.
I'm now working on converting some DVCSM to add to this lot, and considering adding some Cultists to the mix as well... Oh god, it's happening again!
What I might do is clean up the scrap bolted to his shoulder. It’s obviously not factory issue, so play up the point. Either use it to add a splash of color, or a bright silver, that hasn’t had time to get as weathered as the armor it’s now a part of.
Hm, not a bad idea at all! I considered something similar while painting him, actually, so I may go back and change that. If all else fails, I'll just add another layer of highlights.
In addition to the Stabby guy from yesterday, I've put together a Dark Apostle and 2 BP/CCW guys from DV minis, giving me 6 in total. That will hit about 300 points for In The Emperor's Name, which is the ruleset they are most likely to be played in, and that's normal game size for that.
They are looking cracking Para - really nice and battle worn. Loving them. I need to get back and paint my DV Chosen soon - I'm hearing their voices mumbling and muttering to me from the box. lol
That's a really nice Word Bearer lord there Para. Nice work. And that head from the Malifaux kit works a treat. The black backdrop works best on there I think. White seems to drink most of the colour up for that paint scheme.
If I can make a few suggestions, though... I'd drill out the loyalist helmet that's on the HB guy's base. You might also want to add something a little brighter to the bases so that the figures pop a little more from the bases. You know how people make the bases dull but the figures bright? I find it also works in reverse, and allows dull/more muted figures to stand out more from their bases. Perhaps a little bit of strategically placed static flock to represent grass or moss growing between the flagstones? Or some tufts (Army painter make some good cheap ones - and they come in a variety of shades, because you obviously want to avoid the "supergreen" look regardless. Maybe their "Steppe" and "Highland" shades. For the bloodstains on the Chaos Rock, I'd invest in either some Tamiya Clear Red, or some Blood for the Blood God and add them after you varnish the figure. Add an appropriate amount of brown ink (and even a touch of matt or satin varnish) to get the shade of blood you want (the older dried blood is, the darker and browner it goes).
But yeah, they really do look great. I love the head you used on the champion as well. It (and your paint on it, particularly the inscription tattoos on the side of his head) really adds character to the unit. Not needed, but you could also add a helmet to his hip, as though he's taken it off to survey the battlefield after the current slaughter.
If I can make a few suggestions, though... I'd drill out the loyalist helmet that's on the HB guy's base. You might also want to add something a little brighter to the bases so that the figures pop a little more from the bases. You know how people make the bases dull but the figures bright? I find it also works in reverse, and allows dull/more muted figures to stand out more from their bases. Perhaps a little bit of strategically placed static flock to represent grass or moss growing between the flagstones? Or some tufts (Army painter make some good cheap ones - and they come in a variety of shades, because you obviously want to avoid the "supergreen" look regardless. Maybe their "Steppe" and "Highland" shades. For the bloodstains on the Chaos Rock, I'd invest in either some Tamiya Clear Red, or some Blood for the Blood God and add them after you varnish the figure. Add an appropriate amount of brown ink (and even a touch of matt or satin varnish) to get the shade of blood you want (the older dried blood is, the darker and browner it goes).
Yep, I think the helmet needs brightening, and I could certainly add something else to the base; I'm getting more used to it, but I'm still in bad habit of thinking of basing as afterthought. As for the blood, it actually is BFTBG!
But yeah, they really do look great. I love the head you used on the champion as well. It (and your paint on it, particularly the inscription tattoos on the side of his head) really adds character to the unit. Not needed, but you could also add a helmet to his hip, as though he's taken it off to survey the battlefield after the current slaughter.
I considered it, as done right it can look cool, but I just felt the model was in danger of getting crowded. In that area you already have the axehead, loincloth, grenade and pouch, so I'm not sure the helmet would really fit anywhere.
Thanks for the tips, this is all helpful stuff on these and future models, as I really am trying to improve at the moment!
Oh, I think the Crimson Fists(?) helmet works fine as-is. Adding a bit of flock or tufts would add the colour as well as a touch of "softness" to what can otherwise be a rather harsh and barren-looking base. Even better if you've got detailed bases like yours as opposed to my slack-arse drybrushed sand bases, but have a look here to see what I mean.
Not much of one, but an update nonetheless! Got the 3rd Word Bearer done, but I think that even more than the HB guy, he suffers from a lack of anything to really draw the eye. I tried to add some other colour with the collection of heads hanging from the right shoulder, but I'm tempted to remove it as I'm not sure it works.
There he is, any thoughts welcome!
Also managed to get some group shots and a couple of better individual pics of the others. I'm thinking I may just enter the Lord on his own in challenge, though.
I'm going to take a little break from these guys for a bit, as I'm still not entirely happy with that third guy, so now on deck is a new Sanguinary Priest for my BA (JP-equipped and will be paintjob to match Sanguinary Guard) and the Harlies keep glaring angrily from the back of the desk!
Of the three I like the lord the best. It might be that he has the relatively clean banner/head/tabard to set of the muted tones of his armor. For Mr. Stabby, You might want to consider cleaning up the “purity” seal on his shoulder. I think the use of either the banner or tabard technique/colors from the lord would add a little spot of “pop” to the guy. Right now it just sorta blends in with the rest of the mini and feels like a lost opportunity.
I like the little touches on the base.
Overall good work. I always feel a little bad nit-picking nice looking models. He’s solid, and an army painted to that standard would be a joy to face off against.
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