Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - COMPLETE

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Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - COMPLETE

Post by cultofkhaine »

Hi All,

I have been working on my Har Ganeth army and now finishing it with a view to entering it into this years GW armies on parade. The army is mostly Khainite units with Witch Elves as core (lead by Hellebrone on a Manticore)

I have almost completed painting all the units to make a 3000pt army with exception of a couple of units remaining.

With only 10 weeks left to get it all together I am running out of time.

Here is a wide shot of the army in the arrangement I am thinking of using.

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Now my questions to you all - what makes a great display board?

These are some of the ideas I am considering

- Split levels
- City?
- Castle Walls in the background?
- Forrest in the background?
- Water effects / Blood
- Dead Pit
- Watch tower/ruined
- Scroll at the front with name of army on it
- digital print backing/sides

I am strongly considering having two terrain pieces using an Altar of Khaine and a Charnel Pit.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Need Help

Post by Darkgul »

They have grassy bases so i dont think they would fit with a dark elf castle them. They might however fit with a pillaged castle theme. Im thinking a broken/sieged castle wall with lots of blood and skulls to represent their sacrifices to Khaine for his favor in the battle..
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Need Help

Post by Jarvax »

What Darkgul said, or have them around the altar of Khaine with a watchtower and the Charnel Pit at the sides and a forest in the background. You have a very pretty watchtower if I remember well. Maybe the scroll with the army's name at the front would fit as well.

Whatever you decide, I'd like to see closeups too, as I see some miniatures I've never seen before.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Need Help

Post by Ilmaestro »

Could we maybe get some close up shots of each of the units as well? It would definitely help me in coming up with some more appropriate ideas that are specific to your army :)
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Need Help

Post by Prince daerlythe »

Could we maybe get some close up shots of each of the units as well? It would definitely help me in coming up with some more appropriate ideas that are specific to your army


Those would be helpful. If you hadn't already done grassy bases, I would have recommended a multi-levelled cityscape of Har Ganeth, topped with the great Temple of Khaine and the stairway leading up to it, but that's now out of the question. The other ideas posted here look like good places to start thinking. I'll let you know if I think of anything that fits.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Need Help

Post by cultofkhaine »

Thanks all for the comments.

@jarvax yeh I have that cool tower but I can't use it because its a non GW piece of terrain :cry: It would have looked sweet!

@Prince daerlythe - I like your idea of the stairs going up to the temple of Khaine. I have an altar (bit hard to make out in the pic) with exe's doing their thing with a pile of bodies on it. This could look quite good in an elevated position with the stairs leading up to it. Perhaps the Charnel pit below and slaves being lead up the steps.

I will post some close ups shortly as I work on it. I also hope to have some WIP shots as the board develops.

By the way - what do you think works best?

The terrain pieces I use should they be built into the board so it is all one piece (I think this would look best) or should I make them on separate bases and build them to fit into the board like a jigsaw puzzle (that way they can be used on a gaming table)
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Need Help

Post by Jarvax »

Oh, I didn't know GW would mind if you used a non GW piece of terrain. I knew about miniatures but not terrain.
If the terrain pieces are built into the board you will have the best visual result but it will be a shame to waste them, so do the second thing you proposed, just do the seams invisible using grass or something. Personally I don't think you even have to make the seams invisible but it will look better if they are.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Need Help

Post by cultofkhaine »

Ok, so I have decided to go with a ruined tower as the main terrain piece to sit as the backdrop to my army and Dreadstone Blight seems like the logical starting point for my conversion.

After trotting down to my local GW I picked the box set up (not a bad buy for 50 bucks) and set about putting it together.

I did not want to do a straight assembly of the kit so I immediately thought of what cool things could I do to it. I wanted it to be taller, so have added an extra level. I also wanted to be able to store it easily, so decided if I used rare earth magnets I could stack each of the levels when put together and separate them for storage (cool hey).

To get even more height I decided to sit it on a mountain, which then gave me the idea of having stairs going down into the centre of it to give it even more internal space. I have even used some LED's a lit up the internal section. Using some extra bits I have put some stairs in as well.

All in all its coming along nicely so far - here are some WIP shots and I will post some more soon as I progress.


The assembled top sections of the tower with rare earth magnets inserted

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Base section with the centre cut out and inner tube inserted.

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Another shot of the base section with central stairs

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The whole tower held together by magnets

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And a top section looking down

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Polystyrene mountain section, cut with a styro cutter then glued together with PVA

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Tower positioned on top

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Cut down base section with extra bits placed into the side of the mountain. I used a soldering iron and styro cutter to shape the Polystyrene.

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Another angle shot

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not bad for a days work, I have left it gluing (bit hard because you can only use PVA any other type of glue eats the foam)

I have just finished also hooking up the LED's. Now to let it dry and tomorrow some gap filling.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by xFallenx »

That tower is totally impressive & will really make that display board something special. Are you going to permanently mount it to the board or will you be able to remove it for game play as well?
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by T.D. »

Lovely army - as others have said some close ups would be appreciated :mrgreen:

In regards to gameboard, many of the old armies on parade winners were heavily converted display boards...so I dont see why you can't use your old tower? !conf!

If you use the same mojo you did on the old tower on this new one it will look pretty sweet IMO. With your basing and painting style, a raiding force surging through shattered ruins will look ace 8)

For these display boards in general I think multiple levels (or heights) work best as it allows you to show of the most models and appeals to the eye more than a plain 2D layout.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by Amarok »

That ruined tower is VERY cool. Can't wait to see some paint on it!

To second T.D's comment, I don't think Geedub would have an issue with things you scratchbuild yourself (especially when they are done in such a manner as your watch tower). I think they only take issue when you dare to buy products from other companies...

