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Author Topic: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire! (Update - Spearman, General and huntsmen)  (Read 7913 times)

Offline ChickenRocket

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Hey guys.

Starting up a new army for another campaign, thought I might post its progress here. Why an Entire new army you ask? Well, I find it difficult to look at my old painted minis now that my abilities have gotten a little better. I figure that an entire army painted to a standard I am comfortable with will look alot better and be easier on the mind.

A litle history behind the army, because I am like that :)

"Engineer Rafael Von Krauven sit's in his studio, examining the skematics for the fabled Empire Great Cannon, and occasionally referencing them to the great beast infront of him. Eventually, he looks satisfied and dissmissed his three assistants, who gladly leave the studio to meet for a drink at the "Empty Barrel". He places his specticles on a table and walks to a window overlooking the small village of Shykul. Why he was ever stationed here is a mystery, his mishap at the imperial college was surely not large enough to cause the panic it did, not enough of a mishap to become expelled in any case...

The Bell stationed on top of the local church starts to ring, signifying an attack. From the window Rafael would see that Sir Adrian Kopf, the residant knight, was rallying the militia once more.

The Rat-men were coming.


So. Without any more delay, here are some pictures of the army so far:

Engineer Rafael Von Krauven, Proud owner of Lucy, the Great Cannon:




His Cannon, Lucy, and his three assistants:






And lastly, the first three memers of the Local Militia, who for game purposes are Spearmen:




Comments and Critisism are welcome, especially Critisism! As I strive to become better.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2012, 02:33:26 AM by ChickenRocket »

Offline The Real Rick Salamone

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2012, 08:33:56 PM »
I think it's interesting how you made pointing-forward spears into upright spears.  I'm not entirely sure I like how they look as shown, but they might look good as part of a ranked up unit.  You may be on to something here...ranking those minis has been a problem for far too long.
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Offline Hauptmann Gustl

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2012, 08:35:45 PM »
Very nice Ostlanders! I might copy the idea of the shouldered spears. If you look for some critism - painting eyes add a lot of personality to your models, but that is all.  :eusa_clap:

Offline ChickenRocket

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2012, 08:44:42 PM »
Thanks guys.  :-D

The shouldered spears are actually the back rank. I usuallyp aint from back to front. I'm think I am gonig to go for a nive wave look with the spears steadily getting lowered between ranks. It's either that or everyone has them shouldred. What do you think?

-Chicken

Offline Darknight

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2012, 09:23:05 PM »
I think your models look great. I also think the shouldered spears is a nice look, and your idea of gradually deploying is a good one.
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Offline GamesPoet

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2012, 09:55:06 PM »
Liking the look of the shouldered spears! :::cheers::: :::cheers:::

The use of the same helmet, but with different outfits helps tie them together as well.  I've done that with some crossbowmen using those same kettle hats for a 10 Averlanders (except the commander who is the same head you have there with the feather), and some Pistolier ones for 10 Tilean mercenaries.
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Offline Dammanz

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2012, 03:39:18 AM »
those shouldered spears are awesome! Are they just the forward pointing ones without the other hand attached? Im having trouble remembering how the arms worked on the new sprues

keep postin! :happy:
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Offline The Real Rick Salamone

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2012, 05:52:53 PM »
If I had my choice of minis, all of my spearmen would have shouldered spears.  I just haven't been able to get my hands on enough unipose starter plastic spearmen from 6th edition.
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Offline Your Mother

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2012, 06:04:28 PM »
Nice work, well executed.
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Offline Midaski

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2012, 06:11:24 PM »

What a great idea and execution - and just shows you how a bit of imagination can get round all the moaning about ranking the latest state troopers up.

Just wondering why some of those regular older members haven't come up with this before  :engel:

I have excluded myself from this of course as I haven't built any of the new state troops at all - I bought 4 boxes and only opened one and nicked a few bits to see what they looked like with Ed.6 Soldiers of the Empire arms on them.  :closed-eyes:
I may be tempted to try this.
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Offline ChickenRocket

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2012, 01:13:15 PM »
Thanks for the comment everybody! It's much appreciated. I'm currently corking on the next four or five models and will have them posted tomorrow.

Dammanz: The spear arms have one arm cut off, but if you leave it there it does not rest against the shouler and it looks like he's trying to balance it like a broomstick  :icon_lol:. So after I cut the arm off I cut the remaining arm at the wrist and re-position it. It only requires a bit of gap filling, it's not too difficult  :-D

Thanks again for the comment guys!

-Chicken

Offline TheBelgianGuy

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2012, 10:53:07 PM »
I think your idea with the spears is spot on. That's how I always imagined spearmen would have to be, sad GW wants us to deploy them all forward pointing (which makes no sense at all. Same for halbs.)

Anyhow, I must confess it looks quite weird though. The spears seem to float in the air, not actually rest against their shoulders or anything. Or is that my imagination?

On another note, would you mind if I copied the way you painted the wood on the cannon? I've been figuring out how to do that but failed miserably thus far!

Offline ChickenRocket

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2012, 05:13:43 PM »
The BelgianGuy: Absolutly! It's actually not a very complicated scheme, only three colours. Basecoated with Scorched Brown, then I applied a pattern with Khemri brown (This is not to difficuly, I usually just paint a shape, then surround the rest of the surface leaving a line of the basecoat in between.) Then some stipes in Bleached Bone. Nice and simple:). You can likely improve it by adding more texture on the khemri brown.

I'll try to get some more picture up this weekend, i've made quite some progress.

-Chicken

EDIT: I figure you didn't actually ask for how I did it, but hell, it might help anyone else if they want to use it too.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 05:21:32 PM by ChickenRocket »

Offline Slavik

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2012, 10:52:05 AM »
Was just about to ask the same thing, that woodgrain is the best I've seen :eusa_clap: very realistic
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Offline ChickenRocket

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Re: In defence of Ostland, and the Empire!
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2012, 02:32:47 AM »
Right, just about time for an overdue update, dont you think? I've not stopped painting, i'm just very slow and dont actually own a camera so I borrow my brothers a lot of the time. No backdrops this time, I had to take trhem at the painting station. I only have a few things to show you, as I said - slow painter.

Most of what I have today is not very ground-braking in terms of my personal skill, it's all very clean paintwork but I did not try too hard because I wanted to paint fast!

First of all I finished the first half of my Spearman unit. Our campaign is themed around an Empire militia led by a knightly order tracking down a large Skaven warband that had been looting and robbing the graves of famous wizards (Why would that be I wonder?). This unit is all of the Town militias and guardsmen that have decided to join the cause.



Notice the banner, This is my second ever attempt at a freehand banner design. The idea being the black rose, a symbol of the Order of the black rose (Shockingly enough), with the stem guiding the Red Bull, representing the stubborness and denpendable nature of the Ostlanders. I tried to take in some of the advice given, and on the command group I painted Eyes onto the models.

I actually tried some new methods of painting flesh:



Let me know what you think, as opposed to the skin on the Engineer in Post 1.

I painted up Sir Adrian too. Again, a neat paint job but nothing too spectacular:



and lastly, the new unit I am working along with my spearmen is the Huntsman, Here are the first three models in progress:



Lastly, i'd like to direct you to my brothers painting log. He's been a big help so far and his stuff is killer" You should chick it out here:
http://www.lustria-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8769
http://www.lustria-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7995

Thanks guys, Comments and suggestions welcome! Will try to get some sooner updates.

Offline GamesPoet

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I like the spearsmen reflecting a town guardsmen approach, well done! :::cheers:::

Also enjoying the start of your huntsmen! :icon_cool:
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra