Ulthuan

Have not had much to add to the blog recently as I've been neglecting the painting for a little while. However, I have started a new project - building a ship. So here's a couple of WiP photos of the structure. Still need to source a mast and then plenty of details to add.





It is still very rough and ready and still a long way to go but let me know what you think.

It's most certainly not based on the Man O' War ships because I am not a huge fan of the weird Malay outrigger style of the Hawkships on a large scale.

At some point in the career of every High Elf general they seem to turn shipwright! I like how it has a kind of direction down to the prow.

SpellArcher wrote:At some point in the career of every High Elf general they seem to turn shipwright! I like how it has a kind of direction down to the prow.

Probably true. I guess it's the result of the seafaring / naval nature of the High Elf empire.

I like how the ship is shaping up. The prow gives it an ancient roman / greek feeling, which works well with High Elves in my opinion. Keep us updated.

Rod

Thanks guys. Work has progressed somewhat on the ship, decking is almost complete for all of it.
Yes I took most of the inspiration from the flat hulled Mediterranean ships as opposed to the Man O' War Malaysian outrigger style ships that also have giant castles attached to the back (apparently taking the term fo'c's'le literally).

My main issue now is finding something for the bow of the ship that will look pretty delicious but not too big as to get in the way of the fore bolt thrower and also sourcing a suitable tiller.

I will post pictures shortly, I have to faff about taking pictures on my phone and then uploading to imgur and then going on my laptop and resizing them on there before uploading because I can't find a way of resizing images on imgur mobile app.

Looking forward to the updates

I guess the bolt thrower will need either a raised platform from which to shoot or some kind of opening. A 360 degree field of view would be great, but even a 90 degree forward field of view would work I think.

Rod

As you can see, there is one such raised platform fit for the bolt thrower The mast is ready, just needs cutting slightly to get the right size, not pictured however. Will do a bit more work on it today, hopefully get myself an idea about what to do with the figurehead.

Enjoy.

Looks very cool, sleek and deadly as it should! Looking forwards to seeing it completed and painted!

Starting to look very cool indeed. The one thing I would consider is changing the stairs slightly. They look just a bit on the small side to comfortably hold a model. Not a big deal of course. But from a practical / gaming / display point of view it's nice to have the option to put a model on there.

Rod

Coming along nicely!

More progress than projects usually end up with (including one I started awhile back).

So a few more updates, including part of the mast (although that will take a lot of work).









Adding more details now to get more ship like and less big block of plastic. Still not decided on the prow so have left that blank and have been procrastinating with other pieces.

Thanks for the comments guys, appreciate it!

As for the stairs, I would change them but then they would look gigantic and a bit odd in comparison.

Now I get that the ship had to be a decent width to accommodate the RBT!

the solution to the stair size problem is to make a block you can set on the stair below the one you want the model to be standing on. I've done that for my mordheim buildings. It lets you keep the scale of the project, but still have a way for minis to stand on the steps.

Shannar, Sealord wrote:the solution to the stair size problem is to make a block you can set on the stair below the one you want the model to be standing on. I've done that for my mordheim buildings. It lets you keep the scale of the project, but still have a way for minis to stand on the steps.

Great idea. Definitely stealing that one.

I like the details you're adding to the ship. They make all the difference between some generic terrain piece and something lovely and elven.

Rod

Here is a tester for my archers. I got this in a sale a while ago and it was undercoated white. Not sure why the head is at such a dodgy angle but I might pull that off and reglue. I think frankly I much prefer that to black undercoat, the white on the jerkin needs touching up but overall pretty happy with how it turns out. The lighting isn't great because it is absolutely chucking it down here.

Cheers,

This guy definitely has that richness that is one of the hallmarks of your painting Olthannon.

he's looking pretty good. As you say, the white can use another layer or two, just to get that clean, crisp look. But it's a pretty good start for a fast result.

