So I said pictures and well I hate to disappoint.. well in not delivering at least.. shoddy pictures at best but gives an idea of what I have been up too over the weekend.. and still more to come over the weeks ahead.. no paint until I can get all my base troops put together and that can't happen until the bases themselves show up
So anyways.. here are some pictures to tide you over..
So you can see from 4 of the shots on what I am trying to do for the Ellyrian Reavers there.. Glade Rider horses and bodies, spearmen head and spears ( where needed ). The unit will be a mix of spear/bows as I suspect I will run them as such. Fast calvery with Elf shooting.. heck yeah.. but will see how it goes though.. still have a lot to do on them. I haven't put any GS work on them still to hide the joints and such but I think they will turn out nice.
Thoughts?
And the last shot is the shelf that they will reside since I don't get in a lot of games but I hope 2009 is the year that changes.. will see..
Your army is shaping up rather nicely. I can t wait to see the units with some paint on them.
I m liking your Reaver conversion, it looks solid. I was thinking of doing something similar. Lord knows I have enough Wood Elf bits around here so I think I could poach a few to use for my High Elves.
Ah I do like thy Reavers well my Lord Grisnik. A most excellent conversion that doth seem to be intended by those who hath devised these multipart kits.
Hum, - methinks I have some metal Reavers packed away. I wonder how they might compare....
lol Thats great to hear Marcus Great modellers think alike?
Also I am glad to hear that people like the reaver conversions.. I ended up making the last 4 all carry bows cause it was looking cooler.. just have to do the GS work and their bases and they should be done..
Ok so I got my gale force nine magnetic bases last night and was able to put together my first White Lion unit with them.
First impressions.. they are a very soft rubber. Like what you would find in shoes. I was very surprised with this, and also by the amount of flash that are on them as well. I will be having to scrape some of it off the sides for the bases to line up properly still, and have to work the slotted part as well in order for the models to fit in them as well.
The rubber sheets they come with are great though. Very easy to cut, and flexible. Plus they come with a sticky side so gluing them to a movement tray is easier, though I think I will still put a few dabs of super glue on it just to be safe.
The really bad thing about them though is that with the metal models the magnetic hold is very weak. I did the upside down test with the metals and it failed. Though I am hoping that it will be much better for the plastic models as they are a lot lighter than the metals.
Also the packaging also states that PVC glue or white glue does not stick well to the bases, so everything needs to be glued with superglue. This has made the flock portion of my bases get a bit messy.. I think I will have to put the spearmen unit together, flock them and paint them up and see how it looks. Hopefully It turns out ok though..
So not the best review, but a review none the less.
Upside though is the rubber sheets for movement trays is great with regular magnets. I have a goblin horde that are all using regular neodymium magnets and they stick great. I will have to buy more of the sheets and redo their movement trays in them as the sheets are great and easier to work with then some of the other materials I have tried in the past.
Will hopefully have the spearmen unit done tonight and can prime them tonight as well. Would like to dig into them for painting by this weekend once I get more models built up first.
Large and/or heavy models are always a problem with flexible plastic type magnets. Metal models are downright difficult to keep stuck unless they are small ones and not especially top heavy. In general plastic models are fine with the flexible magnets or as far as I've tried them anyway. I use flexible plastic magnets with my flat printed card armies because if you don't you'll never keep them in place on a movement tray and you'll be at risk from every stray draught or uncovered sneeze.
The plastic magnet material I use comes in a big roll from the hardware shop and is reasonably priced. It has a sticky backing which isn't very good and I always have to use something like a contact adhesive to get it to stay in place on a permanent basis.
Good to hear Si'.. though unfortunately here in Turkey the local hardware shops are not as equipped as those back home in Canada or most of the world.. I have even been to some of the larger hardware and home improvement places and they too are lacking in selection for the average modeler.
So I have to turn to things like online retailers to get a majority of my items or wait until someone from abroad comes to visit and see if they are willing to pick some up for me along the way.
I have used the neodymium magnets on metals previously and they work wonders, but usually the failing point turns into the superglue or GS that hold it to the bases.. Just have to continue to experiment then I guess for some of the models.
Thanks for the information though, it helps a lot.
Ok that was a quite abrupt and clear no on the cloaks.. thankfully I received the GF9 bases instead of working on them then..
Also I was thinking of running them with both spears AND bows.. yeah makes them more expensive but versatile as well? I just keep seeing marauder horsemen do well with throwing axes and CC.. so figured we could do that too right?
If not then I need to know before I finish the unit up with GS.. I have 2 armed with spears at the moment, but they all have spears strapped to their backs as well.. and with the cloaks I will have to find something else then or at the very least make them less WE like.. will play around with that idea then..
Ok so most things are put together.. I just need to now get the archers rebases onto the GF9 bases, put together some more Shadow Warriors and make them more bad ass, and put together another 8 silver helm to Dragon prince conversions..
But in the meantime I have started to do a bit of painting over the weekend to see if my baseing scheme and color ideas that I do have will work..
Let me know what you think..
They are a bit flat as far as colors go at the moment, but its just basic colors and a wash of badab black overtop. I plan to highlight the metals again, and the greens.. move the bronze a bit more ( only done 6 out of 15 ) to a gold color.. I think it will allow me to have a darker High Elf army.. a bit more gritty looking army instead of the fluffy white and blues that normally prance around..
Also the bases are coming out nicely.. doing the stones in an off white color scheme... with the brown dirt.. and will flock them once they are finished.. should tie in the army together nicely..
Your army is coming along nicely, green High Elves are awesome. I really like your Reavers as well, although they maybe need feathers on them from the archers sprue.
