Ulthuan

Hi folks !

I recently found back my old Warhammer minis. I started collecting HE (mainly) more than 15 years ago and I've never really finished painting them. So I decided to buy some paints and brushes and to do my best to finally finish this army.

Back then I painted them pretty close to the classic blue and white colour scheme. But this time I want to go a bit more crazy. I chose my Swordmasters to test different colour scheme because they're metal (easy to strip) with a fair amount of details without having too much. So I primed them black with a zenithal white and I put paint on them until I found something nice. After a lot of trials I finally narrowed it down to the ones bellow.





From left to right :
#1 is a test for the sword. I tried to wet blend ... I'm gonna add a bit of orange on it. Mainly on the edges and maybe a thin line in the middle. But that's what i'm gonna head for.
#2 Orange clothes with red borders. I tried orange plume (that's what the "hair" coming from the helmet is called, right ?) but that was too flashy so I changed it to red. Beige gauntlet, silver helmet with gold details. The scale mail is painted with 2 layers of AP Soft tone with Ushabti bone highlight. That's also what i did for #3 and #4.
#3 Red clothes with beige borders. All the armor is silver except for the gloves that are made the same way than the scale mail without the highlight. Again gold details.
#4 Red clothes with orange borders. Beige armor with some highlights/shadings. Again gold details. The gloves are silver with a bit of AP soft (or strong) tone.

What I'm gonna keep:
- The black and red sword (like #1)
- The red plume
- The gold details
- The bone-like scale mail
- The lighter bone-like armor (#3)

What I'm still wondering :
- The clothes : orange (#2) or red (#3 and #4) ?
- The borders : red (#2), beige(#3) or orange (#4) ?

What I don't know yet :
- The gems : Maybe something fire-y but it may be too much of orange and red. Or maybe something green to add a bit of contrast ?

Some parts are still not painted or only partially because I don't think it would be important to determine the colour scheme (like the pommel, the skin and the shoes)
I put some effort in them but I didn't take time to correct some errors and I think I can do a bit better than what I'm showing.

So, folks, what do you think ? Any feedback or advice on how I could make these units better ?

I'll try to post my progress as much as possible to show how it goes !

Hi Azaam,

Welcome, I have joined here recently with a story similar to yours. Except my absence from WHFB was 25 years long.
I like the colour scheme in your swordmasters and I like the colour choice for the swords.
If you have elements with a similar hue, like your red and orange, for me it usually works better to have what clothes are under darker than what is above.
So I would do the clothes red and the trim orange. For the plume, I don't know. A reddish orange perhaps. But that's just me.
I agree green gems would work very well.

Are you going to do your armour silver or non-metallic metal? Unless you know well how to paint NMM, I would stick with the safer option - silver.

How much more do you have to paint, and are you planning to play games with your army?

_________________
My painting blog

My WHFB armies:
High Elves
Dwarfs
Orcs and Goblins

@MasterOfNone
Thank you for your feedback.
Actually I've seen a lot of similar stories these days. I'm happy to be able to share with people having the same background as mine.
Thanks for the insight about the similar hue elements. And I'm gonna try the green gems but I don't have green paints right now so I guess I'll just try mixing yellow and blue to see what kind of green I can get.
For the armour part, I don't think I'm going metal at all actually. More like the #4 on my previous post. Or like the recent Lumineth realm lords, something kinda bone-colour ? The only metal part will be in proper gold paint. I don't feel confident enough yet to go for NMM.

Here's a list of what I have :
- 16 spearmen
- 16 archers
- 8 silver-helms
- 15 swordmasters
- 9 white-lions of Chrace
- 6 shadow warriors
- 6 maiden guards
- 1 Tiranoc chariot
- 2 bolt-throwers
- 3 mounted lords
- 1 mounted mage
- 1 mage on foot
- Korhil
- Eltharion (the blind version)
- Teclis
- Tyrion

And that's a bit crazy but I found a good deal for the Island of blood box so I might buy it ... (I have a thing for Skaven too but that will be for another story).

I think I want to try to play. I've played only once before but it didn't really go well because we were both trying to figure out the rules while playing ... So that was very long, pretty slow and we didn't even finished. Not my best experience with a game
Actually I don't know if I want to play AoS or WHFB with these. I was trying to figure it out because of the base but it seems like it's possible to play AoS with square base but it's not possible to play FB with round ones. So I guess the choice is easy. Even tho I prefer the round bases ...

I've also bought the IoB box.
I am not planning to keep the skaven, but I haven't yet got round to selling them off eBay.

You've got quite a list of things to do. If you want to play, perhaps you should think what your army list is going to be and start with those models.