When I used spray can primer I always primed my elves white. My elves generally have fairly bright colors and a lot of whites. And then undercoating white makes it much easier to get a nice result. I've since moved on to using an airbrush to prime, which has a transparent primer. And after that I usually give a mixed white and black first layer. That immediately gives a nice shade effect to the model when painting. Though it's fairly subtle and if it wasn't that little effort I'm not sure I would do so.

Rod

agreed on the white primer. Except for swordmasters and spearmen, with all the armor they get primed black.

I'm loving the Hawkship. Makes me want to start my very own for my Sea Guard battalion

You must have already put in quite an amount of time to get where you are with the ship. Looking forward to see its finished state.

Thanks all for the comments, much appreciated.

The Hawkship actually not been too difficult really, it is a simple design so not really too much effort just I haven't had much time spare to work on it.

It only needs a few more details and the prow needs to be sorted. Hopefully do some more on it this month and get it painted!

Can't believe the last time I updated this was back in September. Stupid real life getting in the way of tiny fantasy life. Anyway, what with the whole global pandemic lockdown and all, I've had some time to paint.









So my first showing is Aenur the sword of twilight. Pretty much my favourite model and I hope I did it justice. I need to really work on my miniature photography because they all look washed out to hell.

Coming up next some shadow warriors!

EDIT: Have since resized the photos

Great to see an update here

I like the model. The photo is a bit harsh on it, with the lighting and the closeness. But I think the model is great. The simplicity does the model a lot of justice. The only thing I perhaps would have changed is the sword. I would have made it a bit brighter, since it's a magical sword. But, great job

Rod

Olthannon wrote: Anyway, what with the whole global pandemic lockdown and all, I've had some time to paint.

This is probably the one upside to the whole thing. Lots more hobby time (as long as it's solitary that is).

Rod

Another update - currently my head honcho elfo. I also tried some better pictures of Aenur. I have five Shadow Warriors painted up which will hopefully get put on here tomorrow. Then another few to paint and then I need to buy some more paint stripper!

Nice. He looks very regal A true elven general. My one point of criticism perhaps is that I think his face can be a bit lighter / more noticeable. It's very shadowy at the moment.

Rod

That shield though.

Thanks guys, appreciate it! The face is as shadowy as I could possibly make it. It actually took me a long time to make it look like that haha.

Even more updates - finally getting round to finishing off my Shadow Warriors. I have 5 undercoated left to paint, plus two more who escaped the original paint stripping and will have to wait until I buy more.







They're okay, the shoddy photos don't do the cloaks justice which in real life are very subtly highlighted. Fluffwise they are a sizeable warband that has joined the host of Prince Olthannon as my mighty Lionship patrols the waters looking for filthy Druchii.

Once I've picked up more chemicals and some white undercoat the next stage is getting my archers painted and also looking up some tutorials on how to paint wood a bit better!

Olthannon wrote: plus two more who escaped the original paint stripping and will have to wait until I buy more.

They're sneaky little buggers

I like them. They're suitably shadowy for shadow warriors. And the green cloaks would be useful

If only they performed better in game... (at least for me )

Rod

So that's almost all my Shadow Warriors painted up. I have 2 of the 4th edition who still need square bases and two of the 6th edition, including the Shadow Walker who are the rascals who escaped their paint removal.

I wanted their paint scheme and the couple of minor conversions I undertook to fit closely with the lore. I wanted my SWs to look like a ragtag warband, always on the move, with a range of equipment. More importantly, I wanted them to look more at odds to the rest of my force while still keeping some token colours. I figured these Dwarven shields looked more like skirmisher bucklers than the rather cumbersome spearmen shields. Plus these lovely 4th edition helmets are very Grecian, so it gives them a nice hoplite feel.

Once I have some archers painted up I am to take some shots of the whole force as it is.

Olthannon wrote:Plus these lovely 4th edition helmets are very Grecian, so it gives them a nice hoplite feel.

Agreed. I like them!

Thanks!







Here's a tester for my unit of Swordmasters. Got 15 of these plus another RBT to paint up.

I'd actually really appreciate some advice on this scheme. I think it looks okay? I'm worried it looks a little bland is all.