Keep up the good work.
[url=http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/cb_rex]Rate my painting on CMON[/url]
Thanks mate.. I agree that it probably would be better with some feathers.. will slap some on.. need to go and do a bit more work on them anyways but will see how they turn out once I am done.. also going to revamp the shadow warriors as well.. take the cloaks from the glade riders and put them on instead.. make them more bad ass as someone suggested
Going to get more work on the spears tonight.. hopefully get to a point where they look almost field worthy
Hey.. thanks for the comments on the reavers.. not sure when I will get back to them as I need to get some core units done and characters.. but they will be a fun unit to finish up indeed..
Just a quick update here.. got a bit more paint on the spearmens here.. taking a lot longer than I would like to admit but coming out nicely now..
I still need to do the faces, and add more highlights and of course do the weapons.. but they are coming along nicely and look great as a unit.. I think I am liking this color scheme indeed..
So I have been working really hard on my spearman unit and I have them almost complete. Just need to add grass and figure out what type of banner they will have and do the freehand for it.
I did try a lot of new things here.. namely the gems and the shields. I have never been one to do freehand but I think that they came out nicely.. not the greatest but definately better than I thought they might turn out..
Check it out.
Next up will be a 15 man strong unit of White Lions with full command.
Will only need them and a hero to make my 500 point border patrol army. Hoping to get them done before this time next month when the tourney is slated to begin.
Thanks and yeah all done with freehand.. did the outline, then filled them in with astronomicon grey foundation paint, then went over the outline with orkshade green foundation.. had to water them both down a bit and for the grey it did take 2-3 coats in some areas but I like how they turned out..
Now to figure out how detailed I should go on the banner.. and what should be placed on it.. especially for magical banners what kind of symbol or image could represent what I might use.. of which I am kinda stumped on at the moment
Wow, that freehand is great! espeically for your first time.. I really thought they were transfers at first, then I scratched my head trying to think of 1 HE kit that EVER came with transfers and slowly realised the truth. Well done. I have free-handed 24 shields for my unit and I only did a rune, not a lion head, and that really tried my patience, so getting 15 busts done is really impressive. Keep it up
...Sorry, anyways. In regards to the banner, you could do a simple motif of maybe a single rune in the center and a common border along the sidelines.
[img]http://www.abload.de/img/amaranthwtlu.gif[/img]
Colors are fragrant, but they fade away. In this world of ours, nothing live forever. Today, let us cross into the realm of reality, and let there be no shallow dreaming.
Warhammer rulebook 6th edition
Warhammer 40k rulebook 3rd edition
Warhammer model catalogue from 2005/2006
Might just do that for the banner then.. that or a tree.. was also thinking along those lines as it might be more in line since I am trying to theme the army around white lions..
I have been spending most of my time tonight priming 10 white lions ( haven't gotten the lions or extra one converted yet ), and building up movement trays with the rubber bottoms to hold all the magnetic models.
Also cut up some fridge magnets and glued them to the bottom of the horses since I didn't buy any GF9 bases for them.. so far its working well.. will see how they do in a game..
Fridge magnets are good for plastic cavalry, but not so good for a plastic horse with a metal rider. Being more top heavy they tend to not hold so well if they get a good bump. Laying the fridge magnet stuff the full length of the cavalry base is the way to go for best results.
Edit: I used to be terrible, if I went anywhere that had advertising/business card type fridge magnets to give to customers I used to sneak several at a time and take them home to use on my figures' bases.
Thanks for the tip.. I did use earth magnets for the DPs themselves since I figured they would be heavier and need a stronger magnet. I don't have many left ( used 400+ for my goblins and deamons army.. never again ) and so am using what I have left to get these guys finished.
The fridge magnets are doing great for the plastic Calvary thus far though.. will take some photos of the movement trays that I built up last night.. got 2 for the DPs so far, and one for a 20 man unit of Spearmen.. also did a 5 man one for archers.. though I think I will have to hack one side off.. forgot about that part.. will see though..
So far it is working, but the GF9 magnet bases are not strong enough to really hold them down enough. I am hoping that the high sided movement trays will help a lot more for this. If not then I might add the off rare earth magnet to them still..
Also was thinking that I might make the lions sit on 40mm bases instead of 20mmx40mm. Make small dioramas out of them. will also bump me up to 2 units of 19 then as well.. which would be nice to have for larger games.
Will post pictures tonight when of the movement trays and of what the beginnings of the WLs turn out color wise.
I also love the Reavers you made. Glade riders have got to be the most popular kits to convert with. Both reavers and Dark Riders are so much better when wood elves are used instead... I think the wood elves are out to take over the Elven world...
Sorry for lack of updates.. between work and a teething baby progress has been slow.. wont get any better tonight as I am hitting the gym and kickboxing.. but hopefully by this weekend I will have the White Lions finished.
Seeing as there are so many comments about the Reavers I think they will have to be the next unit to tackle. I am going to redo a bit of them however, such as remove the cloaks, and figure out a better way to put the spears and bows on them. Also will try to make more of them holding spears as well.
Will use the cloaks for the Shadow warriors to make them more badass as someone put it. Have 6 more of them I need to put together still.
Ok so I have been away from the forums for a bit longer than expected and I have come to the conclusion that I hate the WL sculpts and even more to paint them
Below are some photos of said WLs..
I think that they might need a bit more work, but for the time being they are finished.. will do up a banner for them again when time permits and I can think of a nice looking Lion theme that might go with it..
Let me know what you think.. will be doing a hero next.. just not sure which one yet..
Great modellers think alike? 
