Topic: Darknight's Knights (Dark and Otherwise) - Thread Superseded!!!

[Darknight]

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

Originally, she was going to be fulfilling the ancient and noble office of Filling The Scrap Pile, but then I looked at the figure (cut off at mid-thigh, with some nice "chunky" slices) and I thought "That looks like the lower half of a statue . . ."

So, I got a plastic "Boudicca" model from the WGF Celt Chariot set (which is a bit of a soft sculpt and casting), snipped her off at the thighs, gave her a corinthian helm and a hoplon from some spares, and have made a nice little unit filler! This unit filler is going to go in my swordswomen unit (pics to follow soon) when the counts-as Captasus is actually serving as a Captasus, and NOT a unit-filler . . .

It's complex. Pics to follow.

[GamesPoet]

Finally catching up on this thread ... love the Grandmaster for your chapter of knights, as well as the Minotaur artillery pieces.

Fantastic!

[Darknight]

Thanks, GP - really glad you enjoy it!

Okay, as promised, here are some size comparison pics for the Cyclops. That is a standard GW Empire Knight next to him. He has the Greatsword Standard (it was the first model I grabbed for the shots). Click for larger images;



And here are some pictures of some "Ladies of Battle" I have been working on - swordswomen in heavy armor with a shield. I daresay Chumley's house-rules for the Lords of Battle - basically Reiksguard foot - would work very well for them! But, they will normaly count as swordswomen. I wanted to create a unit which was very religious - I have a specific unit filler I am working on which can count as either a Captasus or a 2x2 unit filler. The unit will have lots of icons, praying figures, candles, incense etc.

All the models are based on two castings from Hasslefree - Tiriel and Dynamic Tiriel with hoplite shields from Hasslefree. Originally, I was going to leave it as that - and I converted the following four figures up (click for larger images);



But then I realized I had missed the laurel wreaths (I know!) And, I also then got access to the wonderful Corinthian helms from the WGF Amazon kit, and I thought they would look very good with that. The end result is these little beauties (click for larger image);



I also have made a couple of unit fillers - one is of a praying knight (again, Hasslefree - a variant sculpt) on a 2x1 base and the other is a fallen statue on a 2x2 (as mentioned above, this statue is based on a WGF Boudicca and the bottom of the Reaper fig used for the Archlector). Click for larger images;



This unit filler will only be used when the main unit filler is functioning as a Captasus. Stay tuned for details!

Comments welcome!

[Delthos]

Nice stuff, unfortunately the one taking a knee with the book looks to have some rather large and long ape fingers. Of course it looks like you may be too far along to change it now!

I like that shepherd's crook for the giant. I'm guessing it is made from a piece heavy gauge copper wire?

[King]

Yes that giant with the sepherd's crook really reminds me of the Jason and the argonauts film.   Nostalgia indeed and it is really tempting me to steal your idea and convert a third giant but I have to resist..................

[Darknight]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Nice stuff, unfortunately the one taking a knee with the book looks to have some rather large and long ape fingers. Of course it looks like you may be too far along to change it now!

Sculpting hands is annoyingly difficult. I am pleased now that I have access to WGF's smaller hands from their kits, which will make conversion easier!

I like that shepherd's crook for the giant. I'm guessing it is made from a piece heavy gauge copper wire?

Well, a piece of copper rod (or brass, maybe - I can't remember; I have both in my bits box).

Yes that giant with the sepherd's crook really reminds me of the Jason and the argonauts film.   Nostalgia indeed and it is really tempting me to steal your idea and convert a third giant but I have to resist..................

I wanted to make a cyclops who was the classic Polyphemus from "The Odyssey" - the shepherd. The model, of course, comes with a hammer as the other cyclopes (who have a different genesis to Polyphemus) forged iron for Zeus.

[humanityunited]

Did you paint your mounted priestess? I'd love to see her in her golden armour!

My Grand Master would love to take her... blessing 

[Darknight]

Did you paint your mounted priestess? I'd love to see her in her golden armour!

She is going to be in silver-blue steel and white robes - the unit of Knights she will be in will have golden armor.

My Grand Master would love to take her... blessing 

Your Grand Master would be well-advised to learn just what this Myrmidian cult offers to the goddess from their sacrifices, if you know what I mean. And I think you know what I mean.

I'm talking about testicles.

[humanityunited]

She is going to be in silver-blue steel and white robes - the unit of Knights she will be in will have golden armor.

Wow! This will be a shining Empire unit! Eager to see them when they are ready.

Your Grand Master would be well-advised to learn just what this Myrmidian cult offers to the goddess from their sacrifices. If you get what I mean.

I'm talking about testicles.

What?? Nooooo!!

That's bad. The two of them could practice sword fighting together.

[Darknight]

That's bad. The two of them could practice sword fighting together.

Her WS is like half his. He's got more attacks than she has wounds, I think. This is why she goes for the jewels.

[humanityunited]

Her WS is like half his. He's got more attacks than she has wounds, I think.

He would be gentle with her. Nothing to worry about.

This is why she goes for the jewels.

I can't stop very bad images from crossing my mind with this one. Point taken. He will keep to himself.

[Darknight]

Because of this conversation, I am definitely thinking her title will be Emasculatrix . . . perhaps in Greek.

Fidelis? Your linguistic skills may be needed.

EDIT : I think I am going to convert her by removing the scrolls on the front barding - they are just there to hide the comets - and give her a pair of shears and a little bag with multiple lumpy things in . . .

