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Post by Naitsabes on Nov 26, 2016 22:33:50 GMT
This thread will come closest to live up to its title (unlike for example my pathetic 'Dwarfs in their Glory' where I would show one and a half units..I shall refrain). I have a lot of painted Empire, it is the army I started warhammer with back in the last millenium. And a couple of years ago I started on the long road to painting the Empire side of the 'Slaughter at Volganof' from the BRB (along with a buddy who is tackling the Chaos side). If you don't know what I am talking about, go to the back of the BRB (you do have a BRB, not one of these whimpy 'rules-only' pamphlets, right?!?) and enjoy reading about 8th edition at its finest. I'd started a project log on warhammer-empire (and warseer..those were the days) and it is still ongoing. I will re-hash that log here and also occasionally throw in other Empire miniatures that don't fit into the Volganof army. Eventually, all my Empire models will be no display here in..wait for it...all their glory. Let's start out with my first post from the good old days before GW ended times and the fields of Averland were still verdant. ------------- 29Mar2014 One of my favorite Warhammer moments was opening up that four page spread in the then new 8th edition BRB and being in awe of the massive battle at the walls of this “lesser-known” Empire city. In a nutshell: In the year 2515 a massive Chaos invasion threatens Ostland (what’s new?) and it culminates in the attack on the city of Volganov. I’ve long dreamed of re-playing this battle but there is the minor detail of the massive scale and of course it takes two to tango. Now I’ve found a partner-in-crime for the Chaos side and this blog will chronicle the long (certainly bumpy and potentially windy) road towards playing this battle from the Empire perspective. Eventually there will be a companion blog for the Chaos side (LINK TO BE ADDED). Will we make it? Men much madder than us have succeeded in their endeavors, just look around this section of the forum. But I don’t have a blow dryer so who knows. This blog will help me get organized; I welcome any and all comments, criticism, words of encouragement or wisdom. Eventually, there will be lots of (rather mediocre) painting to see and lots of kit-bashing, maybe some of it useful as inspiration. All this mixed in with random thoughts and musings about how to approach this project and Empire models in general. Before I lose my readership with more rambling, let’s get started: Units from different provinces came to the defense of Volganov. Here is Captain Rudolf, the fearless leader of Rudolf’s Rudel, a Halberdier regiment from Nordland. ...and some close-ups of back rankers that I like to think worked out well. I really like the "ugliest mug" contest going on in the last picture :biggriin: The guy on the left clearly lost but the other two are strong contenders... I’ll leave it at that for now. Cheers. Naitsabes.
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Post by frozenfood on Nov 27, 2016 14:25:38 GMT
Interesting coulours, they look more menacing than the average empire unit.
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Post by KevinC on Nov 27, 2016 15:06:02 GMT
Love the colors. Is that unit 40 or 50 strong?
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Post by TheREALricksalamone on Nov 27, 2016 17:35:18 GMT
I totally remember these models. Awesome...still.
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Post by Naitsabes on Nov 28, 2016 4:24:02 GMT
Thanks guys. For these guys I picked colors that I knew would come out well and with minimal effort (as opposed to most of the time when I want the unit to fit in with a certain province) I guess it is kind of Nordland-ish. This unit is 40 strong which fits with most units in the Volganof list. on to another blast from the past. These guys are my oldest painted models still serving and it shows. But, they look fine from two feet away which really is all that's needed. --------------- 30Mar2014 okay then, the Great Muster begins. I do have quite a few painted Empire models. But, at this point not a single one in Ostland black-white. The Volganov City Guard proper should certainly be in that color but, I decided to change the Ferlangen Contingent into an Altlangen Contingent (Altlangen, the Altdorf exclave a little bit up the Talabec River, ruled by Baron Beckdorff, I am sure you’ve heard of it). This way I get to field a lot of my current models. Now, these guys start the game way out in the field near the city gallows surrounded by the vast Chaos horde. And, it’s 1500pts of core/special with no character except for one Captain. In other words, they are in deep trouble. As such I thought this model with the defiant ‘angry fist in the air’ pose would be fitting for Baron Beckdorff (not sure why my younger self painted the sword in this weird rust tone). Here is most of the contingent. Baron Beckdorff will lead the infamous Altlanger Greatswords and I have no doubt they will valiantly stand their ground to the last man. Not so sure about the rest of the gang. Steadfast or not Ld7 will only last so long. Two of the better Greatsword conversion. The current goldswords just lack a little bit of armor for my taste. Life in the back rank: Here they were just having a nice swig from the bottle when Bobo opened the flask the nice cloaked stranger gave him the night before… And a close up on some knights. These are “Gamezone” horses, I really like them. They are metal and come with huge gaps so takes a little bit of work but well worth it. Thanks for your interest and kind words. Cheers. Naitsabes
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Post by Naitsabes on Dec 4, 2016 1:16:15 GMT
The drip feed of past glories continues. ------------------------------- 9Apr2014 Here is my first cannon+crew. I suppose that’s technically the first complete unit in Ostland colors. I am slowly warming up to the black-white scheme. I am using mostly P3 colors and overall I am pretty happy with them but, it turns out the white isn’t all that great. It took 3-4 coats to get the cannon all gleaming and that’s 2-3 coats too many considering the bricks of state troopers in my future. I suppose I should get one of these uber-pigment GW paints. Would that do it? While we are looking at cannons, here are a (slightly fuzzy) cannon and helblaster from Nordland bolstering the defences of Volganov. The Helblaster might be small and old but it’s mean! Gamewise, I can put warmachines into the City Guard proper as well as the Artillery contingent. Since I can’t take engineers in the latter this seems like the place for the regular cannons while the helblasters and their babysitters come out of the regular army budget. upward and onward!!
