Hello Everyone,
I recently was convinced to get back into Warhammer Fantasy and I decided to rebuild my Bretonnia army.
I played in 7th edition quite a bit but about 6-9 months before 8th came out a local game store kid managed to drop my case in such a way as to break about 40-70% of the lances and ruin the paint jobs of several models in the army. This killed my interest in the game for a while. A week ago I stripped my Bretonnians and have committed to finishing them and doing a much better job this time.

If you'd like to see the army in action here is my video battle report thread.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/435730.page#4017446

Here is the first knight I’ve painted.



I’d like some feedback on possible heraldry. Below is an image I mocked up in paint. (Horse outlines are stolen from http://home.comcast.net/~tedrussell/warhammergallery/Painting/GettingStarted/gettingstarted.html)

Any of these designs look particularly bad to anyone? If so what should I replace it with? The top left example is the above painted model.

They all look good and knightly. I've always liked the Brets quite a bit. Will be watching.

Yea I'm halfway through my bretonnian army so you may just inspire me to do a blog

Very nice start.

The white looks smooth, but kinda flat. Any plans for something on them, to break it up a bit?

Thin the paints a bit more, especially the ones you do on the shield. The large, flat area can really show how thick the paint is.

Are you going to do any kind of symbol on top of the two colors on the shield?

Lormax wrote:Very nice start.

The white looks smooth, but kinda flat. Any plans for something on them, to break it up a bit?

Thin the paints a bit more, especially the ones you do on the shield. The large, flat area can really show how thick the paint is.

Haven't got any ideas on how to break up the white. By thin the paint you mean just add water to it?

Lormax wrote:

Are you going to do any kind of symbol on top of the two colors on the shield?

Probably going to put some transfers on. There is a good set that comes with the Bretonnia box.

walledin wrote:Haven't got any ideas on how to break up the white. By thin the paint you mean just add water to it?

Aye. Slow-dry works as well, and Flow Improver. I believe you can find these products at Brookhurst Hobbies, or the Art Supply Warehouse across the street from the Bunker

Do I add the slow-dry or flow improver directly to the pot or do I have to apply it to a palette first?

I'd always do mixing in the palette. Once you add it to the pot, there's no going back.

Just finished another model. Not very happy with how the grey turned out. Hard to make it look anything but flat.





Any suggestions?


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Also I broke the sword on this model and lost it so I had to replace it. Is it noticable?

Maybe trim it with something? Red? I'm not liking that shield sitting in the large field of grey either

I don't notice any broken sword

Yeah for Bretonnia! Your knights are coming along well and I like that you mapped out your models in advance (also kept you metals straight which is important in heraldry).

I'm hardly the best painter in the world, but my friend is great and one thing he told me is to always try to have at least 3 layers of color. A deep color, a middle tone and a highlight. So if you are unhappy with your gray (which looks fine to me), I would check to see if you have 3 layers of color.

Good luck!

Lormax wrote:Maybe trim it with something? Red? I'm not liking that shield sitting in the large field of grey either

I don't notice any broken sword

I don't think the red would work because it would stick out. Maybe a black wash around the chevron

You could also try hardlining the chevron in black to make it stand out, like this?

I added black ink around the shields on the barding to draw out the shields. What does everyone think?

Also I am starting to run low on Citadel black ink. Does anyone know where I can get something similar? (Washes don't really cut it)

Really nice knoghts mate, but I'd suggest you not to use the spoiulers; its annoying to have to open them to look at your stuff....

But keep the good painting up!

I think the black-lining of your shields will really stand out on the table. Looks good.

If you don't want to wash, your ink is thick enough on that model that you could get the same effect with a fine brush, black paint and a little patience (as Guns and Roses would say)

MrMerlin wrote:Really nice knoghts mate, but I'd suggest you not to use the spoiulers; its annoying to have to open them to look at your stuff....

But keep the good painting up!

Thanks for the compliment. My concern is creating a thread with long load times. Although I suppose a PM Blog thread shouldn't really be afraid of that.

