Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

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Vermis
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Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#1 Post by Vermis »

If I had to say why I decided to collect high elves, it's because of two books: the Silmarillion, and Dragon Rampant. Warhammer high elves seem to me to be the race that held onto that Tolkien feeling the most, as Warhammer evolved. I didn't notice much back when I was into Warhammer, before I had really dug into the Silmarillion - I was more interested in dinosaurs, ogres and rats.
Then I picked up Dragon Rampant. It's a fairly simple game, you slot any model or background into it's basic troop types, with a limited amount of extra rules to stack on top. It's limited in that way, but personally I find games like that to be somehow freeing, too. All the mathhammer, power creep and rules bloat are what put me off Warhammer, and the generic rules and small warband size of Dragon Rampant sent all kinds of background and modelling ideas spinning through my head.

Two of them - just two! - involved high elves, and that's what I decided to start with. One was to explore Avelorn and the guards of the Everqueen, aspects of the fluff that seemed to have been a bit neglected in the game. The second was Chrace, with white lions being apparently based on the axe-armed Sindar pouring out of the forests of Brethil, in the Sil. Also because of a visit to the British Museum during one London trip to Salute, where the Assyrian reliefs depicting royal lion hunts made a bit of an impression on me.

I had started hoarding boxes and bits for these projects, but a few years ago I dipped out of wargaming altogether and they didn't go anywhere. I've only recently blown the dust off some boxes to have another go. Not a significant part of the story, except that waiting patiently for new spearmen models and neglecting to actually buy very many white lions, kind of backfired on me in the meantime. I've had to move a few aspects of my plans about a little. A bit more on that further down.

So I've started and stalled again already. I don't have much to show off in this first post but I want to try to motivate myself somehow. The first are these six almost-done sisters of Avelorn, which might show why I ran out of steam so soon.

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I put in so much work on these because I'm fond of more toned-down fantasy. The ladies will be a six-strong scout unit for Dragon Rampant, so I wanted to remove just a bit of that plate and scale. Also to take away those flaming bows and replace them with glade guard bits. (They fit fairly nicely into the sister wrists, although I reinforced them with a plastic rod pin and a bit of a putty fill) And to introduce a bit more individuality into them.
The metal head is a Statuesque 'large heroic' female head, IIRC, which fits quite well with the original sister heads with a few tweaks about the cheeks and chin. Worst bit is sculpting hair on, and that big braid almost broke me.
The head on #6 is from wood elf eternal guard, with the crest cut down. This is what I planned to use for maiden guard conversions, with phoenix guard bodies and white lion legs. The legs are now going back to the handful of other white lion bits I have, to try and cobble together at least one unit of white lions. (12-strong unit of 'bellicose foot') The new plan is for lumineth spears to stand in for MG. These'll be like the rest of my elf units, with nowhere near as much putty work as the sisters!

Now, can anyone tell me why that eternal guard head fits better with the sisters models, than the heads they actually came with?

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Here's a test spearman, started a few years ago. I gathered enough of these IoB minis for two 12-strong units, and I was going to divvy them up between Avelorn and Chrace. This one was going to be part of the levy of Avelorn, with a shield design nicked from the High Elves Uniforms and Heraldry book. I was hoping for new generic spearmen because of the work of scraping down those shields, as well as snipping off and covering up all the other Lothern details.
I still consider this to be less work than the sisters! I think it'll also be less work than freehand-painting the shields, where I'm involved. For me it's easier to scrape back putty than paint, when my hand decides to wander.
Anyway, with no new Ulthuan elves on the horizon, these 24 minis will go to be Chracian levy, as 'light foot' with the mixed weapons rule. (I.e. spears and bows) The Avelorn warband will be entirely maiden guard. I don't think a Dragon Rampant army will come close to the 100-woman limit on that.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#2 Post by SpellArcher »

Vermis wrote:Also because of a visit to the British Museum during one London trip to Salute, where the Assyrian reliefs depicting royal lion hunts made a bit of an impression on me.
I remember these. For anyone interested in ancient history a visit to the BM is a feast for the eyes.
Vermis wrote:I don't have much to show off in this first post
It's a good start Vermis. You clearly care about this which augurs well.
Vermis wrote:I put in so much work on these because I'm fond of more toned-down fantasy
You've achieved a nice clean look.
Vermis wrote:Here's a test spearman
I especially like the heart pattern. Striking shields can make a big difference.
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Olthannon
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#3 Post by Olthannon »

Phwoar! Nice work so far, loving the test Spearman (elf).

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. Good to see another fellow Chracian in our midst!
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#4 Post by That's Bradical »

Excellent greenstuff work, I might need to pick your brain on a few things in the near future. I love seeing all the little changes folk make to make their models unique.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#5 Post by Vermis »

Thanks all! I'll try to answer anything that I have an answer to, Brad. :)

Took me long enough to get these sisters done, but here's an all-round look at them. (Click to embiggen, I hope)

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Also, I've been showing off a couple of OOP Grenadier dragons on Dakkadakka. It strikes me that the pond dragon kind of fits with the wild, fairy-tale feeling of Avelorn, so if I can get another couple of these (from Mirliton Miniatures if Ebay is no good) they'll be drafted as a lesser warbeasts unit.

Image
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#6 Post by Olthannon »

Vermis wrote:
(Click to embiggen, I hope)
These are some perfectly cromulent pics.