_________________
My painting blog

My WHFB armies:
High Elves
Dwarfs
Orcs and Goblins

Welcome Azaam!
I have a similar story, after a 10 year break I decided to buy some brushes and paints in 2017 and finish the models I had bought
I second the option of red clothes and orange border (as in number 4). I think for the gems some green or even blue could work out fine.

Good luck and keep us posted!

_________________
"The general has this to say about ensuring against defeat when outnumbered, out–weaponed and outpositioned. It is... Don't Have a Battle."
"Sounds like a clever man," said Jenkins.
Terry Pratchett, Jingo!

Avatar: https://silmarillionproject.tumblr.com/

Greetings Azaam.



Nice Swordmasters. I especially like the scale armour.

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Thank you all for your messages.

I think i'll be able to post a few pics in a day or two. For now I'm still trying to figure out glazing and wet blending.

I didn't try the green gems yet but I'm pretty sure it'll look good so I'm gonna head for that.
@Masterofnone I like the idea of not having to paint everything before starting playing so I think I'll try that. I'll finish the Sworsmasters and I think i'll continue with the archers or spearmen. I guess I'll have enough time to figure what kinda army I want until I finish these units.

So ... it has been a bit more than a couple of day. I guess I overestimated my speed and the time I was ready to put into painting !

It's already late here so I'm just gonna post the pictures and I'll comment tomorrow !







Globally I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out

So, as you can see, I went all according to my plan :
- Red clothes
- Orange trim
- Earthy/bone-like scale mail (on three of them I highlighted all the scales one by one)
- Bone-like armour
- Red plume (it turned almost pink beacause of the light)
- Golden details
- Green gems
- Black and red sword


I think it turned out good and I could experiment in the same time. All of them was supposed to be test to be strip at the end. For some time I had second thoughts about that because there's some parts I really like. But overall there's also a lot of thing I know I can do better. Starting with a proper painting planning. I mainly painted things I wanted to paint when I wanted to paint it. That made things complicated sometimes, especially when I had to reach some small details next to already painted area. Sometimes it's easy to fix, sometimes not.

Things I'm gonna change a bit :
- The sword : I think I'll go for a wider red area because I feel like there's too much black.
- The plume : It's too plain red right now. I want to bring a bit of orange in it and add some shadows.
- The scale mail : I'm gonna highlight all of the scale but maybe not as much as I did.

About the hair : This is the last thing I painted and except for 1 or 2 minis I'm not really happy with it. I think my paint was too thin when I did it so it didn't really help but some colours are also off. I'm gonna experiment a bit more but if you have some advices that'd be great
About the base : I plan to make a bright tile floor like a temple with some cork. Hence the grey (maybe a bit too dark) to give me a rough idea of how it can look like.

Also I think I'm gonna buy a couple of (really) good brush. Mines are not bad but I struggle a lot with details. The tip goes pretty wild after a couple of stroke.


So folks, what do you think ?

I think they look fantastic! I like the overall result, and the green gems work really well.

I agree with making the red area wider on the swords and with adding contrast to the plumes of the helms.

For hair, what I personally do:
Copper blonde: yellow base + Reikland Fleshshade wash + yellow highlights (very mild)

Brown hair: brown base + Agrax Earthshade + light brown highlights (for light brown I use the same brown base and mix it with a bit of white).

The base colours I use are from Vallejo (some from the Model Color and some from the Game Color series).
The yellow I have is Light Yellow and the brown Saddle Brown.

_________________
"The general has this to say about ensuring against defeat when outnumbered, out–weaponed and outpositioned. It is... Don't Have a Battle."
"Sounds like a clever man," said Jenkins.
Terry Pratchett, Jingo!

Avatar: https://silmarillionproject.tumblr.com/

Nice! I really dig the bone white armor and general paint scheme. There's something about the ivory armor color that really makes them look extra fancy.

I think they look great! Really like your scale armour and the white plate. The swords look excellent too and to me I think your balance of red and black is spot on. I'd consider something of more contrast for the helmet plumes just to break the model up a touch.

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The care you've taken here has paid off in spades Azaam. Love the helmets especially.

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A New Blog (Orcs and Goblins)
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Cavalry Prince Reloaded
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Thank you very much for your feedbacks and your kind word, mates ! That means a lot.
I'll keep you up to date !

For next post, I'll think I'll show my very first mini VS one of the last mini before I stopped VS one now. That may be interesting to see the evolution ^^

Hi there !

Quick update. I told you earlier that I wanted some kind of tiles for the base. So here's what I was thinking :

The initial design :


And the 3D model to make a texture rolling pin to 3D print (thanks to one of my coworker) :


I'll try with cork too but I guess I'll use some modeling paste in the end. I'll show you the result as soon as it's done !

A geometric tile base looks like it could work really well.