Bastion of Mediocrity wrote:I think the black-lining of your shields will really stand out on the table. Looks good.

If you don't want to wash, your ink is thick enough on that model that you could get the same effect with a fine brush, black paint and a little patience (as Guns and Roses would say)

I'll keep up the black lining then. I was originally doing it with chaos black like Lormax suggested but was having trouble controlling the paint. Maybe I should just water down the paint a lot.

Another knight is finished. I have another that has been sealed and is currently drying. I'll post it up ASAP.





Merry Christmas!

ah, you removed the spoilers

i really like the last knight!

Thank you.

well played sir, well played!

The red and green together looks pretty good.

On the last knight are the shields still outlined in ink, or is that an attempt with paint? Just curious. Looks great

The outlines are ink still. Thanks for the compliments I'm painting the 5th one now

4th one finished. I wasn't sure I was going to like the black but it turned out much better than I expected.

Blue/Green Knight is finished.



Currently I'm working on the knight who worships the Lady of the Lakers. He should be done by tomorrow night.

That blue is very nice. Keep up the good work!

Looking very neat, I for one really struggle with those straight edges like you've got on the shields so well done on those.
I'd suggest possibly using some inks/washes just to give some of your colours a bit of depth - saves a lot of highlighting if you're painting them for the table.

With regards to black inks, Vallejo do a very good black ink, I find it useful for making a line defining two separate areas that are the same colour.

I'll be watching this with interest, thinking of doing Bretonnians in the future

Looking awesome. Looking forward to more knightly images. You can add a lot of details into the shields by spending more time line highlighting them with a brighter shade of the color.

Now with epic failure. I screwed up applying the yellow to the next model I was working on, I spent about an hour trying to get it to look right and I finally gave up.



Time to strip this knight.

In other news another knight is finished but the shield bubbled up for some reason so I scrapped the paint off the shield and am going to repaint the damaged section.

Maximum frustration.

It's ok. Yellow needs a good basecoat.

QFT Leohart, you either need to bring the black up from a grey to light grey to yellow or get yourself some foundation Iyandan darksun. That should help the bleeding effect from the basecoat.

Ya my usual method for yellow over black is deneb stone, 50:50 deneb stone white, white, sunburst yellow, gryphone sepia, drybrush sunburst.

I think I'll just do future yellow knights with a white base coat to save myself some time. It is kinda sad screwing up yellow when my Marine army is imperial fists.



In other news when I get back to painting my Imperial Fists should I do it in this thread or start a new one?


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I also have an army list for the army posted here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/430391.page

I'd appreciate any C&C there.

If you want to go for yellow do a coat of Iyanden Darksun over the black undercoat and then wash with Sepia and then mix some yellow in to the Iyanden Darksun to build up the highlights water down you paints (mix) though while you do this.

edit: didn't see the second page, just ignore me and take Lennysmash's advice lol

Just as a side-note about lining the shields-

You can get a micro-pen and just draw the outline in, it works really well, and it's a helluva lot faster than using paint or ink.

But whatever works!

Yup, the only problem with micro-pen is the limited number of available colors.

leohart wrote:Yup, the only problem with micro-pen is the limited number of available colors.

True, but he's just lining black.

To echo everyone else, Iyanden Darksun is a godsend for all Imperial Fists/Bad Moonz/Iyanden players.

So get yourself some, even if it's only for one guy.

Or wait 1 month and get the new paint. :p

For the lady of the Lakers!

I didn't intentionally make the model in Lakers colors. It is just difficult to have a large number of differently painted knights that don't end up in some sport team's color.


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It took me a whle but I got the yellow correct after a while. Currently I'm working on a set of movement trays for the army. I'll add some pictures of that later.

Looking very awesome. Is that Mondian Blue?

It is midnight blue with a hormagaunt highlight, if you are talking about the purple that is.

Here is the next one. I like how the blue turned out but the green is kinda flat.

