Aldarin's Command - maritime themed army

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Bie
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Aldarin's Command - maritime themed army

#1 Post by Bie »

Hey there, first post here on the forum.

Throughout the years I've painted Bretonnian, Empire and Orcs & Goblin armies. To a lesser extend I've also collected High and Wood Elves. Since I bought a lot of old Warhammer miniatures off of a colleague a while back I've been on kind of a painting and spree. The lot contained some 4th/5th edition High Elf spearmen, archers and Reaver knights. Digging up my old mini's I pooled them together and it sparked the idea to assemble and paint an entire army. This is not meant to be a competitive army, just one that makes sense and is fluffy.

I've been looking at some paint schemes and decided to go with a Lothern themed army. By now I've been scouring Ebay and amassed what should be more than enough for a 2.000 point army.

General concept:
I want my army to represent a kind of shipborne battalion.
  • Core:
    The bulk of the army is light infantry, with the Sea Guard representing the core fighting force and the spearmen and archers representing the mariners that man the ship. The only cavalry on the roster are the Ellyrian Reavers, which fit into the theme of it being a light force.
  • Special:
    I'll be using Shadow Warriors as some type or rangers, again fitting in the light infantry theme. Sword Masters will be the only heavy infantry included.
  • Rare:
    Eagle Claw bolt throwers. It being a Lothern and maritime list, this was a no brainer.
  • Characters:
    The force will be at the command of a Sea Lord (prince) on foot, in keeping with the light infantry theme. He'll probably be put into the spearmen or Sea Guard Unit.
    A Sea Helm will take up the role of battle standard bearer. He will be put into one of the Sea Guard units.
    Maybe an odd choice for a maritime list: a noble on a chariot. I just like the 5th edition chariot and wanted to incorporate it into this army.
    Lastly there is a mage with the lore of heavens. Bigger vessels have mages to keep them out of danger during storms or give them a bit of extra speed.
This is what's planned:
[20] 24 Spearmen with command
[~] 15 Archers with command
[X] 5 Ellyrian Reavers
[ ] Two units of 15 Lothern Sea Guard with command

[ ] 5 Shadow Warriors
[ ] 1 Chariot

[1] Three bolt throwers

[X] Lord on foot (thinking of using an Aenur mini)
[ ] Sea Helm battle standard bearer
[X] Hero on chariot
[ ] Mage



Some pictures:
Image
Didn't have any spearman champion mini, so I bought this one off of Ebay. Cleaned it up and gave it a paintover.

Image
My first 15 painted spearmen.
Last edited by Bie on Fri Oct 04, 2019 7:19 am, edited 11 times in total.
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Olthannon
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#2 Post by Olthannon »

Nice crisp colours, love the classic minis and the goblin green bases to boot. Looking forward to seeing the rest!
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#3 Post by SpellArcher »

Welcome Bie!

:)

I agree with Olthannon, nicely defined.
Bie wrote:Maybe an odd choice for a maritime list: a noble on a chariot.
I’m pretty sure ancient seaborne forces used to carry chariots. The Minoans for example.
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#4 Post by Bie »

A little update: I've finished my lord on foot. I chose an Aenur miniature for it because I really like the "windswept" pose and thought it would fit the maritime theme. It also has some kind of swashbuckler vibe to it, but maybe that's just me.

Image

Image

Image
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#5 Post by Shannar, Sealord »

Hey, nice to see another person from the oldhammer group.
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Bie
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#6 Post by Bie »

Shannar, Sealord wrote:Hey, nice to see another person from the oldhammer group.
Yup, posted these on the Oldhammer group as well :-)

Most of this list will be oldhammer, varying from 5th to 6th and maybe one unit and a character from 8th edition.
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#7 Post by Shannar, Sealord »

I mean, I'm one of the crabby people who would call anything from 4-6th middlehammer haha. But they are cool models, and you've painted them nicely.
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#8 Post by SpellArcher »

Bie wrote:It also has some kind of swashbuckler vibe to it
Definitely, great pick.
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#9 Post by Luna Guardian »

Very nice, crisp and bright colors. Will be very striking once in army size!
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#10 Post by Bie »

A little update:

Moving on to the Ellyrian Reavers: I want to continue the same livery as I started off with, but with a small accent to them. I decided to go with a touch of black, dubbing them the "Black Banners". I always finish one whole mini when I'm painting new units and the first one is done already. So one down, four to go.
Image

Had finished this bolt thrower already, just didn't post any picture:
Image
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#11 Post by Olthannon »

Gorgeous paint job - I really like the dags on the reaver and the black flag. What paints are you using out of interest?
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#12 Post by Bie »

Olthannon wrote:Gorgeous paint job - I really like the dags on the reaver and the black flag. What paints are you using out of interest?
Thanks.
I'm using the GW paints. For miniatures, those are the only paints I've ever used and mostly quite happy with the quality.
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#13 Post by Prince of Spires »

Some great looking models in here. I love the clean, crisp look you have. And it works very well with the older models.

