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Well, onto another fantasy army! The colours of the province of talabecland seemed an obvious choice for me to do, seeing as I have never really had much practice at painting yellow, and needed some more practice with my red. But i've stuck a problem whilst painting my test figures. A friend told me that my test firgures are too subtle, and not bold enough, so i decided to paint one of the test figures, by adding blood red over the mechrite, and sunburst yellow over the iyanden. Now i prefer the unhighlighted version, but this army has happened because i want to put together are large force that can really show off my painting skills that i have practiced and slowly perfected over a few years. Now i'm sure you will look at these images and see a low quality, but these figures are about 50% complete, and i wanted to get this colour solution out of the way, so then i could finally finish the test figures off.

So here are the images:
And thanks for any comments given!

Yay, more Fantasy P&M threads!

Looks good so far, though I think I would lean toward the unhighlighted scheme over the highlighted (I kind of like the slightly de-saturated quality about it more).

I'm pawing over the Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire book here and...

Highlighted for the yellow, but not the red trousers, which have taken on a kind of oranging during highlighting. They need a stronger red.

As you can tell yellow is the colour which i am struggling with most here, as the brightness of it just seems to scare me with if it looks right or not. And i agree on the trousers, the blood red with the yellow just doesn't look right at all. Thanks for the comments anyway guys, keep them coming as it is you i'm doing this project for.

I'd say Red Gore and Golden Yellow, not sunburst. Esp if you're going to be highlighting up a bit.

Blood red is incorrect for Talabecland. It's just too bright.

Red Gore with a light brown wash should work well though.

I tried the golden yellow before sunburst and it just didn't look.. right? I'm not sure, will definately try the red gore and then repost a picture of the model with that, and see if that looks better. Just got a comment off my gf saying that the unhighlighted yellow looks more realistic, and she has a valid point, but empire are known for their brightly coloured state troop.

After mailing the pictures to a few mates, i recieved a few comments saying that they look too like Ostermark, due to the deep crimson red. This means it needs lightening up, so i will try the red gore mix and hope that this will finally look right, then i can get these guys finished and posted up for you guys to comment on ^^

Ostermark is plum and a dull yellow though?

I agree, i think they are just being picky, they just say the reds too dark, which it is actually.

Well the red has been brightened with a mix of Mechrite Red and Blood Red, 50/50, very happy with this actually as it has a nice strong colour, without being too OTT.

The yellow has been highlighted with bleached bone. Not sure with this yet, maybe it needs to be mixed with some Iyanden to blend it in with the yellow more?

Edit: Picture Attached

Finished 2 test figures.. Thinking of starting a blog if enough people would be interest? Warhammer seems to have only a small following on dakka so not sure if it would get many followers?

I'm really liking this version of the colour-scheme, though the Bleached Bone is a bit too bright or big a jump. Try a 50/50 Bleached Bone and Golden Yellow, perhaps?

Thank you for your input! I will try out what you suggested, as the bleached bone does seem to be too bright in comparison to the iyanden yellow.

It's not that it's too 'bright', it's that it's too far out from yellow on the colour spectrum. Mix bleached bone and the original yellow 50:50 to get a better highlight.

Ah thank you. What are your opinions on the bases? I normally like to do something a bit more detailed and interesting, but with the volume of troops I need to paint, I figured this could be out of the question..

Talabecland is described as 'heavily forested and sparsely populated', also it's all about Taal, god of beasts and wild places.

So, make the bases and unit fillers and terrain all about 'happy hunting grounds' imo. Fallen leaves, bushes, animal bones etc...

Just don't make em too busy, they should not distract the eye from the mini.

Yeah, I was happy when i found this out as i very much wanted to convert an amber and jade wizard! And both these types would have secret holds throughout Talabecland. My Uniforms & Heraldry of the Empire arrived this morning, very brilliant and detaild book to read! Shame Talabecland does not have any elite unit given though!

- Stompa, would brass leaves suffice to show the forest surroundings?

This stuff looks good.

http://www.barrule.com/Workshop/scratch%20builders%20paradise/leaves,%20feuilles,%20blatter,%20fogli.html

Also small branches (tiny) on a couple of bases and movement trays.
Also look into big footprint bases for your warmachines and suchlike. Things like little milestones, a rabbit, old and weathered bones etc.

Wow. You have just saved me a LARGE amount of time and money on brass etch leaves. I'm gunna have to grab a load of that stuff when i get payed at the end of the month. You sir are a genious! Thank you so much for your help and interest!

No worries at all. I'm happy to help, been prepping for my own Marienburg army in the winter/2011.

Your biggest help will be model train woodland terrain, flock etc. but here's some extra.

Here's some animal bones etc:
http://www.freebooterminiatures.de/shop/index.php?s=675e66b81b2cd936d6b5e0b3b0234b3e&act=SHOP&CODE=03&WGP=3&art=230

http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=86

Also there is a little 'skeleton dog' on the mantic skeleton sprue, see if you can blag one.

woodland animals for sneaking into terrain and larger dioramas
http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/historical_ranges/collections/animals/any/woodland_animals_collection_bcgpr009/?alsopartofback=16156

I also think there are things like hares and such on the sprues for woodelves and brettonians and empire, so some research on the sites like bitzbox and bits and kits might yield some more results there.

Ultimately, again I urge you that with skulls, milestones, animals and tree branches...

Less is more, don't make your bases too busy, don't let them detract from the army they are carrying, let them compliment and add flavour.

I actually think they look really good. Especially cause I hate painting yellow lol and your yellow came up really nice.

Thank you so much Stompa, i really do appreciate your input and help on this project. Some questions now, Talabecland is told to compromise of small elite armies, and yet be heavily forested, i'm confused as to what to equip my statetroops with, as halberdiers and shields seems to be popular in the fluff and images, but maybe no so in game? Are huntsmen needed?

Army composition has to be your choice, reliant on what you decide in terms of maintaining a competitive list vs a fluffy list.

For my Marienburg army, I decided at the very start, no Steam Tanks, since Marienburg is an independent city state, no flagellants, since the apocalyptic cult of sigmar isn't in sway in Marienburg, the Patron god is Manan, lord of the seas.

But I am including ogres, since the city is famous for it's mercenary contingents. It will be a mix of immaculate city troopers and rancid mercs, the kind of big and nasty army a lot of gold gets you.

You army is your choice... I know Stirland's says low on handguns and high on bows, so perhaps that can influence. Your Call though!