Awesome job, really like the scale armour and love the idea of the pond dragon.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#7 Post by Icarion »

holy sith, i was so impressed by the greenstuffed hair, i just closed the browser window! :lol:

That dragonfly is also cool... where is it from?
Last edited by Icarion on Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#8 Post by Vermis »

Thanks all!

Icarion: the pond dragon was produced by Grenadier Miniatures all the way back in 1985. This one's from ebay, but Mirliton Miniatures in Italy bought up Grenadier's moulds after they folded and the pond dragon's one that they still sell.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#9 Post by SpellArcher »

Icarion wrote:That dragonfly is also cool
I agree with this and that it smacks of Avelorn.
Vermis wrote:Grenadier Miniatures all the way back in 1985
I remember seeing a really old magazine advert from these guys and thinking "Wow, you can play D&D with little men?"

:)
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#10 Post by Vermis »

I had a similar thought the first time I walked past a Games Workshop. :lol:

So... did I say the other units wouldn't involve much work? Ohboy.

Image

Here's ONE Chracian spearman. The tall helmets from the rest of them are going towards White Lion conversions.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#11 Post by SpellArcher »

Vermis wrote:So... did I say the other units wouldn't involve much work? Ohboy.
Each shield in the unit will have an individually sculpted lion Vermis?
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#12 Post by Th3_5had0w_K1ng »

SpellArcher wrote: Each shield in the unit will have an individually sculpted lion Vermis?
That looks great.... just sooooo time consuming. Really excited to see how they look painted up. Nice scultping!!
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#13 Post by Olthannon »

Bloody hell, any chance you can take a cast of it to make it a bit easier?
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#14 Post by Vermis »

Thanks all.
SpellArcher wrote:Each shield in the unit will have an individually sculpted lion Vermis?
No! :) I want to decorate each shield, but most will have much simpler and quicker runes and glyphs. I'll do another, horizontal, lion, but like Olthannon suggests I'll make a quick mould to share it around the ranks. Maybe finally take a look at this 'blue stuff' the kids are rapping about.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#16 Post by Vermis »

Thanks Mireadur!

Been a bit quiet, but I've been chopping up a few more spearmen. The seamaster in particular needed a lot of fishy bits snipped off and smoothed over. I wanted to give him a shield design to indicate that he was once in the garrison of one of the five gate fortresses, and because of the complexity of all those emblems, I chose to use polymer clay to give me a bit of breathing space. Uro Hot Set in particular, because it stays a little flexible after baking - because I have to sculpt it on something that won't melt in the oven, and peel it off again.

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I decided on the Phoenix Gate icon. Cheated a bit by only making a partial phoenix.

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Turns out all that faff with polymer clay wasn't very necessary, but it was something to try. I was done sooner than expected so I turned out a star to go with the phoenix. Also to test how much care I needed to prise the baked clay off the mould. You can see it didn't turn out well. I gave the phoenix another few minutes in the oven and just about got it off in one piece.

Here it is as part of the whole.

Image
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#17 Post by SpellArcher »

He looks really interesting Vermis.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#18 Post by Olthannon »

Looks great, can't wait to see them all painted up!
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#19 Post by MasterOfNone »

Wow.
Having done a bit of casting and sculpting recently I can appreciate the quality of your work.
It is very difficult to work at this very fine level of detail.
I am looking forward to see these unique creations painted.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#20 Post by elendor_f »

This looks really interesting, looking forward to see the first painted models :D
I am quite impressed with the detail of your sculpting work!
Good luck!
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#21 Post by Vermis »

Thanks all!

It's been far too long, but here's the first half-a-unit of Chracian spearmen. Six down, eighteen to go. :cry:

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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#22 Post by SpellArcher »

Coming along very nicely. Still loving those shield designs!
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#23 Post by Azaam »

A lot of great ideas and a lot of work put in these models ! You did an amazing job.
I can't wait to see them painted, I'm sure they'll look fantastic !
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#24 Post by Prince of Spires »

Agreed with the others. They look great. The conversions are very subtle. When painted they will look "natural" I think. And the shield designs are great. Do you sculpt each one or do you have a mould you use?
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#25 Post by Olthannon »

Great work on your conversions. Can't wait to see them painted. If they were the new high elves that GW released I'd be very happy with them!
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#26 Post by Vermis »

Thanks all. :) Would you believe that I go through half of this putty trouble because it's the painting process that really intimidates me? Easier to redo details in putty and hit them with a wash, than keep my hand steady with a freehand brush.

Prince of Spires: all hand sculpted so far. The runes and grooves turned out to be not so tricky. (except trying to get the latter to radiate symmetrically) They're fairly linear. I think I may have to mould better versions of those lion icons if I want to repeat them, though.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#27 Post by Vermis »

Image

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I disgust myself with the amount of back-and-forth I've done on these minis. But almost there...
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#28 Post by SpellArcher »

Vermis wrote:But almost there...
Yeah, second pic looks great Vermis.
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#29 Post by WhiteWeaselStudio »

We love customizations. Good work!
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Re: Hands Across The Annulii - Avelorn and Chrace

#30 Post by elvenmage »

This is a really amazing project. I love it, and have a similar love the Dragon Rampant rules for their versatility.

Have you made any progress? I'd love to see it painted, or in game.
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