What edition do you play?

Rod
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#14 Post by Bie »

Prince of Spires wrote:Some great looking models in here. I love the clean, crisp look you have. And it works very well with the older models.

What edition do you play?

Rod
Honestly I'm not playing that much any more as I'm not sure there that many people playing WFB in my neighborhood. I got started with 5th edition and continued, playing most of my games, with 6th edition. Never really played 7th or 8th. I'd love to put these in a list and give them a whirl though. I've been looking into that already actually and for an 8th edition list I'd be sitting at about 2000 points.

I really like the 5th edition miniatures. Call it nostalgia, but I think they are awesome. I also like the way the miniatures were painted back in those days. Very colorful and vibrant. Though that is not really my painting style, I at least try to put in some nods to those painting schemes. Like the red bags of the spearmen or the black triangles on the plumes of the Reavers.
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#15 Post by Luna Guardian »

Bie wrote:Honestly I'm not playing that much any more as I'm not sure there that many people playing WFB in my neighborhood
Mandatory suggestion to look into Kings of War

:P
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#16 Post by Prince of Spires »

Luna Guardian wrote:
Bie wrote:Honestly I'm not playing that much any more as I'm not sure there that many people playing WFB in my neighborhood
Mandatory suggestion to look into Kings of War

:P
You should start including a link to the Kings of War rules, make it easy for people ;)
Bie wrote:I really like the 5th edition miniatures. Call it nostalgia, but I think they are awesome. I also like the way the miniatures were painted back in those days. Very colorful and vibrant. Though that is not really my painting style, I at least try to put in some nods to those painting schemes. Like the red bags of the spearmen or the black triangles on the plumes of the Reavers.
You really have the "oldhammer" feel to your painting. Though it's not as bright and colorful perhaps as some of the painting, the clean colors (and green bases) really fit the painting of that era.

And I agree that the older models are awesome. They don't have all the extra details and swirly bits stuck on that modern miniatures have. But despite that (or maybe because of that) they have a lot of character. They 'radiate' elvishness. Some of my favorite models are the unarmoured archers (from 5th edition I think).

Rod
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#17 Post by Luna Guardian »

Prince of Spires wrote:
Luna Guardian wrote:
Bie wrote:Honestly I'm not playing that much any more as I'm not sure there that many people playing WFB in my neighborhood
Mandatory suggestion to look into Kings of War

:P
You should start including a link to the Kings of War rules, make it easy for people ;)
Brilliant idea!
Prince of Spires wrote:I agree that the older models are awesome. They don't have all the extra details and swirly bits stuck on that modern miniatures have. But despite that (or maybe because of that) they have a lot of character. They 'radiate' elvishness. Some of my favorite models are the unarmoured archers (from 5th edition I think).

Rod
Thirded, the new minis are definitely too busy
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Re: Lothern maritime themed army

#18 Post by Bie »

Prince of Spires wrote: You really have the "oldhammer" feel to your painting. Though it's not as bright and colorful perhaps as some of the painting, the clean colors (and green bases) really fit the painting of that era.

And I agree that the older models are awesome. They don't have all the extra details and swirly bits stuck on that modern miniatures have. But despite that (or maybe because of that) they have a lot of character. They 'radiate' elvishness. Some of my favorite models are the unarmoured archers (from 5th edition I think).

Rod
Thanks Rod , that's just what I was aiming for.

Btw 5th edition archers are still coming up.
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#19 Post by SpellArcher »

Bie wrote:I really like the 5th edition miniatures. Call it nostalgia, but I think they are awesome.
The ones you’ve got here were mostly designed by Jes Goodwin for 4th Edition Bie and I think they’re technically the best range to date, though not my cup of tea. Ironically I prefer the metal Lions, Swordmasters etc. that came out during 5th. Loving the paint job on the Reaver BTW.
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#20 Post by Bie »

Another update:

My Reavers are all painted up. It took a while to get the horses done and I'm not 100% happy with the way they turned out, but still they are of tabletop quality.