Is it me or the horse looks a bit shiny? You can line highlight the green with a lighter green. Looking awesome as always.

The horse is a little shiny in that picture. I'll take a look at it when I get home and see if that is just a product of the picture or something else. The sealer that I use makes the model a little shiny, so that + lighting could be causing the glowing horse.

I think once I finish the lance I'll go back and do another layer over all the flat looking colors to see if I can brighten them up.

If it is the final coat, try Testor Dull Coat instead. It makes things matte.

I've had that suggested before but I kind of like the overall shininess. The horse itself is the one part that shouldn't be shining.

Also, I do like your basing quite a bit. I never get around to doing my bases. :(

How did you get those colors?

leohart wrote:Also, I do like your basing quite a bit. I never get around to doing my bases. :(

How did you get those colors?

It is actually ridiculously easy. I just prime black and put a heavy drybrush of Khemri brown over the whole thing.

I've been working away at the models and have been neglecting to post up the new photos so prepare for massive photo dump of doom.

Here is a model that I had some trouble with the shield bubbling up. I've fixed it for the most part but the damage is still slightly noticeable.



Here is another knight I've title "The Lord of Green Bay"



This is the Unit Champion. I tried out a new method of doing the white on the model, tell me what you think.



Here is the musician of the group. I wanted to go with an all helmeted look for the KotR units so a horn would not of worked, therefore the bird is his instrument.




Here is a shot of the whole group




The whole army is resting on magnets so that I can just lift the entire unit out of their case and place it directly on the table. I made the movement trays out of a roofing shingle + sprue around the edges.





Conclusion
PHEW that was a massive update. What does everyone think? I'm especially curious about how the group shot turned out, how the new method for the white looks and what everyone thinks of the movement trays.

Whats next?
From here I still have the standard bearer to do as well as the character that is going in the unit. I'll probably put off doing the character until I finish the next group of KotR so that I have a bit more experience under my belt before I tackle something more complicated/important.

You had me at "dump of doom"!

Looking super great. Great work and great details on those shields.

I also magnetize my base. I didn't use roof shingles but opted for sheet metal instead. How much do those roof shingles cost?

About 88 cents each. I think I know what material you are talking about, I use it for my M@As bases. I wanted something that was a little stiffer to support the weight of the Knight units and the shingle fit the bill.

I use the metal sheet to line the bottom of my gw moving trays. I would it be cheaper to get the shingles instead?

I don't know how much the GW movement tray was but I am certain my method is significantly cheaper.

All I did was line the models up where I wanted them on the tray and bracketed the models with leftover sprue that I had cut the extra bits off of. I superglued it down and once it was dry I pulled hte models off and based the tray the same way I do the rest of my army.

I did 3 trays at once and get the whole thing done in under an hour. I could probably do it in less now that I know What the heck I am doing.

Should I post a guide on how I magnetized the army?

Also what do you use for magnets?

I buy 100 pack round one from kjmagnetics.com for 14. Drill a little into the Calvary base and super glue it in. The magnets are short enough to fit.

The metal sheet runs me 11 for 1 feet by 2 feet. Looks likes shingles would be cheaper.

I use a roll of this stuff http://www.michaels.com/Magnetic-Tacky-Tape/gc2092,default,pd.html?cgid=products-generalcrafts-aleenes&start=3. It costs about $10-13 and lasts for a while. I stretch out the roll until there is no longer a curve in it then glue the model to the magnet and cut away the excess with a sprue cutter.

You magnets are probably cheaper but I think my method is a little lazier.

Yeah I had that exact same thing from Michaels but I found that they don't stick hard enough. But it's good to know we have options. :-)

Keep up the awesome work. Looking forward to more Brets.

They look great on that tray together!

I scratch built and painted a trebuchet on Sunday.





Only 2 more to go until I have all of the ones that I need.

Awesome Trebs. 2 more? What are you trying to do? Treb spamming?

