Specialist Arms Forum
Specialist Games General Discussion => Modeling & painting => Topic started by: Geep on December 18, 2014, 02:14:36 AM
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I don't think I've ever posted pics of things I've painted here, so it's time to make a start. I'm a pretty slow painter, and also leap around projects quite a bit, so this blog may end up containing a wide range of oddities (I'll update the tag as this grows).
First up: the core requirements of a 1000pt of a Skaven army, 2 clanrats and 2 rat swarms
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/SkavenArmy2.png) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/SkavenArmy2.png.html)
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/SkavenArmy1.png) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/SkavenArmy1.png.html)
The painting is pretty simple, but I think it has to be for the rat hordes. My planned 1000pts alone has 13 units, plus characters! (seemed an appropriate goal)
I usually prefer brown bases, but that wouldn't have worked for brown rats, and green or sand doesn't seem 'Skaveny', so I went with a very dark stone to make the rats stand out.
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/SkavenArmy3.png) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/SkavenArmy3.png.html)
The clanrats are distinguished by runes on their shields, which are repeated on one of the banners of the command stand. The second banner, out of focus here (my camera refused to focus on it) is fancier, with the red-and-black triangle pattern and symbol of clan Mors.
I haven't yet decided how to distinguish the rat swarms- I think I need to add a small base detail to each unit, or maybe a brand mark on the largest rats.
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Looking good! I always loved skaven, can't wait to see more.
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Good work Geep! Four units at a time is great start.
You are not using flock, but you fill with paste the base, do you?
I will follow your blog and comments about rats with interest. I did not read the clanbook or know too much about them so maybe I will learn a couple of things here. Someday I will do an army of rats.
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I use sand to build up the bases- often multiple layers, when the stand is thick (the Skaven stands all seem to be very thick).
I'd like to add flock, or some similar detail, but haven't decided on what yet. It'll have to be scarce, as the models are pretty crowded (I'd recommend 5 stands per base for anyone starting off with Skaven).
I chose clan Mors for a few reasons:
1) It's the largest, most powerful Skaven warlord clan, with no single association to the main clans, so it has a large amount of special units from Skryre, Pestilens, Mulder and Eshin. It's own warriors also tend to be fairly elite, as they frequently fight the Dwarfs and Night Goblins at Karak Eight Peaks.
2) The colours and rune of the clan are simple. Colours are white, red and black, and the rune is a modified 'M'.
3) They have no bizarre defining feature like some clans- no albinos, no dyed fur, no docked tails, or anything else needing modelling effort I don't want to put into the rats (I'd go mad with the numbers!)
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Nice brown tide :)
Try maybe a black or white rat sometimes ?
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White is the colour of Grey Seers, so that'll happen. Black is sometimes the colour of Storm Vermin (there are white stormvermin, but they specifically guard the Skaven council of 13). I don't want to vary the brown too much because 1) there are a lot of rats to paint, and 2) The fur colour is pretty much the uniform of this mostly naked army. For crazy, mixed colours I have my Orcs and Goblins, which I'll hopefully get some pics of within the month.
I think the specialist Skaven units will help add more variety to the colours, as they have more cloth and noticeable weapons.
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A solid start!
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You've done a nice job on those - crisp and bold colours!
I would suggest adding tufts of dead grass (the yellow/white stuff) and possibly the odd bit of green tuft as well to break up the grey on the bases? You could even go for a marsh/cavern theme by doing some little patches of water?
Dave
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Thanks David. I do intend to add some dead grass tufts, and maybe a few other small details. I need to add something to the rat swarms to be able to tell the different units apart.
Here's some rough and ready photos of my other Warmaster- These were taken right before I packed them up, so if anyone wants I can probably take better photos later.
The Orcs- a bit over 1000pts so far:
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3363.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3363.jpg.html)
These guys are painted to look exactly like their Warhammer counterparts-
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/Army1.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/Army1.jpg.html)
Including having the same banners:
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3366.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3366.jpg.html)
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3367.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3367.jpg.html)
This army partly explains why I'm not deviating from my brown Skaven :P
The Warhammer army (which came first) was painted when my primary opponent was Bretonnians- so the theme is that the army is from the Massif Orcal, and each orc outfits themselves with the bright colours taken from dead knights. There are standard army colours, and then each unit adds one or two standard unit colours on top of that (for the basic orcs, at least). Originally the army was to be boar-'knight' heavy, but cost prevented that.
The problem that comes from this idea is that there are many more orcs in an army than Bretonnian knights- so even though the painting is simple, it takes ages due to all of the colours. It's madness to have repeated this on the Warmaster scale orcs, and madness I will not repeat on the Skaven.
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(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3368.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3368.jpg.html)
The army is lead by Blacktooth Gitface- a strangely immortal orc, though he may sometimes also be a savage orc or black orc. The Blacktooth symbol is everywhere in the army, though sometimes very subtle.
I want to convert a suitable warboar mounted version sometime, as he's always on a Warboar in Warhammer.
I've tried to carry other little details through both scales, like with these wolf riders- only the champion model has a wolf of pure black or (in this case) pure white.