Image

Meanwhile I've been priming some more things. Last week I received my chariot through the mail. I've finished putting it together an priming it. I decided to magnetize the hero miniature on his right foot. This way I can put him on his chariot as well as on a infantry base. I'm not really used of doing these things, but I managed to get it done pretty decently.

Image

Image
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#21 Post by Prince of Spires »

Bie wrote: It took a while to get the horses done and I'm not 100% happy with the way they turned out
I have a strong dislike of painting horses for this reason. It always feels like they should be easy to paint (after all, they look fairly basic with not a lot of details). But they take an awefully long time to get right.

Yours look great. I like the little details like the white spots on the middle horse. Very nice and clean painting.

Magnitizing the rider of the chariot is a great idea. It gives you two models for one. And it makes it easy to deal with losing either the rider or the chariot in a game. You could even consider painting up a regular archer or spearman as well so you could use it as a regular chariot as well.

Rod
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#22 Post by Bie »

Prince of Spires wrote:
Bie wrote: It took a while to get the horses done and I'm not 100% happy with the way they turned out
I have a strong dislike of painting horses for this reason. It always feels like they should be easy to paint (after all, they look fairly basic with not a lot of details). But they take an awefully long time to get right.

Yours look great. I like the little details like the white spots on the middle horse. Very nice and clean painting.

Magnitizing the rider of the chariot is a great idea. It gives you two models for one. And it makes it easy to deal with losing either the rider or the chariot in a game. You could even consider painting up a regular archer or spearman as well so you could use it as a regular chariot as well.

Rod
And to think I once painted Bretonnians. I forgot how demotivating that was. Painting horses is deceptively hard and as you say it takes way more time to finish them than you might think. Either way, there are only two more horses for me to paint. Those would be the ones pulling the chariot. I hope to put some more detail on those as they are for my noble and they deserve more time and attention.

I've only started experimenting with magnets with this army. None of my previous ones had anything magnetized. I'm magnetizing all of my infantry, except the Shadow Warriors as they are skirmishers anyway. Putting a magnet on the chariot and the hero was not originally planned, but I wanted some flexibility in case either got shot up.
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#23 Post by Prince of Spires »

Bie wrote:Either way, there are only two more horses for me to paint. Those would be the ones pulling the chariot.
Yeah, chariots I can manage. As long as its just two horses the end is in sight fairly quickly. But painting a unit of 10 dragon princes was a pain in the ass for instance.

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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#24 Post by Shannar, Sealord »

I'm working on 8 for my 3rd edition army. I thought I was almost done two days ago. But that underestimated the barding, reins, saddles, and (of course) gems.
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#25 Post by Bie »

Finally managed to get in a game with some of the finished High Elves of this list. Played my first 9th Age game with them. Since I've been looking at the rules and the Highborn Elves army supplement. I can just about manage a list of 4500 points (the standard so it seems) with my current miniatures.

I'm planning to add some little things to get a valid list: add one more bolt thrower and add eight Sword Masters. The extra bolt thrower mini will be an 8th edition one. As for the Sword Masters, I'm still scouring ebay for a couple of those.

For the moment I'm painting my hero with chariot. I'll put up some pics soon enough.
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#26 Post by Prince of Spires »

Sounds great.

I think points in the 9th age are about double what they were in regular warhammer. And most (tournament) games at the end of 8th were 2250 - 2500. So 4500 pts indeed sounds about right for a standard game size.

I think you should be able to find some good deals for SM's. At least if you don't mind the plastic models from the Island of Blood set. There should be plenty of those around.

Rod
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#27 Post by Bie »

Haven't done to much painting because of work. But I'm slowly getting my hero chariot done. Though, as you can see, I'll still need to change the wheels of the chariot. The ones I got are partly melted by the previous owner, so I bought another pair through ebay. So, still quite some work to do.

Image
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#28 Post by SpellArcher »

Coming along nice and colourful. That chariot guy always stood out.
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#29 Post by Shannar, Sealord »

That Chariot almost makes me want to move mine up the que. But, I think after the spear elves it might be time for some goblins again.

I like your colors. Just colorful enough without going overboard.
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Re: Aldarin's Command - Lothern maritime themed army

#30 Post by Prince of Spires »

I'll just echo the two guys above. A very nice looking chariot. Very colorful and its a great model.

As a side note, I love how organised your painting station is looking in the background ;) I don't think I could manage to keep all colors together like that... ;)

Rod
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