My gamig group are all building up 5k armies together. Therefore i feel required to take the maximum 4 trebs. Also means this thread will be very long.

Finished this guy up a couple days ago.



I've started posting Battle Reports with this army if anyone in interested in seeing it in action.


http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/435730.page#4017446

Next one is up.

Awesome. Love that color combo.

Here is the next one. Not the greatest picture in the world but I think the model came out alright.

Knights looking good there. Are you going to do the bases later?

Great start to an army here! I think I like the Brets sans crazy helmet figureheads Have you thought about adding some additional heraldry besides vertically and horizontally divided? How about checks or chevrons? It all looks a bit too standard currently, imho.

Keep up the good work!
Rawson

Swordwind wrote:Knights looking good there. Are you going to do the bases later?

I am planning on adding static grass later if that is your question. Its just a little easier to do in a very large group then 1 knight at a time.

Rawson wrote:Great start to an army here! I think I like the Brets sans crazy helmet figureheads Have you thought about adding some additional heraldry besides vertically and horizontally divided? How about checks or chevrons? It all looks a bit too standard currently, imho.

Keep up the good work!
Rawson

Thanks! I am planning on doing different schemes based on unit type. I was thinking of doing vertically/horizontally halved for Knight of the Realm, quartered for Questing Knights and checkers for Grail Knights.

They all have the same scheme atm because I've only painted Knight of the realm.


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I really like how the blue turned out on this one.

Standard Bearer is done.

The new stuff is looking really good, but my favourite of them is the blue and green one!

Here is a Prophetess I modified out of a Dark Elf Dark Pegasus and the old Fay Enchantress model. Any recommendations on how I should paint the model? I'm thinking a blue dress with a second attempt at a white unicorn.

I think as long as the unicorn is white, all is good.

She is pretty much done. I think I am going to redo/go over the face again. Opinions?

Did you use a gloss on her? She looks rather glossy?

Yes she has a gloss but so do all the other painted models that I have put up.

Not liking it?

I don't use gloss varnish so I haven't seen a model that shiny before :-). The model looks good.

This is the product that I use on all of my minis.

http://www.homedepot.com/Paint-Spray-Paint/h_d1/N-5yc1vZapz5/R-100670439/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

It smells to high heaven for the first few hours but afterwards it gives the effects you may notice in this thread.

Sub'd this army is looking good and its the first time i have ever a bret's blog on dakka.

I'm not sold on the glossy gloss, and I'd like to see more shadows/shading on the horses and banners.

But that's me nitpicking, I'm just happy to see another Bret plog on Dakka.

Keep up the great work! (Suuuuuuuuuuuuuub-SCRIBED!)

--B.

Liking the Knights so far, especially in big units. How long do they take you to do?

The enchantress is a nice clean paintjob, but I would have gone for softer colour combinations, I think.

happygolucky wrote:Sub'd this army is looking good and its the first time i have ever a bret's blog on dakka.

Briancj wrote:I'm not sold on the glossy gloss, and I'd like to see more shadows/shading on the horses and banners.

But that's me nitpicking, I'm just happy to see another Bret plog on Dakka.

Keep up the great work! (Suuuuuuuuuuuuuub-SCRIBED!)

--B.

happygolucky wrote:Sub'd this army is looking good and its the first time i have ever a bret's blog on dakka.

Thanks guys

Da Boss wrote:Liking the Knights so far, especially in big units. How long do they take you to do?

The enchantress is a nice clean paintjob, but I would have gone for softer colour combinations, I think.

Each knight takes about 3 or 4 hours including drying time, or 4 episodes of DS9 by my reckoning.

Some take more or less depending on the colors used; specifically yellow and white take forever to get right whereas black, blue and green are pretty straightforward.

Painting has been going slowly due to school becoming more demanding as finals approach.

Here is the Bretonnian Lord I just finished converting. I am up in there air as to how to paint him and feedback would be appreciated. Right now I am thinking of doing him in the same scheme as the banners in the army, blue with white trim, or the color scheme for him on the website of yellow with red trim but I am open to suggestions. I'd prefer not to paint him Green as he will end up looking too much like the Green Knight model, which I am planning on painting up in to near future.

