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Post by mottdon on Oct 6, 2021 12:17:58 GMT
Hey, I hear you brother! I finished 16 of those around a year ago, but they took me forever to get done! I'd had them nearly a decade before I forced myself to start them and once I did, I never really felt motivated to work on them!
I think it's multifaceted psychology. First, the models are surprisingly detailed. From the tiny striping on the spears, to the fabric under the barding on the horse's, there's a lot going on with these models! Secondly, they really aren't that great in the game. Just very....average. Nothing to really make them stand out, especially when there are better options in Dragon Princes or even Ellerion Reavers (for what they're meant to do). Etc.
I've found that they serve me best as a defensive screening unit, taken in 2 or 3 groups of 5. Vanilla knights. No command. Not redirectors (that's the Reavers/Eagles job). Just get in the way (quickly) and intercept. Most units will struggle cutting through all 5 of them in one round, which should allow you time to set up a devastating counter charge, or finish off other combats and turn to face the new threat. I typically prefer placing mounted characters in with Dragon Princes due to the additional offense. I realize that this makes them a huge target, but HE are so fast, you can have things in position to threaten any war machines after turn one and have your DPs in combat, turn two.
Anyway, I digress, but you've done a LOVELY job painting them! I'm finishing up 6 DPs right now as VC Blood Knights as part of my commission. It's been a long time since I painted MY DPs and I can say they don't feel nearly as bad as the Silver Helms did.
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Post by Fitzlock on Oct 11, 2021 11:50:30 GMT
Hey, I hear you brother! I finished 16 of those around a year ago, but they took me forever to get done! I'd had them nearly a decade before I forced myself to start them and once I did, I never really felt motivated to work on them! I think it's multifaceted psychology. First, the models are surprisingly detailed. From the tiny striping on the spears, to the fabric under the barding on the horse's, there's a lot going on with these models! Secondly, they really aren't that great in the game. Just very....average. Nothing to really make them stand out, especially when there are better options in Dragon Princes or even Ellerion Reavers (for what they're meant to do). Etc. I've found that they serve me best as a defensive screening unit, taken in 2 or 3 groups of 5. Vanilla knights. No command. Not redirectors (that's the Reavers/Eagles job). Just get in the way (quickly) and intercept. Most units will struggle cutting through all 5 of them in one round, which should allow you time to set up a devastating counter charge, or finish off other combats and turn to face the new threat. I typically prefer placing mounted characters in with Dragon Princes due to the additional offense. I realize that this makes them a huge target, but HE are so fast, you can have things in position to threaten any war machines after turn one and have your DPs in combat, turn two. Anyway, I digress, but you've done a LOVELY job painting them! I'm finishing up 6 DPs right now as VC Blood Knights as part of my commission. It's been a long time since I painted MY DPs and I can say they don't feel nearly as bad as the Silver Helms did. Have to say I disagree! I don't see Silver Helms as similar to Reavers or Dragon Princes at all, really, at least not for the kind of list I'm proposing. Reavers, whilst Core, are best as just units of 5 and being annoying, redirecting charges, hunting war machines etc. I would never put a character in a unit of Reavers. Dragon Princes are too expensive to run in large units and are best if you can get them into a flank, plus as you say they become a huge target so your characters aren't very safe. Silver Helms let you fill out a big chunk of your core (12 models with command and shields is 300pts) and serve well as a bus to deliver a couple of super fighty characters into combat. Giving the Prince a Giant Blade makes him S7 with a reroll to hit. The Star Lance would be the next best option but if you ever miss your charge or get charged or fail to break your opponent's unit in the first round you're in trouble, so I'd much rather have the Giant Blade. I've seen one Noble build with The Other Trickster's Shard designed to sit next to the Prince so that the models he's dueling have to reroll successful ward saves as they probably have next to no armor save against him, and often their ward save is higher anyway. Not many armies get heavy cavalry for core, so we're quite lucky in that regard, and putting a High Mage with them we can get to a point where we have a 2+ armor and a 4-6+ ward save just on our Helms. I'm not thinking about it too hard but I think Bretonnians are the only other army that gets heavy cav as core (which makes sense) and whilst they get extra attacks from flank models, we can have up to three full ranks fighting because we're elves. We have a better stat block than Knights of the Realm and cost 1pt less. Look up "Cavalry prince" and you'll probably find some threads about the list archetype, probably on the old Ulthuan forums. Anyway, back to painting progress. After the blood, sweat and tears of finishing the Helms, I wanted something fun to paint so grabbed the first primed character off my shelf - Alith Anar! He has a super weird face sculpt but otherwise it's a really nice model and was lots of fun to paint. I like it when there's lots of gems that I can do in different colours as well. I had originally intended to give him a green cloak, but changed to black as I think it suits his title - The Shadow King - and his lore much more. I really like how subtle the green army accent is on him as a result, just around the mail trim and the back of his lower robes. I tried a different way of painting the glowing runes on his sword and I think I achieved the desired effect.