[Shadespyre]

Nah, she just needs a pair of Holy Half-Bricks...

Nice work with the Hasslefree models, this is turning into a really original project.

[Darknight]

The goddess demands uncrushed offerings.

I have done the basecoat on the armor of a couple of the Ladies of Battle - stone me, but it's a beautiful color! A mix of the old Citadel Brown Ink and Vallejo Old Gold over white. It shades itself, looks magic. I think a brief drybrush and a wash of something like Gryphone Sepia will perfect it.

[Shadespyre]

Trust a female god to be picky...  And show us this heavenly gold colour which we can't reproduce without a time warp, please!

[steveb]

Nice stuff, unfortunately the one taking a knee with the book looks to have some rather large and long ape fingers. Of course it looks like you may be too far along to change it now!

I like that shepherd's crook for the giant. I'm guessing it is made from a piece heavy gauge copper wire?

au contrair, she is obviously a handmaiden of the first order.  steveb

[Darknight]

Oh, SteveB - you and your puns

Just a couple of pictures I snapped today of the Ladies of Battle on the workbench - with my elite Sons of the Maiden unit (Greatsword Knights) in the back. Click to embiggen;



And here is a shot of the Warrior Priestess who will be leading the Ladies of Battle; again, clicking her will make your image larger. Oo-er! Matron!

[Maza]

Those greatsword knights look really promising! What colours will complement the gold? I say white!

Ladies of the Workbench look great too! 

[Darknight]

I was thinking of painting the barding glossy black, as if it were laquered - but white might work too . . .

I was certainly thinking of some pale gray horses, with white socks and so forth.

[Maza]

Can't go wrong with glossy black + gold. Classic look.

[Darknight]

Here are some pics of my first pieces made with Hirst Art blocks. All of these are from the Roman Temple mold and have been used without alteration (although I have distressed the pieces in the column to cover casting defects - most of those pieces were cast using a thicker mix of plaster which produced unfortunate results). Click for larger pics!







The figure on the top of the column is made from a Wargames Factory "Celt Queen" model with a head and shield (cast as part of my How to Cast Things With Instant Mold tutorial) swap. I carved out the various holes and bubbles to make them look more like chips and damage. One particularly large hole has been partially-filled with putty and a little bird put in there so it looks like a nest. The vines are made from putty, with the clusters of grapes made by using Instant Mold to cast duplicates of masters I modeled using milliput.

The statue of the cavalryman represents Colonel Maximilian Sturm of Nuln (hence the cannon equipment on the base) mentioned in my fluff. The figure is made of a load of spare bits I had lurking around, really kind of slapped together (it would certainly not pass muster as an actual figure - but painted in bronze it will be just fine). I needed to use up the pieces, and will have to think of some reason why the order has a statue of Maximilian, who was killed in the initial battle against the forces of Chaos and had little to do with the founding.

Nothing fantastic, but I think these pieces work really well.

[Darknight]

Here are some shots from my major Hirst Arts project - the grand temple plaza. It is all made from a single mold (the Roman Temple). There are at least 20 casts of the mold in there - but I think a lot of those numbers will be to get sufficient numbers of corner pieces (of which there are only one of each in the mold). Click for larger pics.


I planned the footprint and lay it out, drawing the lines with a pencil and a set-square. It is based on a 12" piece of board, which isn't actually 12" square (it is a little smaller) - so I found the center and worked "outwards" from there.


I've laid out the first two courses of the edge for just over half of the model - was still waiting on blocks to set when I took this (I now have enough blocks to finish the edge). You can see the top flagstone sections in place here.


I glued the flagstone tops together separately, gluing them on a flat surface. I rather like the look of the scraped top - it gives a little bit of variation. I will sand them down a little before gluing them in place.

I need to cast more blocks to complete the top of the temple plaza, as well as provide various details. The final piece is going to have eight columns (one at each "point" of the cross) and a skull on a pillar in the central sacrificial pit, and four sacrificial altars (one on each arm of the cross).

Lots more work to do! But I am very excited by this - it is very easy to work with this stuff, and it seems quite strong enough for basic work. I am gluing it together with a yellowish wood glue (from Home Depot - it was about $3 I think. Very good stuff.)

Comments welcome!

[King]

This will be impressive I am sure 

[Darknight]

I have done a fair bit more casting for my grand plaza - I think I have all the blocks which I need for it. But, I haven't really done anything more on it.

What I have done, however, is paint the statue of Maximilian Sturm. Click for larger images.



I painted the blocks black and then did a heavy "dusting" with white spray. I used a few different washes - a greenish-gray, a ruddy brown, a black - to stain selected blocks.

The statue itself was sprayed with a "hammered" finish dark silver paint and then given a drybrush with silver and a wash with some black / ruddy-brown wash. I was inspired by a statue I saw in London called "Physical Endeavour" - it was rather crudely sculpted, with the bold shapes rather than the details being the main focus, and it was a dark, dull silver color. I think the background for this statue can be that it was cast from the cannon balls and other bullets of Sturm's force, hence the leaden coloring.

[Delthos]

Looking good although I can see the unevenness of some blocks. That's mostly to do with how you scrape your mold right away. It's really important to wait because the plaster will settle in the mold. Scraping early will lead to blocks of different height.

If I were you, I'd add a bit more weathering to it. Unless you intend for it to look like it was just set up that is.