I'm probably going to start putting paint on this guy this week so suggestions are welcome.

The Lord can be any color scheme really. I prefer white and red but it is your call.

I'm thinking blue with white trim and paint the dragon images red.

I took a trip down memory lane and painted up a knight in the color scheme army was painted before they were destroyed by the game store kid.

Looking awesome, not to be a downer but isn't there something bad about green in bretionnia?

Haonn wrote:Looking awesome, not to be a downer but isn't there something bad about green in bretionnia?

I'm not certain what you mean. Could you elaborate?

Not bad, per-se, but Brets mix French and English history, a combination of Charlemagne and Camelot. In this case, there is "The Green Knight", which is a Bret Special Character, with ties to nature/druids, etc.

You have some really nice looking knights there and the trebuchet is really awsome. You get a big Kep up the nice work. Oh the lord on the green knight's horse looks really cool too.

He isn't quite finished yet but I've made some major progress on him.

Comments?

That lord is looking awesome. I think it was in a brettonia noval that they mentioned that green was shunned by the nobles because it was easy to make green dye, making it a peasant colour, and it was the colour of the fey. I don't know how much of it is true, but either way your green heraldry is awesome.

That lord is a thing of beauty. I have always loved the Brett armies as they have the ability to be absolutely beautiful with the personal heraldries and you have definitely done them justice.

Wow, great job on that lord! I'm looking forward to seeing it finished!

Lord is finished. I'm starting up on the BSB tonight.

The lord looks great.

I think your pictures do not do them justice. Have you tried getting some craft paper from Walmart and use that as a backdrop? When I switched to using backdrop, the color comes out much better.

You just use the craft paper to make a white background?

Yes, I use a hard craft paper, preferably one with interesting pattern to create the back drop. You can use white printing paper too.

Like this one: http://www.zoofoo.com/photo/low-budget-lightbox.html

With a white light, it should come out well.

Started work on the Battle Standard last night.

I'm debating how to paint the rim of the banner and how to paint the accompanying BSB. He is on top of the Repanse De Lyonese horse. I'm thinking the same checkers and painting the lions the same yellow as the flag.

Finished up the battle standard.



work on the BSB starts tonight.

BSB is done.



Checkers were easier than I thought they'd be.

Law School and internships have been crushing my hobby time. Here is one of the grail knights I painted up recently.

Nice work on the yellows and blues!

I do like Brets and this is a nice looking army- Bravo!

It joys me to see some love for my favorite Fantasy army!
The BSB looks freakin' fantastic.
Keep up the awesome work.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Here is another recently finished grail knight.

Nice handiwork here, I especially like these last three, the checkers are very well done


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Nice handiwork here, I especially like these last three, the checkers are very well done

Bretts always look so cool on the table and I think maybe I should try them out, but then I think man that is too much work. Glad there are folks like you out there willing to put in the time!

looking pretty sweet there guy. like how the grail knights are coming out i could not have done them justice like you are. keep it up. glad to see another fantasy plog around too.

Thanks everyone. I am working on uploading a couple more pictures tonight or tomorrow morning.

Would anyone be interested in a tutorial in how I am doing the checkers? I wouldn't mind putting one together, but only if there is some actual interest.

Also I am trying to paint the faces on a few of my damsels and can't get good results. Can anyone link me a well written tutorial on how to paint faces?

Here's a nice face painting tutorial, its rather complex but I still find it usefull
http://www.cmdante.com/search/label/painting%20flesh

Thanks for the link. I took a look at it and started working on a Damsel last night.

Here is another Grail Knight. I don't think I like the little checkers on the field, as opposed to the larger checkers I used on the other ones.

looks real good man

Here is the WIP Damsel.

Any suggestions on cloak color?

She looks really cool! I personaly would do the cloak in purple or blue