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From Chracia with Love (and a Hawkship)

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:24 pm
by Olthannon
Hi guys, so I've finally painted up enough that I can consider it time to make an army blog.

I've started with a new batch of spearmen and the first 5 are done minus the basing. I took a bunch of photos with different lighting to see how they would look so apologies for a bunch of photos that look almost the same. They aren't much to look at I'm afraid as I'm still working out the kinks in the old painting but getting back into the swing of things.

Once the spearmen are done my next steps are to strip the entire force and start getting through those again. Hopefully will have a bit of time to do some nice work to them and hopefully my painting skill will get back on track as I go as well.

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Anyway let me know what you guys think, I'm planning on grabbing a few more paints soon, particularly a black wash as watered down black isn't doing so well on the armour. Right now I'm using a mix of vallejo and citadel.

I'll update in a bit with a list of the army and what still needs doing.

Edit: Also a resized photo of the 5th ed archer from my other post, hopefully showing off a little better.

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Cheers,

O.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:15 pm
by Lynve
1st! :D

This looks like a solid start Olthannon. I'm fond of the color scheme you choose for them, especially the deep, regal red of the archers sleeves. Also, are those crests on shileds rose tinted? They look far lighter than sleeves of your troops.

Do tell, what color/colors are you planning on choosing for gems?
Also, do you have a specific theme for basing in mind?

All things considdered, I say it's a solid foundation for the rest of your army, which I hope to see grow both in number and quality of painting.

Cheers!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 9:29 pm
by SpellArcher
I like the white shields, should really stand out Olthannon.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:38 pm
by Olthannon
Thanks guys, I know they aren't anything special but hopefully will chug along and get a little better as I go. I'm going to stick to painting core troops for a while until I feel like risking it with some fancier elves!
Lynve wrote: Also, are those crests on shileds rose tinted? They look far lighter than sleeves of your troops.

Do tell, what color/colors are you planning on choosing for gems?
Also, do you have a specific theme for basing in mind?
Yeah I wanted the shields a lot brighter because archaeologically/ historically soldiers made their shields as colourful as possible to stand out on the field.

As for the basing, I'd like something like woodland snow but I'm not sure where to even begin with buying flock. My old elves are goblin green bases with a bit of static grass!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:57 pm
by Luna Guardian
Glad to see another Chracian! The red and white color scheme is something that I now wish I had picked when I started to repaint my army some years back, so it's good to see it on other miniatures :)

How do you paint the figures? It could be the camera, but they look quite dark. This works really well with the red of the sleeves, but the skin and the white looks a bit grim. If I may suggest, painting a few thinner coats may ease this a bit and make your elves appear a bit more fresh and alive.

And yes, purpose made washes make for a far better end result than watered down paints. I've made that mistake myself :D

Looking forward to seeing how your army grows!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 12:21 am
by Olthannon
Another 5 spears finished, I don't think the pictures really show it but the painting has progressed a little to a point I'm much
happier with, particularly shading on the armour. I think I just need to get the lighting right with the pictures as they are a little too bright which flattens the shading a huge amount, particularly on the cloth.

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It feels good to get another 5 finished, still an entire army to strip and repaint though!

Will post up tomorrow with my list of units, some I'm looking forward to painting, some I really need some more paints for.

Cheers for now,
O.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 8:58 am
by Prince of Spires
They're starting to look good. It's nice to see you progress in skill. It's one of the fun parts of an army blog. When I look back through mine (or others) you can often see progress from one unit to the next. It's great to see.

As for the pictures, some more light will improve them I think. Daylight is best. But a bright lamp helps as well.

Rod

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 10:02 pm
by SpellArcher
Olthannon wrote:Yeah I wanted the shields a lot brighter because archaeologically/ historically soldiers made their shields as colourful as possible to stand out on the field.
It also just looks good. I think the models look dark overall partly because of the spearshafts.
Olthannon wrote:I'm not sure where to even begin with buying flock.
GW sell some, slightly limited range perhaps. I used to get mine from model railway shops and the like but those are starting to die off a bit.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2019 3:15 am
by Shannar, Sealord
Flock is something I have to drive an hour each way for, with a limited selection, or buy on the internet. Strangely I often get the best internet prices when I buy from the UK.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2019 6:40 pm
by Olthannon
To be fair I don't want them to look too bright anyway, but of course I want the pictures to be good enough to see what I'm doing.