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Post by grandmasterwang on Dec 8, 2016 13:49:37 GMT
Cool stuff. The halberd unit looks really good and i like the bright colours and the banner. I also think the bases came out really well and suit the unit.
The gamezone horses i have never seen painted before... they look a fair bit chunkier than the standard GW ones.
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Post by Naitsabes on Dec 9, 2016 4:27:22 GMT
Cool stuff. The halberd unit looks really good and i like the bright colours and the banner. I also think the bases came out really well and suit the unit. The gamezone horses i have never seen painted before... they look a fair bit chunkier than the standard GW ones. Thanks! The horses are a bit taller than the standard armored horse. maybe a little heftier but not to the point where you couldn't mix them in units. the problem is getting them. gamezone isn't exactly cheap to begin with and the riders are too weedy to ride along GW knights so you are really buying a model but only use the horse. The sculpts are nicely detailed though. I posted this a little while ago: eefl.freeforums.net/thread/287/alternative-empire-armored-horsethat's another option.
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Post by Naitsabes on Dec 9, 2016 4:32:11 GMT
drip drip --------- 27May2014 On to the meat of this update, here are some Swordsmen coming to the defense of Volganov! To the right are more Altdorfers. The detachment clearly shows that men of all sizes are welcome to defend the Empire. The metal plug-in guys (first one on the left) are still some of my favorite x-bow sculpts. On the left are the Gold Heads of the Talabec. They are proudly presenting the red Ottilian Eagle on their shields so that should make for some interesting times in the taverns of Volganov. The regimental colors honor the legendary founder of the regiment. Full frontal. The Gold Heads are led by the fearless Captain Beresov. Many a foe has underestimated how quick he is with that little hatchet. Beresov had retired to his family farm on the Talabec but, when the count requested his service he answered the call. Now they march north against the tide of refugees. Here they are in the soft light of sunset (this is me struggling with the camera. One day “f-stop” I shall conquer you. Just not today.) Besides the assembly line of Swordsmen I had to do something creative so tried my hands at the man himself, Valmir von Raukov. Of course there is this classic model: This was one of my first GW purchases, spend 15 hard earned deutschmarks. In those days with the likes of Nagash walking the earth quite regularly it seemed like a good idea to have a character that could shoot them from a safe distance with an awesome magic bow. Never quite worked out too well as far as I can remember. Anyway, the model (much like its owner) hasn’t aged too well. It’s too 2D and one can barely see that famous bow. And, the head + hat are way to Kislev for my liking. Here is what I came up with: I quite like him. I am unsure about adding a shield. Gamewise, all the cool kids of the Empire skip it, so shouldn’t he? Modelwise, I don’t want to cover him up too much, OTOH it would be nice to hide is dainty little Elf hand. Maybe a little buckler-type shield? Thoughts? Upward and onward. Sebastian
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Post by grandmasterwang on Dec 9, 2016 22:39:52 GMT
I like that old Kislev model a lot..... it did take my eyes a while to spy that bow you were talking about... Beresov will wish he had stayed on the farm come next battle i'd imagine. Your new bow armed guy looks great and doesn't need a shield imo. Let him have his dainty elf hands.... one of the reasons he's so nimble with the bow surely
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Post by KevinC on Dec 12, 2016 1:31:48 GMT
Although I'm a fan of the original Valmir von Raukov, I do like your conversion. Very cool.
