Topic: Syphon's blog! Part 37: Arches and towers

[Syphon]

I decided not to wash the armour again. I already washed the armour once and then gave it a once over with the base, Mephiston red. I like how it came out now. Instead of Skrag Brown I went for Doombull Brown on the straps. Otherwise, I think it's done. Pictures to follow later.

[Syphon]

This is pretty much a done miniature apart from the basing. I like how it came out. I also like how it ended up looking like a Mason from Chivalry.

final scheme spearman 1 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

[GamesPoet]

That strap and belt do look better, congrats!

[Syphon]

I think he'll look good among his peers. It's not like he'll be a spotlight model, so I'm content. Thanks Geepee!

[brr-icy]

The wash you did pulled the armour together nicely, he'll look good on the table.

[Syphon]

I feel like a big boy now. Thanks, brr-icy.

[Sharkbelly]

 

Nice work!

[Syphon]

Thanks, Barkshelly!

[Syphon]

Unit more or less done!

Need to clean up the bases and movement tray as well as finish the commander and make the flagbearer from scratch, more on that later, but I'm not half dissatisfied with how it came out. Not bad for somebody who hasn't painted in months!

spearmen unit done by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

This is the flagbearer/banner bearer. Since I didn't have any more Fireforge Northmen legs, I made do with a set of Empire Greatsword legs. Sadly, because they are different ranges they don't fit together very well. Does anybody have suggestions on how to hide the difference at the waist?

banner bearer wip by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

[commandant]

That quilted armour would be reasonably easy to sculpt on

[Syphon]

Good point, commandant. I might try it.

In other news, here's another unit done. No idea if they are legal but whatever.

hunting dags by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

[GamesPoet]

Send forth the dogs of war!

[Syphon]

Send forth the dogs of war!

You didn't cry havoc, you amateur.

[GamesPoet]

Some of us are less plagiaristic than others.

[Syphon]

And now for something completely different.

I finally bit the bullet and decided to try Heroforge's services. I wanted a centerpiece model for my army and who better than Kairon Fiendline himself? Kairon Fiendline was my Tiefling character on Neverwinter, a D&D MMORPG. In it, his backstory, that I thought up myself, was that he wanted to restore the Tiefling empire of Bael Turath back to its former glory. Now, he finally gets a miniature.

aspiring emperor front by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

aspiring emperor back by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

[GamesPoet]

Looks like quite the beast lord.  And I like it!

[Jmash]

Looks pretty cool.

After reading this I have also now just spent about an hour messing about on Heroforge!

Pretty cool concept and good to see you've been able to see your old character finally rendered in the real world

[brr-icy]

He looks sweet, I played neverwinter for a long time, but it kept slowing down the ps4 and wasn't as varied of a game in endgame, may pick it up again someday

[Syphon]

No new mini pictures. For now I want to share some meanderings of my mind.

1) My Bael Turath army
It will require more Fireforge Northmen for the main contingent. I have to import those, most likely, as I do not know of any local retailers that carry them right now. Also in the works is a different contingent, with different miniatures and a different colour scheme. They are made with the Oathmark humans and will come predominantly armed with swords. Very little kitbashing will be done on those.

2) October is rapidly approaching. That means less time to hobby. You see, every year I watch 31 horror movies because it's of course the month of Halloween. Perhaps I will do as much, perhaps I will not. It all depends.

3) Side projects abound and aplenty!
Ever heard of the comic Crossed? I have some modern miniatures, I forgot from where, on sprue and ready to be assembled. Perhaps I can made them fucked up. It'd be mostly painting them up all bloody and gory, though I might do some minimal conversion work with green stuff, like adding intestines or torn pieces of clothing.

On top of that, I also intend to start work on a Stargrave warband. The first two miniatures are ready to be undercoated when the rain stops and humidity goes down, but there's that.

On top of that top is a Frostgrave warband (probably not playable but I just like the idea) of the characters you can recruit in Darkest Dungeon. I have set aside a specific box and every time I find a bit or multiple bitz that might be used for those characters, I throw it in said box. That said, if I do ever get sick of that project, I might just buy the characters from the board game separately :p

[Syphon]

It's been a while but part 10 is finally here.

I know my painting sucks, so you don't need to point that out.

As things progress, I am getting more and more inspiration.

First up is the aspiring emperor. This was the model I had Heroforge print. I'm scared of painting him for fear of messing him up. His name used to be Fiendline but although he still has fiendish blood, I've decided that now that he's purified himself of the taint, other than his appearance, he will need a different last name. Plus I've decided that the empire, or kingdom, or whatever, will be called New Turath rather than New Bael Turath.

wip kairon 1 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

wip kairon 2 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

Following Kairon the First there's pictures of an allied contingent of swordsmen. The idea is that sometimes I will use human officers, the man with the quilted armour in this case, or tiefling officers, like the man with the large axe.

purple swords 1 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

purple swords 2 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

Accompanying the swordsmen is a large (and still growing) block of archers. I will paint them purple too. Fun fact: every last one of these archers has a unique head.

wip archers 1 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

wip archers 2 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

wip archers 3 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

wip archers 4 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

wip archer banner by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

Then there's the people from Kairon's personal troops. First, the spearmen. In the center stands an unfinished envoy of New Turath, occasionally to be replaced with a yet to be constructed bannerbearer. (The one I made previously fell through.)

red spearmen 2 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

red spearmen by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

envoy red spearmen by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

Then there's the cavalry attached to Kairon's troops.

red cav 1 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

red cav 2 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

red cav 3 by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

Then, just because they belong to the army too, here's the trio of hunting dogs again.

hunting dags by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

Lastly, I have a few questions:

1) How can I rank up my archers without them looking like they're going to shoot each other in the back? I was thinking layered bases but if I wanted to make larger blocks of, say, 3 models deep, they'd have to be progressively higher.

2) Are there any other 28mm ranges of miniatures, modular ones, that I could use for my armies?

[JAK]

1) How can I rank up my archers without them looking like they're going to shoot each other in the back? I was thinking layered bases but if I wanted to make larger blocks of, say, 3 models deep, they'd have to be progressively higher.

Is it just the angle you’ve taken your pictures but some of the archers look as if they are kneeling (sure its the angle otherwise you’d have them in the front row).

1) front row kneeling, second row a level shot and rear row aiming upwards over seconds heads.

OR

2) Fix the front row as close to the side edge of the base (their left side) as you can. Second row fix in the centre of the base as normal and third row as close to the other side edge of the base (their right side) as you can. The rear two rows should then be able to be positioned so that they are firing just to the right hand side of the man in front, might not be exactly straight forward but should look convincing enough without causing any friendly fire injuries. (see left hand column below)

[Syphon]

No, they are not kneeling. I just can't take photographs either.
 

See, the thing is, I think that "bristling" you mention under part 2 works fine for spearmen or pikemen with weapons at the ready, but not for bowmen. I might have to ome up with something else.

[GamesPoet]

Kairon's army is assembling!

As for the archers, they look ok to me.

Imagining they are prepping their arrows for when they make into the front row. 

[Syphon]

An attempt to give height to archers without giving them height.

ugly problems require ugly solutions by Syphon Can't Do Anything, on Flickr

[GamesPoet]

Standing on a low flat rock.

And I won't tell those dudes over on that other thread.