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3364.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3364.jpg.html)
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3365.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3365.jpg.html)
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The goblin green on the edge of the O&G bases just doesn't look right (IMO) with the other colours that you've used for the bases. Consider using the main, darker base colour instead. However, if you're happy, plz ignore my comments!
The rest of the O&G army looks sweet. Reminds me that I need to finish the banners on my O&G's.
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great army! Colour schemes are superb
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Good work! Always nice to see painted pewter!
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Very nice. And I like the individuality within the units. It's a pain to do, but I think its worth the effort to 'customise' in that way.
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Really nice stuff here! Not sure how I missed this one!
The orcs look great, I really like the banners. Are the bases done using the GW texture paint? Blackfire pass?
What colour do you plan on doing the skaven bases?
Time of Madness
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Thanks :)
The goblin green trim of the bases is a sign of the times for my Warhammer army (it's quite old now). It's a little odd to have copied it on the Warmaster models (and I think the base/drybrush colour of the bases are also a little off), but I wanted to keep the two armies as similar as possible. Eventually I'll put some small patches of green static grass on the Warmaster bases- as with the Warhammer ones. The green edges look a little better when there's that green on top as well.
All of my bases are just done with a fine sand- usually two layers to cover the thick base tabs. Initially I used sand from a beach trip, but ran out of that so now use the GW sand.
I'm considering the Skaven bases mostly done. I wanted to keep them dark and a colour which the little rats wouldn't become visually mixed-up with. I may drybrush on some lighter grey if I get sick of the current tone. I still need to add some static grass and a few other details- maybe bones or small sculpted rats?
For those wondering why I'm sticking to simple paint jobs- I have roughly 40,000 points of Warmaster to paint. I'll never manage it if I put too much effort into every unit.
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Having the sames forces on 28mm y 10mm is not common. Did you play with the "same list/force" in both scales?
Could you comment us how do you feel the same army composition in the two rulesets (WH/WM) or how different is a battle with the same army composition but in different rulesets (WH/WM)?
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Unfortunately it's not really possible to play with the same list at both scales, due to things missing in one scale or the other, or price of things in different scales, or just how they work in game. That said, I've collected enough alternate units and alternate sculpts that eventually my full Warhammer army will be in Warmaster scale. I was, for a while, modifying my Warhammer army to suit the Warmaster one as well- making the orcs 5 wide and 6 deep (Warhammer orcs need to be modelled as a unit- they are too large for their bases). Unfortunately I drifted away from Warhammer with 8th edition, so that army hasn't been touched in ages. From current rumours 9th ed sounds even more awful.
For army composition between the two scales, I prefer the true 'horde' feel of Warmaster, though miss having lone rock lobbers and doom divers. I'll have these in 2000pts of Warmaster Orcs, but it won't quite be the same. In both systems cavalry are a bit too powerful (and therefore common), though I purposefully steer clear of taking too many now. 8th ed Fantasy did a good job of reducing cavalry effectiveness, but too much IMO- now cavalry do very little in that game.
As for how they play- unfortunately I've actually only ever played one game of Warmaster. I hope to play more in this year though! One similarity that struck me is that wolf riders die horribly in both systems, achieving very little. Goblins on foot aren't much better.
I think animosity will be much less of a problem in Warmaster (I take this to be represented by the low Ld characters). In Warhammer, animosity has always been my bane. It's supposed to be a 'double edged sword', and 'mitigated by having many more units', but in practice it just doesn't work. Units failing to move is annoying, and charging out of formation unsupported is even worse! And though you may have more units, the physical restraints of space mean you simply can't have all units properly positioned to support each other in the event of poor animosity rolls (even if you played on a table with no terrain). This is even worse since 8th ed, with hordes and units expected to be even more massive.
Despite the difficulties, I still like my Warhammer Orcs. They lose a lot more than they win (if I want to win I have a Wood Elf army), but it's usually fun to play- and sometimes they'll really surprise you, pulling off very unexpected victories.
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Here's more I prepared earlier...
I did not paint this High Elf army. It was painted by Erwin Jackson- you can find pics of this army and various articles by him in some of the Warmaster magazines. Apparently this army used to play against Rick Priestley back in the day.
I usually only buy painted stuff if I'm going to strip it, but there was no way I was going to strip this army. The detail he has put in is excellent.
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3369.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3369.jpg.html)
Most of the force. There's four dragons (1 with broken wing) and one eagle unit (with some broken wings) as well. Two of the dragons can be seen here:
http://www.forum.specialist-arms.com/index.php?topic=1630.0 (http://www.forum.specialist-arms.com/index.php?topic=1630.0)
The damaged happened last time I moved, and unfortunately I haven't been stable enough (location wise) since then to give them the care they deserve regarding repairs.
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3370.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3370.jpg.html)
Each unit has major distinguishing colours, though it all ties very well into the whole army.
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3371.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3371.jpg.html)
I had no idea when buying this army, but it's full of rare models- Dragon Princes, Phoenix Guard, Swordmasters- it even came with the full Albion set.
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3372.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3372.jpg.html)
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/Geep_2006/IMG_3373.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/Geep_2006/media/IMG_3373.jpg.html)
I like that both Erwin and I seem to share a lot of ideas of how the army should look- shown in details such as adding command stands to the archers.
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Ahhh you're lucky! I'm desperate for a dragon prince unit.