However, in either case, you have certainly created something eyecatching with this effort. Bring on the LEDs!
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

@Xfallenx I think I will put it on its own base like the models so that it can be removed from the board. I also want to put the battery box fixed to the base underneath so it can be changed easily for the LED's. My dilemma is that it might not look as good then if it were moulded into the base.

@TD I would love to use my tower but it comes from another supplier non GW. Also it stands a massive 600mm from the ground quite overpowering - I want the focus to be on the army.

I plan to post some extensive shots of the army soon on my PLOG. I wanted to show mostly the board in this thread.

Thanks for the feedback guys - most appreciated!
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

Well the board is progressing...

I have almost completed the ruined castle, just have to add some water effects and the waterfalls. Here are some further progress shots.


The base coming together. I cut the polystyrene with a hot wire and soldering iron. Glued it all together with PVA glue and filled in all the holes with gyproc smooth finish filler. Once it had all dried I then painted all the polystyrene in PVA to seal it so that I could prime it black. (If you don't do this it melts the foam)

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Next step was to prime it black - I first hand painted it black with a cheap acrylic then later sprayed it.

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Next step - let the dry brushing begin! I used a cheap white and black acrylic paint and started with a dark mix of the two slowly building the dry brush layers up to white.

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I got quite caught up in working on this and forgot to take photos of the next steps - basically I washed several areas in a brown wash to give it a dirty look, then continued to paint in the detail areas.

Nearly completed model, I just have some final touches to add in some areas and the water effects to add.

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I will post some more pics shortly with the water effects done and then I need to look at how I am going to integrate it with the rest of the board.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by Kurze »

Looks great!
Only criticism I have is the nice brown timbers... Old weathered wood looks silvery. But I guess that would (wood, ha ha) be too much.
Still reckon its awesome :D
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

@Kurze thanks for the feedback - yeh I agree on the colour of the timber but I wanted to contrast against the stones, so brown it is. I have also used this paint mix on a number of other timber structures throughout my terrain, so it fits in with that.

Below are some updated layouts for the board, a bit undecided how to layout the terrain.

OPTION 1: tower on the right, showcases the stairs leading up to the entrance of the tower but you can not see the detail of it inside to well. Hellebrone on the left, I still have to make the mountain section she will rest on (currently displaying a substitute) Just below Hellebrone I would have the Charnell pit with the altar of khaine and executioners.

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OPTION 2: tower on the left, showcases the inside of the tower better, but you miss all the stair detail. Hellebrone would be on a rasied section on the right with altar of Khaine below.

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OPTION 3: Tower on the left with Hellebrone inside the tower posed as if just about to leap out into flight. Altar of Khaine on the right on a slightly raised section.

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I am fairly happy so far with the front section and how the units are laid out, I only have one more unit of 20 Witch Elves left to paint, was going to include 5x2 units of dark riders but don't think I will get time to finish them off to the standard I want.

Does anyone have ideas for the layout?
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by T.D. »

Great work with the tower. You really brought it to life with the paint job!

For layout how about:

XXXXXXXXXTOWERXXXX

XHILLXXXXXXXTROOPSX
w. CAULD

XXXXXXXXXTROOPSXXXX


i.e.

Tower with inside facing (and Hellebron leaping) towards us at the back, slightly to (viewers) right of centre.

Mid left side of the board = the hill, with the cauldron on top. Some troops to its right spreading across the board.

Front = highest concentration of troops to the near right side.

So there is an asymmetric layout, with the eye drawn from high (tower), to the left and down (Cauldron), to the right and down (troops).


Not the easiest to describe in typing, but may give you some ideas. Also, hill is optional, if just the cauldron it would be easier to show off more troops behind.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by xFallenx »

I prefer option 2, but wouldn't mind seeing T.D's suggestion.
That being said, I really like how the tower turned out, brown floor boards or no... & who's to say that the tower master/mage didn't use some good old squigs blood as a finish? Since we know they explode & all, that could also explain the gaping hole in the roof...
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

@TD, XFallenx thanks for the feedback. TD I like your idea, will play with it a bit more.

More updates to come soon :D
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

Ok after much procrastination I have made a decision on the layout of the board. Here is the foot print below and the second shot is the board laid out.

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I am also thinking of putting an image backdrop to the board to give the layout something to display against. I found this image on the web - What do you think?

Image
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by xFallenx »

My first thought was that it wasn't cold and dangerous looking enough, but it matches your bases pretty decently, so I say go for it.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

@XFallenx yeh was thinking about that to - I might do some work on it in photoshop and add some twisted trees in the foreground of the image and lightning in the sky and darken it up a bit.
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by T.D. »

I like the new layout.

Also, the plain wood brings out the contours and colours of your models really well. Perhaps something to bear in mind when preparing the base.

Evil backdrop scenery always looks good on these parade boards IMO :D

Edit: I always think volcano lightning would be one of the ideal components to be photoshopped onto a D.E. backdrop:

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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

@TD Woah Yeh - I like those and the concept of it, might pinch one and also look a bit further. Thanks
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by cultofkhaine »

Another progress update - it's taking a lot longer to get this board together than I thought it would and the deadline is looming very quickly!

Top section all cut out and gluing together

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Top and base complete the jigsaw did a crap job so had to back fill some of the areas to fill in the space - Polyfiller works quite well.

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Work in progress on my Altar of Khaine

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now in the process of gluing it all together and adding extra details before base coating it black
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Re: Armies on Parade Dark Elf Board - Progress WIP

Post by xFallenx »

It's comming along nicely. How much time do you have left to finish the board?
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