Does Valmir von Raukov take part in the battle?
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Post by Naitsabes on Dec 13, 2016 6:29:47 GMT
Your new bow armed guy looks great and doesn't need a shield imo. Let him have his dainty elf hands.... one of the reasons he's so nimble with the bow surely yep, that's what you and everybody else on the internet thinks. who am I to go against that grain. he did not get a shield, see below Although I'm a fan of the original Valmir von Raukov, I do like your conversion. Very cool. Does Valmir von Raukov take part in the battle? Valmir does show up later in the battle with his buddies Kurt and Ludvig and 90 Reiksguard knights. Just in time to save the people of Volganof (the city itself burned to the ground) but too late to save his oldest son, brave Oleg. Tragic really. Speaking of this relief force, let's go back to 7Sep2014: ------- in other news... Update time! Today you’ll be looking at knights. Quite a few of them. But first, here is the proud Elector Count of Ostland, the man, the myth, the legend: Valmir von Raukov in all his painted glory. I left off the shield as suggested. 1+ armor saves are for cowards. I quite like how he came together, just a little unsure about the bow. Going with a funky color was the only way I could come up with to scream “MAGIC”. Eventually I’d like him to lead a unit of Ostland Homeguard knights (in black-white with bull shields). The Volganov scenario gives me a substantial cavalry force that enters from a flank on a later turn. This is a tentative list: Kurt Helborg, Ludvig Schwartzhelm 45x 1st Reiksguard 45x 2nd Reiksguard Valmir von Raukov, Raukov Battle Standard 18 Knights of the Gold Star Captain of the Golden Star 3x Demigryph Knights 3x Pegasus Captain 6 Outriders 5 Pistoliers Luminark Here is the start to the Reiksguard contingent: Kurt and Ludvig should be happy, there isn’t a speck of rust on the armor or dirt on the lances. But…where is the rest of them? Ninety is a bit of a crazy number. I have twelve more painted (not pictured) but that still means I am only a quarter of the way. I think I will work towards getting one unit of 45 done. And then do something else for a while. This will give me a nice knight horde and there aren’t too many of these (on the Northern Hemisphere at least). These are the mighty Knights of the Gold Star, veterans of many battles against the chaos horde . And the obligatory little Demigryph unit. I really should get more of these guys, this unit was fun to paint. That’s all for now. Back to chipping away at the Reiksguard unit and painting something heretical (and fun) on the side. Hope the pictures are inspirational to some of you. Upward and onward!
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Post by frozenfood on Dec 13, 2016 7:48:47 GMT
Sweet Lord, you can paint. I was actually inspired to paint a Bretonnian Damsel myself but one look at the details of the model and I lost courage. She's going to be a ghost damsel, in two colours :-) You even added extra details such as small lettering and stuff. The paws of the demi look great too, good use of shadowing.
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Post by gjnoronh on Dec 13, 2016 11:32:45 GMT
Good stuff. Tell me about your technique is this mostly white prime with washes?
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Post by Naitsabes on Dec 13, 2016 16:03:47 GMT
Sweet Lord, you can paint. I was actually inspired to paint a Bretonnian Damsel myself but one look at the details of the model and I lost courage. She's going to be a ghost damsel, in two colours :-) You even added extra details such as small lettering and stuff. The paws of the demi look great too, good use of shadowing. Thanks. Patience, persistence and practice is all it takes to do what I do. no talent needed. do that damsel one detail at a time or go back to her later and add details. it's worth the effort. You too can do paws like this. just slap on Agrax Earthshade...a lot of it. Good stuff. Tell me about your technique is this mostly white prime with washes? I read about this 'washes only' on the internet. wish I could do it, it seems to be really fast with good results. Alas, I am bog-standard so, yes on white primer. then a basecoat color. for strong colors and larger areas (reds, blues, to some extent black) I thin it down quite a bit. that helps with 'shading' but, it is not essential. then the magic step: copious amounts of a wash. the key is finding the right wash to go with the right color, it's not always intuitive. nightshade works well for blue, nuln oil for silver, agrax for pretty much everything else (especially green&red&gold&yellow). as an aside, red wash seems to be useless for me. finally, hit the raised areas again with the basecoat. if you overdo this step, just add more wash. that's it 99% of the time. very rarely do I go an extra mile (I think the demigryph coat is an example) and hit the 'very raised' areas with a 50/50 mix of white/basecoat but, for gaming pieces I think that only makes sense if it is a bigger model.
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