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A New Blog (Orcs and Goblins)
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Cavalry Prince Reloaded
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That’s going to look so good when you’re done! Looking forward to progress shots!

Nice! That should look incredible when it's done. I briefly toyed with that idea myself when I started repainting my army but it just seemed a little daunting. Good luck!

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One foot in the hobby

Hi folks, a quick update on my minis.

As I said in a previous post I striped them to be able to reach the quality I was aiming for. They are not finished yet but I think I'm on going in the right direction so I'm kinda happy so far.

Also I need some feedback.
To have a bit of diversity I tried some different metal colours on the helmet but I'm not sure I like how the silver fit with the other colours I used. What do you think ?


By the way I changed the colour a bit on the sword and I like it better now but tbh I'm having second thought on the black to red gradation. I'm wondering if some light ivory colours wouldn't be a better fit for the whole scheme. I couldn't find any example of that kind of blade on the internet so I guess the only way to find out is to try but what do you think ?

For the base, I still have some details to finish on the 3D model of rolling pin to be able to print it. I guess I'll play a bit with the paste I bought first

I think the swords are great in the colour you chose.
The armour is also very good, it would be nice being able to see a bit more close up the detail.
Overall a great colour scheme for a unique style, very well executed from what I can see, I really like.
Green gems will look wonderful too.

_________________
My painting blog

My WHFB armies:
High Elves
Dwarfs
Orcs and Goblins

Okay so, I did some testing for the different colour on the helmet and I decided to stick to the original scheme => back to gold.
For the sword, I'll try on the next figurine I paint and I'll see how it goes. Depending on how happy I am with it I may go back to these batch to repaint the sword.

@MasterOfNone I'll show more detailed pictures as soon as I finish them which should be done by Sunday ! I only have the gems, a bit of highlight/shadow and the final correction so I'm pretty confident.

I think I can say that my 7 Swordmasters minis are over. Well, I still have to do the base so not 100% over actually ...







I'm pretty happy with it. Of course there's things I could redo but I think I spent enough time on them. So I'll keep in mind what I learnt and try to use it for next ones ! I decided that it'll be the three special ones (the musican, the standard bearer and the champion, I don't remember how you call them). As I said in the previous post, I'll try something different for the champion's sword. I'll keep you updated.

To come back on these models, that was the first time I was doing eyes since I started painting again. I knew that was gonna be hard and that was indeed. I also realized two things :
- The sculpted eyes don't always aline perfectly so that doesn't help.
- I don't know if it's something specific to elves but the faces are very thin actually and so the eyes are not perfectly in front but a bit on the side. So you have to be really careful where you put the pupils because it's super easy to make it look awkward (as if it was not already easy enough). I don't have any human unit to compare and I don't know if what I said was understandable but what do you think ?

Question about metalic paint : I'm using Vallejo Model Color metalic paint and I found it very thick. I have to thin it a lot with flow medium (water is not working as well) and sometime retarder to be able to use it properly. I even bought a metalic paint from their Air range to compare and of course it's a lot better. I was wondering about other brand like Citadel or Painter Army. Did you have the same experience or do you have different range that you can compare ?


And as promise some time ago, comparison between some minis painted over the time : (from left to right)
- One of the first ones I painted (I'd say around 2000). I think it was part of a paint starter box. The paint is not as thick as I expected so I'm kinda happy with that
- I think that's one of the last one I painted before stopping. I'd say it was around 2004. You can see the attempt to try something a bit different from the traditional colour scheme. It's definitely better than the previous one but I guess I didn't put a lot of effort and heart into it. I didn't take a pic but I also found Teclis with the same level of technique and a bit more effort into it. One of his arm was lacking so I preferred took this one.
- Just for the comparison, one I've just finished. I'm really happy that there's a real difference. Age does help with the patience of making something good but Internet and Youtube was also a big help that I didn't have back then.


I hope you enjoyed this post. I'll keep you posted !

You have improved a lot since that first mini. Those swordmasters are great. I love the white helmets. Maybe a area to improve is the shading on the tail of the helmets. It's a little bit flat. Perhaps using a wash between layers helps.

As for metalic paints. From what I've read, the citadel metalic paints are the best. Their regular paints are very similar to Vallejo and other brands. But the metalics are heaps better. Though, I've only worked with citadel paints since that is what I can easily buy here, so take that with a grain of salt. I do have to thin the paints a bit, but it's minimal compared to what you mention. Maybe give them a try and see if you like them.

And yes, eyes are a pain to paint. I have plenty of cross-eyed miniatures...

Rod

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For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!

Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 167/33/91

Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.

I'm working on the command group of the swordmaster and that's going well. I tried the ivory blade on them too and I didn't find the right hue yet to make it look good. I think they're too light now so I'm darkening them slowly.

