Topic: Darknight's Knights (Dark and Otherwise) - Thread Superseded!!!

[anvalous]

Looking good!  Thanks for giving him the base he deserves.  May he kill many bade guys for ya

[Darknight]

Well, not really all that Canadian. I just did a lot of painting of them while I was on vacation in Canada last week (I was, I think, only a hundred miles or so from my Pleasant Surprise recipient!)

Ten more models for my infantry center, bringing the total number of swordsmen in each unit up to 20 and the Greatswords to 36. 3 more Greatswords (and a Priestess) and 1 Champion & 1 Unit Filler for each swordsman unit and the static center of the army is as done as I ever want it to be! Click for larger picture;



The little pennants on the trumpets could stand some more detailing, I am sure. But, meh for now.

And, yes - I know you don't need command groups for Detachments. I just think they look cool, and it gives the option to field as independent units.

For the champions of the units, I have some cool Reaper Greek character models (I think I posted them earlier in the thread).

Comments welcome! I will try to get the infantry finished and then a big, dramatic picture of the full 80 (nominal) models in battle formation! Including, of course, Anvalous' excellent minotaur!

[Timbor]

100 miles away?  Man, maybe you are stalking me? 

I like the greatswords, and the banners look excellent.  Did you use transfers for all that tiny text on them, or are you that skilled with a tiny paintbrush?  Good job!

[Darknight]

Transfers all the way, baby!

The only reasons your Pleasant Surprise wasn't mailed in Canada to Canada was i) I wanted to get it to you before the end of September because I wanted to enter it into the competition and ii) I was worried customs might be puzzled by a large, securely wrapped box I steadfastly maintained contained a griffon . . .

[Darknight]

Painted a model today - nothing amazing. He is Reaper's "Socrates" I ordered simply because it was tagged "Greek" in the store .... I am going to use him as a warrior priest for my unit of Mighty & Well-Oiled Pektoral Warriors (allies, who will have a Spartan aesthetic and look different to the rest of the army - bright reds and purples and bronze!) Click to embiggen him;

[jimbeanie]

Your new greatswords and swordsmen look great. I especially like the pose of the musician with the trumpet and the greatswords on the right. I think the knight helmets usually look too big for infantry but the armour around the necks bulks out the torsos and makes it look much better.

[Darknight]

It is the big shoulder armor that does it - if they have Knight's arms or something else with a lot of shoulder it works well.

I don't know which musician you particularly like - the one to the left is based on a pistolier, and the other is a standard Reaper sculpt. The Greatsword on the right is a real mix-and-match; he has the arms from the old 6th ed standard bearer, legs from the 6th ed state troops, the body of a Bretonnian man-at-arms and a Knight's head! It was a real bits-box raid there!

[jimbeanie]

Ah sorry it was the chap on the left. 

[Darknight]

No worries; it strokes my ego to know you liked the one I converted Thanks very much.

[Bishmeister]

Greatswords look great. I hear warhammer forge will be releasing reiksguard knights on foot, they were seen at GD UK.

[Darknight]

I ain't paying Forgeworld prices The advantage of these Greatswords was that they were pretty much free - they are made of leftover bits from other projects, a few trades and one or two inexpensive purchases.

[Darknight]

Well, it is Pektora, actually. A unit filler for the unit of Mighty & Well-Oiled Pektoral Warriors. Click for a larger image;



It is a homage to a scene in the 300 comic book, where Leonidas stands on the back of a Spartan while he does push-ups, and receives a message. So, I have the exercising Pektoral with a rear-rank officer (shown by the larger transverse crest, and holding a stick a la the Roman Optio) standing on his back, with a messenger doubled-over trying to get his breath back after sprinting, and a warrior recieving the message and pointing something out.

This needs a few bits of Green Stuff and clean up. I have got the rest of the unit assembled, pretty much - most of it is pretty standard, but there are some cool things I will get pics of.

Comments welcome!

[Darknight]

No love for Spartans? Guys, you can embrace your love of oily men. It's okay.

Alright, something new. As promised in the thread on favorite units (which got diverted into Warrior Priest discussions) here is the latest of my priestesses. This is the "Archlector" (I am not sure what title she will have in the fluff, so Archlector for now . . .) Obviously, I have the War Altar, but if I want to field her on horseback, here she is! Click for larger pictures;



The horse is from the general kit, the legs are Bretonnian knight's, the swords are from the Emperor's Champion (one is, obviously, a Milliput cast made in Instant Mold), the shield is another cast of a master made from a Wargames Factory hoplon and an Empire shield boss, and the body is from a Reaper "Crusader" miniature (I think the Crusader Queen or something like that). The boy holding the sword and helm comes from the same kit. A bit of plasticard, some green stuff, and a handful of little bitz and the job is done!

I have discovered a good way of getting nice casts from double-sided molds; if at all possible make the first side of the mold as a "press mold" (put the piece flat on a smooth surface, and press the Instant Mold over the top). Freeze that, with the piece still in place. Then create another mold for the other side. This is how I did the shield mold.

You then need to put in a very small amount of Milliput - it works much better than Green Stuff - and smooth it as flat as you can. I dished the surface slightly, scraping excess off with a smooth piece of plasticard. Then, I pressed it together hard.