Based on where my stuff looks now, where do I need to go to better advance it? Better highlighting? I guess I need to start on some models which have more to show off on.

As for flock I was hoping to pick some up in some model rail shops that sort of thing!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:49 pm
by Prince of Spires
Olthannon wrote:Based on where my stuff looks now, where do I need to go to better advance it? Better highlighting?
I would go for better highlighting and smoother layers. For instance, the white on the shields of the spearmen looks a bit patchy. A smoother white will improve the model a lot. And highlighting will help as well. For instance, the red on the shields with a highlight could make the model more interesting visually.

Picking out some more details on the models and trying to make them interesting would also be something you could try. Think of the gems on the shield, the details on the helmets or painting the eyes of the models.

One (entertaining) way I found to improve myself is to switch up models and paint something different. For instance, switch a unit of R&F for a monster or chariot. A monster asks different things and allows you to experiment with different techniques then a unit.

Flock I get at GW, local game shop or railroad shop (depending on when I need it and where I happen to be). GW is, as with most things, probably a bit on the expensive side. But with flock it matters little. Railroad shops will probably have the most choice. There are a fair few online shops that will sell flock with a lot of choice as well. But I prefer buying local if it's reasonably convenient and I suspect that for small items like flock if that's all you buy shipping costs will be higher then the flock itself. Of course, it's a nice item to add on to a purchase if you're getting something online anyway.

Rod

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 5:02 pm
by Olthannon
Hi all, finally managed to sit down and get some painting done. Have finished my spears minus the bases! (Well the first 20 anyway, there's still 35 left that need stripping...)
Picked up a few more paints the other day which helped me expand my colour palette a little more.
Hopefully the photos actually show my painting skill getting back to how it used to be, the command group gave me a little time to expand upon a few things. I need something for the banner but not sure what? I think I'll have to do a wee bit of practice before I try free hand.

It was also my birthday the other day and my brother got me some of the lovely old shadow warrior models, which I will be painting up for my Mordheim warband, so stay tuned as I think they'll probably be my next job. I need to source some square bases for them and some shields, but the shields will be the most difficult as I don't have any spares. I have some old dwarf shields which if I scrape the symbols off might look like bucklers but will have to test and see..

Anyway hope you guys enjoy and I'd love some feedback as to what I need to do next.

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Cheers!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 9:38 pm
by SpellArcher
Olthannon wrote:Have finished my spears minus the bases!
Nice unit Olthannon. Will it be green flock for the bases or something unusual?

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:42 am
by Prince of Spires
Nice looking unit indeed. They have a nice "grubby" look to them, which makes them look like they have been through some serious battles.

Looking forward to the shadow warrior unit as well. Those old models are lovely. Especially the musician.

Rod

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:45 pm
by elendor_f
Prince of Spires wrote:Nice looking unit indeed. They have a nice "grubby" look to them, which makes them look like they have been through some serious battles.
My impression as well, they look battle-hardened!

Nice gift, those old Shadow Warriors, and getting new paints is also great :D

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 1:41 am
by Olthannon
Thanks guys.

Basing wise I'm probably going to just get a deep forest green, maybe some light snow here and there.

So next on my list is starting the paint stripping process.
38 archers
30 spearmen
8 silver helms
3 repeater bolt throwers
20 white lions
15 swordmasters
10 reavers (recently converted with axes to be more Chracian).
6 shadow warriors
1 Tiranoc Chariot
10 Phoenix Guard
2 nobles, 1 bsb, 2 mages
Imrik
(I think that's everything?)
Have to finish the white lion chariot (first newer edition model I actually own) and paint those Shadow Warriors for the warband.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:00 am
by Luna Guardian
Olthannon wrote:Basing wise I'm probably going to just get a deep forest green, maybe some light snow here and there.
Good choices, very Chracian :) . Basing makes a huge difference and is always a bother to do afterwards, so I recommend getting them done unit by unit as you progress :)

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:16 pm
by Prince of Spires
Luna Guardian wrote:
Olthannon wrote:Basing wise I'm probably going to just get a deep forest green, maybe some light snow here and there.
Good choices, very Chracian :) . Basing makes a huge difference and is always a bother to do afterwards, so I recommend getting them done unit by unit as you progress :)
That's what I do as well. The last thing I do to a unit is base the models, after which I consider it finished. And, for me it's a bit like painting eyes. It's a relatively small thing. But it really finished the model for me.