@Prince of Spires : I listened to your advice and used wash on the tail of the helmet. And that was a great call. I love the result. I'll show you when they'll be over.
I also bought some CItadel gold paint, the retributor armor. And I have to admit that it's great. It's warmer than the one I was using but it's so much easier to thin and apply. And the shine is much more homogeneous. Thank you for your feedback !


Also I went a bit crazy the last few days and I bought a bunch of figurines ... It's mainly some I didn't have and the deals were pretty good so in the end I'm happy. So now I can add the following to my already long list of model to paint :
- 5 dragon princes : I think those are the last version made because they're really dynamic and gorgeous.
- 5 ellyrian reavers : Same. They were already glued and primed on oval base. I'll think about what I'll do with these bases when I'll start playing I think.
- 1 lion chariot : I would have loved to see lions with a more dynamic pose but they look good anyway. I might look at some proxies for them ...
- 1 phoenix : I mean ... this is a phoenix !!! Even on the sprue it looks great. This is for a much later project but I guess I'll have to discuss about which version to build.
- 2 mages (the box with 2 mages where one has a mount) : just because it was part of the package and also they look great.
And a bunch of spearmen and archers.
I'm also in the middle of negociation for another big pack of units for a really good deal. I was only interested by half of it so I think I'll sell the other half if I get it but the deal was just too good.

Anyway, I'll keep you updated !

Hi Azaam,

your new swordmasters are gorgeous!
I am glad you kept the helmets white, they are really good.
I also liked the historic comparison pic, your style has come along greatly.
The comment on age resonated with me, I too found that I am more patient painting and since I restarted two years ago this has enabled my technique to improve.
I also found the comments on Vallejo's metal paints interesting. I also find them quite thick and not very pleasant to work with, apart from the Model Air Aluminium, which is great, it is thin and yet it covers very well.
However I won't be replacing them with Citadel equivalents, I have quite a few and the replacement would be too costly.

_________________
My painting blog

My WHFB armies:
High Elves
Dwarfs
Orcs and Goblins

Glad you found the comment useful. I really like washes for these kinds of situations. They really help add depth to a model (and they're pretty fast to apply, which is a nice bonus). I'm looking forward to seeing the result.

It looks like a pretty sweet set of models you've found. If the dragon princes and reavers are all plastic then they are indeed the most recent models. The previous version had metal riders. The phoenix is an amazing kit. I love it. And it comes with a whole bunch of extra bits which you can do a lot of fun things with as well.

Rod

_________________
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!

Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 167/33/91

Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.

Command group for swordmasters : done !









As you can see they're slightly different than the other ones :
- Ivory sword : I like it actually and it doesn't feel like there's too much ivory colour overall so I think I'm gonna continue with it. But as I really like the black and red sword, I'll use it for more special characters I think ! For the runes on the captain's sword, I tried different colours and this is the one I prefer. If you have any idea, I'll be happy to hear them !
- The scale mail : it's a bit brighter than the previous ones. I like both but I think I prefer the brighter one.
- Gold colour : I'm using a different paint than before. It's warmer which fits a bit more with the overall design, it's easier to apply and it feels less glittery. I also tried some highlight with silver. I may have put too much on some part.
- The plume : as Prince of Spires suggested I used some washes. And I also highlighted it with some mix of red and orange. I don't know if we can properly see it on the picture but that look way better than the previous ones.
- The eyes : I think it's less awkward than before. And at least both eyes are looking in the same direction so definetely some progress
Also as you can see I found some old patch of grass in my old Warhammer dedicated shoebox

I planned to ask if I should add more highlights on the clothes and the helmet but I figured I'm just gonna try with the next ones and see how it goes
Talking about the next ones, I still have 4 swordmasters to paint and I'm done with them. At least for now and for this version of them. Then I'll definitely have to take care of this bases ! I planned to cut the bar and pinned them but then I found this ! It'll be so much easier (I tried my hand drill on this pewter and that's not something I wanna do on all of my metal minis ...)

Very nicely done!
The champion's cloak is really good and the green gems are a perfect colour contrast.

_________________
My painting blog

My WHFB armies:
High Elves
Dwarfs
Orcs and Goblins

I've told you earlier than I went a bit overboard last days with a lot of expense. This is one part of it :



It's open but everything inside is new. The only missing part is the ruler. The seller also included High elves army books (v6 and v7) and Skaven army book (v6). And for the same price as when it went out. So I'm pretty happy with this deal ! As I already have a v6 HE army book I'll try to exchange it with a v8.

Looking great. There's some very nice models in that set. Especially if you have only 1 set. Otherwise, the command models on the SM and LSG are a bit overkill. You should have loads of fun putting it together and painting it. Good find!

_________________
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!

Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 167/33/91

Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.