The sword was done in a similar way, but I allowed the piece to overhang the mold, so there was a hole in the side. That way, excess putty could ooze out. When casting the piece, I put milliput on both sides and smoothed it flat, so there wasn't excess. I then used a thin line of superglue down the center (and a piece of thin wire, for strength) and pressed the two halves of the mold together. The superglue doesn't stick to the Instant Mold, and this method avoids the "copy is too thick" problem.

Comments welcome!

[S.O.F]

Mounted character looks very nice but can't say I'm a fan of the foot liaison. The head proportions of the that mini look something out of a Tim Burton clay-mation film for some reason.

Also "Archlector" for some reason conjured the idea of an old man yelling at a keystone of an arch for some reason.

[Darknight]

The foot mini is a child, and those little buggers have big heads

Thanks for the comments! I think someone needs to model a chap haranguing masonry.

[S.O.F]

The foot mini is a child, and those little buggers have big heads

Now brain just transitioned to 'big damn head' ala The Man Who Would Be King

[Commander Bernhardt]

dude love your stuff,
got any comparison pics with that cyclops?

[humanityunited]

No love for Spartans? Guys, you can embrace your love of oily men. It's okay.

  LOL

As promised in the thread on favorite units (which got diverted into Warrior Priest discussions)

That was my fault. I got carried away.

Comments welcome!

I like the mounted model very much, but she looks more like a fighter to me (Grand master/General). I think she needs some more religious symbols other than the book. I like the kid model, but not in that position. It is too close to the horse. It looks like the horse is gonna lift its tail and poop in front of the kid LOL.

EDIT: Hey man I love your work. No intention at all in insulting you with my comment. Hope I don't get misunderstood. If the poop thing annoys you I'll just delete it.

[Darknight]

dude love your stuff,
got any comparison pics with that cyclops?

Thank you. I don't have any pics of it; but I will get some. Remind me after Thanksgiving if I don't remember.

I like the mounted model very much, but she looks more like a fighter to me (Grand master/General). I think she needs some more religious symbols other than the book.

Well, it is a military order - so the priestesses are warriors. As for religious symbols, the symbols of the order are the maltese cross and the laurel wreath, with all the members of the order carrying a shield and laurel wreath. They don't really use a lot of the traditional Myrmidia symbols. So, there are actually a lot more religious symbols on there than there looks - even though it looks like just a bunch of generic Empire symbols (and I will do a lot of detail with paint). She will stand out from the rest of the army; she'll be in gold armor and white cloth.

I like the kid model, but not in that position. It is too close to the horse. It looks like the horse is gonna lift its tail and poop in front of the kid LOL.

LOL! Yeah, I kinda thought that myself. I just had the figure of the kid and I thought I should use him somewhere. I'm going to paint him separately of course, and then I can see how they look when they are done. The horse could be easily removed from the base with a sharp knife and a bit of patience, so I could re-base it if I needed.

EDIT: Hey man I love your work. No intention at all in insulting you with my comment. Hope I don't get misunderstood. If the poop thing annoys you I'll just delete it.

It's cool, man. No offense at at 

[mr chumley warner]

awesome , i would love to see a woman dressed in shapely busty steel armour!!

 

[Commander Bernhardt]

dude love your stuff,
got any comparison pics with that cyclops?

Thank you. I don't have any pics of it; but I will get some. Remind me after Thanksgiving if I don't remember.

I got no idea when thanksgiving is. don't forget we're not all american

[Darknight]

I'm not American either. Thanksgiving is today

[Shadespyre]

Yup.

I think the kid needs to be stood to the left of the horse, facing his mistress, to make sense. Which won't fit on the horse base, of course. It's also a shame that the model already has two huge swords, because then having a spare one to hand seems a little excessive Perhaps he could inhabit another cavalry base, perhaps with some more gear, or another servant, or a faithful warhound, or something. Or perhaps he would work better associated with another leader figure in your army?

Oh, the mounted model IS gorgeous by the way!

[Darknight]

She is going to be on the front-left corner of the unit (5 wide, so command with a character at each end). So, I might just paint him up on a 20mm base and use him as a companion figure / counter / marker / decoration.

She has two HEOWGE swords because she is badass. The other sword would be a personal sidearm (she did have one on her left hip, but I removed that and covered the scar with the book). I could change it to be a standard or something?

Really glad you like the model - I like it too and I am very pleased with the way it worked out! It all came together quite easily, even through the metal Reaper figure was i) badly cast (two halves of the mold did not line up AT ALL!) and ii) made of crazy soft metal. A couple of times I was just trimming flash and it bent! Easy to cut in half at the waist, though.

[Shadespyre]

Nothing wrong with badass, but anything else other than another sword makes more sense - battle axe, war hammer, mace, lance, shield (but you put one on the model already), frothy headed pint of ale...

I've looked at this model a hundred times, never occurred to me to use her in this way. Nice to see you doing it as this is a potential route I will need to follow to make some mounted female characters for my new VC army.

Out of interest, are you able to make use of the discarded lower half of the mini for another project?