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Post by Horace on Oct 11, 2021 15:13:44 GMT
Lovely stuff as always I agree re: Silver Helms. They aren't amazing, but core cavalry with a 2+ AS? You can't complain. Reavers and DP fulfill different roles. Reavers are amazing fast cavalry. DP are your big-boy shock unit option
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Post by Fitzlock on Oct 27, 2021 9:29:45 GMT
Brief break from the High Elves to paint this Melusai Ironscale which I used as a medusa-themed boss monster for D&D on the weekend. The players loved it and it was a fun model to paint, though take it from me, edge highlighting scales one by one - whilst producing a beautiful end result - is time consuming AF. Whoever would have known. I have corrected that little splodge on the bottom of the tabard since this photo was taken, by the way. I then spent some time assembling some Dragon Princes which I think are what I'll paint next. Couple of problems there, though; first, the weather at the moment is damp and miserable so I can't prime them, and second, a painter I follow is going to release a tutorial for green NMM soon so I may end up trying to do that with them. As if the models weren't fiddly and detailed enough.
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Post by mottdon on Oct 27, 2021 12:12:53 GMT
Love your Medusa! I've got 20 of these ladies(?) coming up soon. I don't look forward to that slog.
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Post by Fitzlock on Oct 27, 2021 12:51:41 GMT
Love your Medusa! I've got 20 of these ladies(?) coming up soon. I don't look forward to that slog. Hopefully the regular ones (this is a character model) are less of a pain to paint in terms of basing, as this one is wrapped around a column that you can't really paint until she's done, at which point it's super awkward to get to the sand around her as well. I have ten of the regular ones that I plan to do in two units of five for Dark Elves, as Warhammer Armies Project has rules for them.
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Post by sedge on Nov 1, 2021 21:37:08 GMT
Snake lady looks amazing.
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Post by Fitzlock on Nov 2, 2021 13:22:22 GMT
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Post by azknight on Nov 7, 2021 21:52:48 GMT
Nice looking models and paint scheme.
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Post by coltsfan on Feb 8, 2022 20:37:32 GMT
Hi Fitzlock thnx for the awsome pictures. Your sea guards really inspired me with the green scheme. I find the Unit very hard to paint and balance in Colors. With the blue and red colors. how dis you make the green cloth on the units? I have tried several colors, contrasts and shades, but cant realløn hit the color you are rocking:) best regards
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Post by Fitzlock on Apr 3, 2022 21:52:26 GMT
Hi Fitzlock thnx for the awsome pictures. Your sea guards really inspired me with the green scheme. I find the Unit very hard to paint and balance in Colors. With the blue and red colors. how dis you make the green cloth on the units? I have tried several colors, contrasts and shades, but cant realløn hit the color you are rocking:) best regards Hi! Sorry for the delayed reply, I sort of forgot this blog existed. On the vast majority of my models, the green cloth is the Contrast paint Creed Camo over Corax White. I highlight with Skarsnik Green and add more and more white to reach the brightest highlights. I think I painted the Sea Guard before Contrast was even a thing, though, and if I remember correctly I used Waaagh Flesh, Warboss Green and Skarsnik Green with a recess shade of Biel Tan Green as the original recipe.
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Post by plasticcavanman on Apr 13, 2022 17:24:43 GMT
Fantastic thread! Beautifully painted stuff. Many years ago I started a High elf army but just couldn't deal with all the white so sold them off. you have done a great job and to be honest I never had the skills to pull off what you have. Bravo.
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Post by hivefleetmanticore on Apr 15, 2022 23:58:01 GMT
Impressive army!
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