Rod

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:07 pm
by Nusphigor
Chrace minis are always a beautiful sight :)
I'll keep an aye on this thread!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 5:23 pm
by Olthannon
So finally a few updates to share.

In photography news I've moved them off the window sill in the hope that reduces the exposure so the more subtle shading is actually picked up by the camera.

First off some test bases from the back rank of my spears unit.

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At first I was going to settle on a snowier option which I might add too later down the line but I think this autumnal forest floor provides a more suitable contrast.

And also, I painted up the White Lion Chariot. This is my first and only new edition miniature in the entire force (apart from I think the High Elf Noble with the reversed sword, which is a beautiful mini). I quite like the look of the Phoenixes but I'm not quite sure about the flying chariot? That seems a little odd to me?

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I wanted the White Lions to look unnatural, so I went for a much whiter tone than I notice most people use. They are after all mutated by the raw magical winds of the Annulii mountains and I thought more of an Albino quality would suit that idea better. I might add another wash to the manes to break it up a bit, but I'd really like everyone's feedback to see what might add to that otherworldly quality.

I'm reasonably happy with how the chariot turned out, I think Rod you were right I needed a larger project to actually work on to expand a little. I still need to do some freehand on the banner but I'm frankly papping myself about it. I need to find a nice easy lion I can pop on there.

Anyway, would really appreciate any C&C.

Cheers,

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 8:25 am
by SpellArcher
Loving the chariot Olthannon!

=D>

There’s a real depth to it.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:21 am
by Olthannon
Thanks, I've just spent yesterday stripping some of my old minis down. There is so much to do and so many layers of paint!

I've got maybe half stripped before the Dettol turned into a totally unworkable grey sludge so will have to get more to repeat the process.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 2:10 pm
by SpellArcher
Rather you than me.

=D>

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 3:19 pm
by Shannar, Sealord
Agreed. I don't enjoy stripping minis at all, and I HATE stripping plastic.

It seems to be worth the effort you've put into it though.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 7:21 pm
by Olthannon
My swordmasters and white lions came out lovely because they are metal, the archers are much more of an annoyance. I've lost so many feathers already..

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:52 pm
by Nusphigor
keep up your good work ;)

show more pics of the swordmasters and archers, please!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 6:27 pm
by Olthannon
Small update: my first of three repeater bolt throwers and a tester for my shadow warriors.

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The weather is terrible so these pics are quite dark but will attempt some better ones when there is nicer light.
This is definitely my favourite incarnation of the bolt thrower, it just looks 100% more bad ass and looks like it will give anyone on the receiving end any amount of pain.

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The shadow warriors will be in my regular army but will also serve as my Mordheim warband, I'd really appreciate some feedback on that colour scheme for them because it's obviously a bit different to the main army. I wanted a dark green cloak to make them as 'shadowy' as possible. I thought it would be nice to give the inner facing a purple colour to tie them to Nagarythe. With the models with mouth coverings I'll do them in red to match the army colours as only the quiver and the armour edging is red with this one.

PS I know I need to tidy up the sleeves and also the cloak is really not as shiny in real life at all.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and spears)

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:02 pm
by Nusphigor
its a really nice mix of colours right there.
Please keep posting more pics, this army is awesome!

Re: From Chracia with Love (and magic)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 8:16 pm
by Olthannon
Sat down to paint my mage who will be part of my main force and also in my Mordheim warband.

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I think this is my favourite of the metal high elf mage models, although I have seen some cool stuff from the newer plastic ones, which I'd like to pick up at some point.

I really need to get better at painting white I think.

Let me know what you guys think!

Cheers,
O.

Re: From Chracia with Love (and magic)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2019 8:48 pm
by SpellArcher
I like the sword especially Olthannon and the yellow of the cloak.